I recently purchased four 1st Edition Base Set cards and had the “good fortune” of getting an amazing deal on them. I’m aware of the whole “if it’s too good to be true…” proverb, but after inspecting the cards in person, I felt confident enough to go through with the purchase…
Now I’d like to ask for your opinion and insight on whether my reasoning holds up, or where I may have missed something. Please feel free to be constructive and specific—thank you!
Situation:
I bought a 1st Edition Mewtwo, Zapdos, Nidoking, and Ninetales from an individual who has kept these cards (along with many others) in a family photo binder since the early 2000s.
All four cards appear to be in Near Mint / Mint condition. The main reasons I felt comfortable purchasing them were:
The cards feel authentic (surface texture and typical stiffness/flex)
The 1st Edition stamp does not appear to be printed “on top” of the card
All four cards passed a basic light test (using my iPhone 15 flashlight)
From the side, the cards show an authentic-looking layered core (grey–black–grey)
The text on all cards is crisp and clean
HP font, lack of shadow (shadowless), copyright line (including dates), energy symbol placement, etc. all look correct to me
A few things still make me cautious:
The set number (bottom right) looks a bit thinner than I’m used to seeing (does not apply for the Mewtwo card)
The back of the cards looks slightly more faded/lighter than other Base Set cards I own
The black “traceline” / outline of the Pokémon artwork seems slightly blurry compared to non-holo cards
I’ve attached front and back images of all four cards. Please let me know if additional photos or specific close-ups would help. Thanks in advance!
These all look fake to me. Passing a light test and feeling authentic is interesting as that usually gets most fakes. However there are some other printing issues on these cards. A lot of the text (not only the set numbering) is thinner than what you see on authentic cards. If you compare the HP printing to real cards you will see the HP on your cards is slightly thinner. The magnification of the cards is also off. Real 1st ed base cards will have larger borders than your cards have. The printing/sheen also appears off compared to real 1st ed base cards.
These are definitely fake. Same exact holo patterns as the pics on TCGPlayer.
Another red flag is these being found in a family photo binder. If you’re talking about those pages with the cellophane flap and sticky cardboard sheets, then these cards would have had their backs destroyed from pulling them off after all those years.
Genuine bulk cards have been used many times in the past to craft fake cards. The most convincing ones have been sticker fronts on genuine backs. Using a genuine card in the manufacturing of the fake is how they pass a few of the basic tests like the light test etc to make them seem more convincing.
Regardless of how these specific ones were made they are still fake cards. I wouldn’t want OP to get his hopes up, It’s best they try and get their money back!
Your front magenta ankle is 45°, your back is -15°. Shadowless Holos typically had -15 on the front and +15on the back. Recently, I’ve seen some pretty convincing fakes, yours may be some of these. That 45° angle is pretty much the giveaway apart from the foil. Id love to get my hands on one of these if you can figure out where they came from.
HP on shadowless is thinner but the HP font on your pics are noticeably too thin. You can find some high-res scans of graded cards and compare to your photos to check.
There are some other things that ppl mentioned, from other areas of the text, to the +/- 15 screen angles (As an aside to @Nightvulture, these are also thin stamp variants that shouldn’t have the -15 backs, another red flag), but here’s a smoking gun imo that requires little judgement and is easy to see: the flame icons in the fire energies should not have a black bottom border:
Its all in reference to the printing plates used to print the cards. In short, ive yet to see any cards from this time period that match your front card face and were real.
If you want to pm me ill teach you
These are your magenta pattern angles, similar to japanese base set patterns
