Update on that ebay listing for the 8.5 IMP - WATA has acknowledged that they were incorrect and he is going to send it back to WATA to correct.
adamw
82
Heads up just in case anyone saw www.ebay.com/itm/124742088304 and was curious: no, it is not “one of a kind” and it’s not worth $40,000. Most (though not all) “Red text” boxes seem to be “upside down”, actually. I have three of them in this room right now.
kelson
83
toybot
84
Wow, Amazing level of work.
Would you be interested in doing the same for the GameBoy Bundles? I got a Yellow Pikachu one but I can’t seem to find any good solid info on it since it came in different bundles.
adamw
85
@kelson, yeah, I spotted that listing today! Really curious to see what it will sell for. HA sure seem confused about prints in the description, though, which might put some buyers off if they don’t do their own research. There is an identically-graded Sandshrew Red in the same auction which will make a really interesting comparison.
@toybot, I believe that was a bundle that was sold right at the time Yellow was released. I think it has the GBC itself, a Yellow cart, and all the paperwork for the system and the game in the box. It does not contain a Yellow game box. You see the system pop up on eBay fairly often but the whole box doesn’t show up that much, it’s a really cool item!
adamw
86
@weeabruh so I got some cool news on the Sandshrew cart pocket / protector case / weight theory! I heard that WATA actually weighs all submitted games before encasing them as a matter of course. So I asked Kenneth Thrower (WATA head honcho) directly on FB whether they tend to come in 15g apart. here’s what he said:
“Both [Red and Blue Sandshrew] come with 2 weights about 15 grams apart”
so it looks a lot like you can indeed tell between a flap pocket / protector case (earlier) Sandshrew and an open pocket / no case (later) Sandshrew by weight. And WATA should know which of the copies it has graded are which…
1 Like
kelson
87
Yikes, here’s a misprint blue on eBay! It’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks to see what happens with this one and the one currently listed at Heritage Auctions! Is there any information on how many printing companies/locations there were for the first gen boxes? With “first production” copies being so sought after, I hope more and more information is discovered to clear up the uncertainty!
www.ebay.com/itm/174787183945
adamw
88
That one’s been up for a while. It’s pretty ludicrously priced for the grade.
Nintendo did all the manufacture in house so far as I’m aware. We believe the error print boxes were the first 500,000 or so of the Sandshrew print of Blue, produced in a Nintendo box factory somewhere in the USA.
Anyone know anything about the pcb boards? I have acquired another CIB pokemon yellow, no ESRB box, black ESRB cart, and a -2 manual. All 100% authentic, I bought a sealed game (seal was teared in a corner and box had some damage), which yes, I opened to make my other CIB a near mint which I plan to get graded. Anyways, for the sake of my question, my other CIB had a no ESRB box, a white ESRB cart, and a -1 manual. Interestingly enough, the pcb board on both are identical in terms of the etching, but some of the components have different numbers.
Black ESRB cart
White ESRB cart
adamw
90
Yikes you opened a functionally sealed Yellow?! You crazy person, you. Was it www.ebay.com/itm/164905752197?nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true ? I was watching that one. 
Anyhow - there are various dates on there. The battery has a YY-MM date, so your white-ESRB cart’s battery is from July 1999, your black-ESRB cart’s battery is from November 1999. Then there are YYWW or YWW dates on the other chips (WW is week number). Your black ESRB cart has 9944 on the small chip, 9942 on the medium, and 947 on the large, so basically overall, that cart dates to around Nov 14 to Nov 20 1999 (that’s week 47).
Your white-ESRB cart has chip dates 9933 and 9925; can’t see the small-chip date in the pic. So that’s August 8 to August 14 1999 (week 33).
If you post pics of the back of the board I can tell you the month the PCB was manufactured; it usually matches the latest chip date.
So basically your sealed copy is a few months newer than your other one, in all likelihood, and all the dates and contents match up with my guide/theories pretty well.
2 Likes
Yes, it was indeed that eBay listing that I won. And yes, I contemplated not opening it, but it was in rough shape, and I was seeking a perfect game and manual for the other box I have.
So basically the numbers on the chips are year and month or week numbers from what I am gathering from your statement. So really no need to be concerned that both games don’t match 100% for those numbers as long as everything else is inline.
I don’t think I’ll be opening up the games again for a while since they are in protective cases but when I do, I’ll be taking more pics for sure.
Do you know anything about the imprinted numbers on the inside of the cart’s front and back plastic casing? I think I have a picture which I can share if you don’t know what I am talking about. I’m speculating that those numbers indicate the factory the cart was made in, but not sure. I was more or less curious if certain codes needed to match for the front and back or if one can be swapped from a different cart?
adamw
92
So, yeah, with double-ended boxes there are no *other* precise dates to compare to. With a y-fold box, you might expect that the dates inside the cart roughly match up with the box and manual date codes. But for this box, I mean, that cart definitely came out of a double-ended no-ESRB box. So you can put it in any other double-ended no-ESRB box and it can’t really be “wrong” because there’s no reference point for it to be “wrong” in comparison to.
The only dates I can think of that might make me think a cart doesn’t belong in a double-ended no-ESRB box, really, would be after early 2000 or *very* early, though it’d be hard to be sure a very early date was ‘wrong’.
I wouldn’t mix up the two sets of contents, though. Keep the cart+manual pairs together. white-ESRB cart/-1 manual and black-ESRB cart/-2 manual are the standard pairs. Of the other two combinations, one is unusual and one I think never happens (I forget which way around it is).
Did the sealed one have the Pokemon Stadium flyer in it? Code CGB-S-UCPS-USA?
On the imprinted numbers - nope, like the stamp code on the label those are a mystery I think. The more experienced folks at VGS may have ideas.
Quick question which out Of the two yellow is 1st print’s yellow White ESRB double ended/open bottom ended Or Yellow No ESRB?
Would love to thank the author for their hard work on this as I have just come upon what i think is the holy grail of a rating for a first production yellow version with no esrb rating on the box. A family member purchased this 20 years ago at a flea mart for $1.00 and all I can say is the condition is pristine and the seal is amazing!!! He had no idea what he had until I just happen to ask him if he still had any sealed games from back in the day. Wata is currently grading this beauty and should be getting the grade shortly!!
I’m trying to upload pictures but I don’t see the option to. Can someone tell me how to for this site?
kinggr
95
Just made a few tweaks, found new variants and changed up the order of Yellow version a bit 
adamw
96
awesome! I still tend to think the picture is a bit more fuzzy as per my guide, but since you link to mine now, the people can decide next time i update mine i’ll try and remember to link yours too.
1 Like
Sorry for the late response. Yes it did come with the Pokemon Stadium flyer in it with that corresponding code.
FYI one of the two CIB that I have I just posted on eBay. www.ebay.com/itm/384406590604
I have the first print yellow y fold white esrb box… just to be sure the Pokémon stadium insert doesn’t go in the box correct… I have all the pieces from childhood, and have the black consumer guide, pikachu power offer, and brown booklet… that’s all I need in this one right I didn’t lose anything??
Also I must’ve thrown away my white tray so if anyone has a spare that they’re selling LMK!!!
If anyone is interested I have a blue “red” error box and all contents except players guide offer for sale
