I have received several hints that some pokemon base boxes sold between 2003-2005 in the US were fake.
Do you others here have any knowledge that there was a problem with counterfeit boxes for sale in the United States at that time?
Not saying you’re wrong, but it would be a bit weird to be selling fake Base Set boxes back then (assuming you’re talking about Unlimited) because they were <$100 a piece.
It’s a blue wing, so that is unlimited i belive.
It’s lot of talk here in Norway regarding fake boxes, I have never seen any boxes been corfirmed fake, but i’m very new in the pokemon collecter - community. Someone here who has experienced buying fake sealed boxes?
weigh the box
Does not help me as I don’t know what weight is suppose to be, but this is what i found out (1 picture g and second lb)
imgur.com/n4ZxSPi
people here know the weight range. That seems consistent with the ones Ive weighed (5 or so)
Not likely the case during that period. The boxes dropped to $50-90/ea. after 2003. How is the provenance on yours?
Not sure hva provenance means, but does this picture help?
imgur.com/H5cgMIX
Provenance is something that’s established through a record of ownership. I.e., where did you buy it, how long did the seller own it, where did the seller buy it, and so on.
Is the box pictured one that you’re looking to buy?
It’s mine, and people tell me that it can be fake, and ony way to know is to open it, but I dont want to as that would ruin the value, I would think. There is a lot of fake boxes around am i being told by lokal community
I bought it around 2003-2005 from a seller in US (a internet-store) that I found through ebay (feedback vas 10+ positive), as I don’t remember the seller or have any record as we have changed internet-provider a couple og times since then, I can not find eny record. Fedex only ha record 10 years back.
If you still have your original email address used for eBay you could try searching your email inbox for purchase documentation.
Other than the poor condition I don’t notice anything that immediately jumps out. If you would like you can PM or post more photos (of the sides) and I’ll give some additional input that might put your mind at ease.
Yeah, if you bought it back in ~2003, the chance of it being fake is pretty damn unlikely. It would’ve made no sense to reseal an Unlimited Base box back then. The cards inside were nearly worthless, and the sealed box itself was worth less than the time/effort/risk involved in resealing it.
Does it have WotC shrinkwrap on it? If so, I’d be pretty damn confident that it’s real.