Hi all! I’ve been reading about this card on Bulbapedia and i’m absolutely fascinated by it. I’m hoping to one day add it to my collection and wanted to know if anyone can provide any additional insight on the history or hobby opinion of this card? Particularly, whether it is considered a trophy card or not? My initial opinion is yes, albeit one of the more “value” trophy cards in the hobby. Would love to hear other people’s thoughts.
Going off of bulbapedia, I would say its a prize card. You didn’t just get it for showing up, you had to get 50 stamps by recording the outcomes of battles and were then put into a lottery.
Unfortunately Bulbapedia doesn’t enforce references, so it’s not immediately possible to verify that the lottery claim is 100% accurate.
Looking into it a bit I think this is just a mistranslation of the original paperwork:
I can’t read Japanese by any stretch, but I believe this implies that anyone who did receive this card was entered into a lottery for a chance to be invited to attend the Champion Road event in 2000.
Would be interesting to have someone who can actually read Japanese translate that. Here’s another one which looks less like a poor photocopy:
The terminology is quite subjective - there are people who call pre 2010 victory medals trophies, not prize cards, others even call Art Academy cards trophies because they were won, just not for playing the actual game. If the art academy cards aren’t trophies but the Illustrator is, is it just about the amount released/the history…? If you like how it was distributed, the design, history etc. it shouldn’t matter if the majority of people call it a trophy or not.
Additionally, the perception may change over time through increasing scarcity, since “trophy” suggests a high desirability and difficulty to obtain, maybe also a certain price. I bet you have more people today calling the Mysterious Pearl a “trophy” than 5 years ago, when it was more available and much cheaper.
I think this is a fair analysis. You see it in sports cards all the time where the true “rookie card” of a player can change depending on the market, so why can’t a rarer card with a discernable distribution/background be considered a trophy in the future.
I can’t read most of it due to photo quality, but I can make out the kanji record at some point in there. Like in recording data. It looks like in some trainer passport book? If I can get a better quality photo, I can do a more thorough translation. I can also ask my Japanese friends over here too.
there are reasons for it to considered one and reasons for it not to be. plenty of non “prize-winning” are considered trophy cards
and plenty of cards awarded directly for winning things are not considered trophy cards
it is up to you where you draw the lines in the sand
A grade does not define a card @uponeagleswings,I agree on a value perspective, but that does not define the characteristics of the card. It is still just a rare japanese promo. Very nice flex though