Hi Guys, hope you’re all doing well. I just joined a few days ago in order to ask this question - enthusiast as a child, but haven’t kept up in my 20s. Sorry for the intrusion here.
Found this metal gold-plated Pikachu card when moving furniture in my parents’ place last week. I remember flipping it around in my hands as a kid but didn’t make much of it. Closest visual comp, of course, is the 1999 BK promo cards, but this clearly has some differences. Been a fun little mystery–so far, been to:
2 Pokemon collectors/major enthusiasts who own shops in West LA–they did a reverse Google search, asked others, checked some sources but nothing concrete answer wise.
1 Jeweler who checked out the outside for me and confirmed it’s gold and not some stained plate material
The things that get me are:
i: The “ability” table on the right side of the description bar - can’t find feature anywhere
ii: Same on both sides
iii: The Copyright Nintendo in the bottom right of just ONE side, but no mention of a year
With this info I’d say it isnt a shabby cheap fake, but also clearly not a promotional (given no large “POKEMON” print at the top). Also called Nintendo but they obviously offered limited help. Somee pics attached Let me know what you guys think! Thank you!
Id suggest posting on reddit under r/gold. first thought is it looks like a custom gold ingot. People have been doing custom mold stuff for years so there may be some in that community who recognize the design. r/silverbugs also gets a lot of similar questions about custom designs but obviously they specialize in silver.
Which places the date of creation between the release of Red & Blue and the release of Pichu (Gold & Silver released in English October 3, 2000).
Potentially created between the release of red and blue and the release of Yellow, Sep 28, 1998 - Sep 9, 1999.
Overall it looks like a pokedex card related to the mainline games, and not a TCG product.
I’d assume custom mold that was design based on the back of a burger king gold played pikachu card, the table likely came from one of the guidebooks, and since it is custom made copy there is going to be some imperfections most notable is the mouth and slightly odder shaped head.
Im still guessing that it was made during the pokemon craze of 2000 as a novelty and held in a collection of gold bullion. I doubt it was officially sold due to the imperfect design but some people like their gold bars to be unique. If you weigh it, sometimes the oz amount will help others determine more about its history.
