Twitter user Kleza has recently posted another thread, where he makes some interesting points regarding Mandarake’s latest comments. See here.
Especially interesting are some old tweets from Sugimori himself where he directly claims that it’s frustrating to be asked about “copyrighted artwork that is anonymously drawn imitate the same style”.
I would take Corylus up on that offer @collect. His art is phenomenal.
Private wealthy collector buying up the rest makes me 
Sharing here in case this inspires anyone closer to the research on this set.
@rtas and I noticed that the watercolors of Hironobu Yoshida are remarkably similar to Sugimori usually with a dynamic pose.
If you were to superimpose one of Yoshida watercolors onto a carddass background it would look like part of the original set.
Belatedly finding out about this, but…. Oh good god, I don’t like being brought in as an expert witness based on my personal website… (And this is fascinating information, all else aside! Thank you so much for sharing!!)
[Edit - Seeing the direct quotes from my site makes my soul cringe… I’m currently trying to ensure I’ve corrected this information so THIS doesn’t happen again. Again, thank you for sharing this information; I hate that my silly little fansite has been used for tricking others….]
