This week, I published an interview with Tsukasa Hosono, one of the winners of the 1999 Pokémon Snap Best Photo Contest. His prize was fifteen Charmander cards featuring the photograph he took in Pokémon Snap. These were the only fifteen cards ever printed.
You can check out the interview here, and a Japanese translation is also available linked at the end of the feature:
Thanks to @pfm for allowing me to share it here, I hope it’s of interest!
Very nice, thanks for sharing!
Awesome definitely going to check this out
Great interview! Storing a few copies in his mathematics school case sounds like something we would all do at that age 
thanks for sharing, very cool!
Fantastic interview, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Now that I think about it, Pokémon was never very far” is so relatable.
It might be worth noting that while those 15 copies were the only officially awarded, they were almost certainly not the only 15 printed.
Keep up the great work! Looking forward to your next article/interview!
Thank you for the kind words @SeasidePokemon
If you could share a source for that, i’d be interested to read! It is my understanding that only fifteen copies with that specific design exist. Accuracy is very important, so I would update the original interview with clarification if that turned out to be correct.
Thank you!
Highly enjoyed this! Thank you for sharing.
@SeasidePokemon is correct 15 were awarded but there are more copies out there.
Thank you for reading!
Yes, once again a source for this would be really appreciated!
It is well-known that all trophies have extra copies that float around, from art academies to snap cards to the illustrator.
For example, there are some art academy cards that have never been released by the winner, yet some have come to market. This is only possible due to the extra copies floating around.
Respectfully, it isn’t well known to me. If a reputable source exists, I would like to see it, so I can update my interview.
I can try and find the video although someone might comment before me explaining it better. There was an uncut sheet of the snap pikachu cards that surfaced last year. As well as a Fan Club shiny Gyrados sheet. We know the shiny gyrados fan club was never released to the public. There is also extra illustrators that have surfaced over the years, one recently. I’m positive but not 100% sure where they are but in UnlistedLeafs YouTube video from a couple years ago showed a snap pikachu on display next to other rare pikachu cards at a Pokemon Center in Japan. Is it the same card Dubsy has? I’m going to say probably not. I’m sure there is plenty of items and cards locked away in someone’s house or safe in Japan that haven’t publicly surfaced.
^somewhere in that gem of a thread you’ll find that pkonno sold some copies of both corocoro & 64 mario stadium snaps.
There likely isn’t going to be an official source to confirm the existence of more than 15 copies until we can count more than 15 in the wild (which we probably already have at this point). The “extras” as they are often referred to are usually sold by official ex/employees or through middlemen as to remain discreet.
Here are the pop reports for PSA, CGC, and BGS. Tsukasa Hasono still has at least 5 copies and there are 5 graded in NM-Mint condition between these three companies. That leaves 5 copies unaccounted for. So it’s either that there are only 5 ungraded copies left in existence, which Tsukasa suspects may be lost/destroyed, or that many of the graded copies we see today are extras sold/graded by an ex employee. The latter is more convincing to me, especially when we know this seller has sold cards that are indisputably extras.
As @SeasidePokemon mentioned, there will never be an official source stating that extra copies were retained rather than being destroyed.
This thread addresses Pkonno2002 sales, which are almost assuredly extras.
Pokumon (a highly reliable source) also addresses Pkonno2002:
However, there have been “extra” copies sold by Yuichi “pkonno” Konno, an employee involved in creating the original rules for the Pokemon TCG. Below is a snapshot from June 2020 of him selling a copy of the card. Konno has sold 2 copies so far, and both have been authenticated by PSA as authentic.
You can see Akabane posting uncut Snap cards here Did Akabane reveal an uncut Fan Club Gyarados? - #2 by cyberurchin
Extra copies is a safe assumption for all cards
Pretty sure its the kyorge art acedemy that never sold any and yet collectors cache sold extra copies of it
Thanks everyone!
While it does sound likely that it could have happened, because there’s no claim from a former employee or anything confirming the existence of more, i’ll play it safe on this occasion and keep the article as it is. However, it’s always good to learn these things, and i’ll keep it in mind in the future if I do similar interviews.
Thanks for being so helpful!
???
Yuichi Konno (one of the four creators of the Pokemon TCG rules) has sold numerous trophies. Konno was obviously not a contestant for any of the contests. Therefore, these were extra copies not awarded to the winners. What further evidence do you need?
If it’s not clear from the posts above, Akabane and Konno were employees when these cards were developed and distributed.
Rewording from 15 that exist to 15 that were officially distributed would possibly alleviate concerns while keeping it factual.
Regardless, it’s not like there’s 100’s snap cards out there that would take away from their highly coveted status. Doesn’t bother me at all knowing there’s a few extras, if anything it’s probably a good thing for those fortunate enough to acquire them.