Its only illegal to sell forgeries if you knowingly and willingly do it, and even then its difficult to prove negligence. If an auction house isnt negligent, then they arent culpable. Its sadly that simple.
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Just had a thought:
Since PSA does ebay auth guarantee, will they auto-deny any prototype/playtest card because they were already disinclined to authenticate them?
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This is my Alpha Playtest under black light. It looks like printer dot codes but quite large? The printer dot codes have been around since the 80âs so it is likely the 1995/1996 printer would also have them. Maybe we can use AI to decode the dots.
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Incredible research, this is absolutely crazy
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Amazing work PFM!
I read this last night and was amazed.
To all who have added their own dot analysis and added helpful settings/code/scans/whatever, thank you as well.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I sincerely hope everyone who wishes to request a refund will be granted one at some point.
And to those people who may have luckily grabbed an authentic playtest card, it will be cool to see if these can be proven and hopefully maintain some value!
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A full database of each card, graded serial number and if dot matrix is needed. Then if dot matrix is there, what is the time of creation
Everyone should keep posting High Def images of their cards (all of the series).
This list will grow over time and reveal the batches, the amount in the batches and how early and late these batches were created. This then can be crossed referenced against submission data / when appeared for sale.
We can then know a time line of everything. Then we can see which cards appeared on the market before the first date provided by the dot matrix. Everything will start to fall into place but will take time.
Prototype cards are real. Japanese companies love to keep everything then can in their control for pre-production. Things do slip out nonetheless. Do not get swept up on the current moment and just pull in data. Time will tell.
It is possible this already been proposed, just too many threads running now. I cannot keep up.
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There are times when information shatters previous conceptions of things. It can create emotional reactionism, irrationality, and panic. I beg everyone to keep their wits and take a few moments before doing anything.
This seems to be moving really fast⊠
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This seems pretty far gone and conclusive. Youve got real data that proves theyre forgeries, the forgerers telling people they did it, and images of the chinese factories making them. There is room for discussion on the outstanding cards but for those that have the wrong dates, idk how you recover from that. More than that, how do you trust the rest? What could CGC even provide that would assuage collectors fears now that its clear they didnt do their due diligence here.
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Whatâs to stop CGC just changing the labels to say â2024 Prototypeâ?
I wonder whether this will slightly pop the recent Pokémon bubble.
Just shows people are always going to hustle whether itâs right down below or right at the top.
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Ebay AG through PSA isnt what you think it is. PSA will guarantee yheir cards and nothing more. If its in another grading companys holder, they authenticate the holder and never the cards. It isnt their job to police CGCs work.
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If yâall were the leader in charge of the investigation of these playtest cards, what would be your course of action?
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No, No. Iâm talking about decisions MADE FROM this information by card holders, community, investors, etc. Like impulsively selling all your stuff, suing someone, slander, death threats. Itâs the internet in freakinâ 2025. Who knows?!
Youâre right about the evidence tho. Looks iron clad.
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I think itâs going to be pretty straightforward for CGC to determine which batches of cards were graded by who and which batches of cards were printed in 2024. If by some chance the HQ cards turn out to be legitimate then that particular middleman is probably the only one who can be trusted. I also want to know who witnessed the signatures by akabane and did he sign fake cards knowingly.
@pfm have you by chance analyzed any of the signature series cards and if not would anyone be able to provide a hq scan for analysis?
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There would be a need or to show that Pokemon had interest in bringing up those cards and printing them for a purpose in 2024. The odds are insanely against that happening of course. The word prototype being applied to a pre-production process. Then these would fall short, and then the bigger piece is how they appeared, how they were handled and submitted.
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Wasnât xiao also found to be swapping out PSA 10 cards and replacing them with played copies and resealing? This would have been a couple years ago now.
If memory serves, his involvement in this is another red flag.
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Donât know if you ever got the answer to this but I did some digging and, though I couldnât validate the claims that these really did come out in 96, this is the first time I could find the RB art being used
Confirmed use best I could find was the May 1997 Slowpoke promo that came with a playmat
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Damn shame. I really wanted a Diglett too. Might still want to buy one as part of history of the scam.
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For those offering pennies for these print outs, I know you are just joking, but no one should buy or sell these right now.
If CGC does indeed pay these out, you will need a receipt and the card in the CGC slab. Just hope the auction houses take down the current listings so yours donât sell for pennies. You wonât get any money from CGC.
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Did anyone predict this in their crazy predictions for 2025?
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Incredible work @pfm and everyone that has contributed. This is why the Pokemon collecting community will always be the GOAT.
It takes a true fan to out fakes like this at their own expense. Hats off to you.
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