@bazaaretw, As multiple people have remarked previously, the biggest problem isn’t the card’s origin, it’s you. You’ve been hawking this thing for years always trying to get someone to buy it at some inflated valuation beyond what anyone in this community is willing to pay. You literally only post on this forum to sell this card. If another member did this for any other less consequential card, they would have been banned for breaking the rules years ago.
Congratulations on getting this card authenticated with CGC, I hope this will finally allow you to sell the card to someone and make a lot of money that you can use however you see fit. But please do it fast so we can end this multi-year commercial.
@bazaaretw Let me start by saying that I agree with you in general. If I somehow would have gotten my hands on this cards years ago, and it now turned out to be authenticated and potentially worth a lot of money, I probably would sell it as well. Not to put into my house however (although I probably should tbh, haha), but to put into my Pikachu collection which I like more. Especially in today’s market, I could have quite a lot of uses for 50k+ USD. So in that regard, I do agree with you.
Having said that, what @fourthstartcg mentions above hits the nail on the head. You’ve only joined this forum in order to get this authenticated back in 2019 after you’ve found it, so you can sell it for as much money as possible. That has always been your goal ever since finding it. Sure, you may appreciate the history of it somewhat, but selling it for as much money as possible always has been and always will be your main goal with this card. Literally every comment you’ve made on this forum thus far has been focused around this card. You’re right I shouldn’t have said you don’t care about the history of the card at all. But you do care more about the money than the history or Pokémon. You even said it yourself:
And again, I never claimed there is anything wrong with that, or wanting to pay your bills. All I said is that I am sad as the author of this article that all existing copies are available for sale before the ink has even dried. I am sad money in general is currently such a huge aspect of this hobby, especially this year. I personally hate that, since I collect Pokémon cards for my enjoyment; for sharing it with other collectors who feel the same; for nostalgic feelings; for the chase; etc. But all this money, investing, scalpers, and :whatshouldibuy: talk is really tiring lately.
Anyway, I digest…
Also, some of the things you’ve just mentioned aren’t really accurate tbh:
A lottery ticket has no sentimental value. It’s one purpose is to be redeemed for money, and that’s basically it. Whereas a Pokémon card was made for kids; has connections to games and TV series; has nostalgia and possibly memories attached; has a history. For you this Blastoise card and a lottery ticket may be the same, but for us Pokémon collectors they couldn’t be further apart from one another.
Lol. That part about taking donations was a joke. Because you’re not active here on the forum you may not know, but I make articles like this reasonably often; help other members whenever I can; and have made 100+ Pokémon lists in my own time to help others and learn more myself in the process. That Efour Trophy for the 10th anniversary in my signature below was given to me for being the “most helpful Efour member” (not my words btw xD). I’ve never asked for any money in return when I helped someone, because I do it for myself and because I like helping others when I can. When someone asked me if they could donate to me, I simply said: “sure go ahead”. But I don’t ask for money, and am even hesitant to accept any money because I made these articles to help others and to share knowledge, not for personal gain. Also, FWIW, I haven’t received any donations yet, which I’m totally fine with.
Then by all means sell it. No one ever said the reasons you want to sell it were wrong. I think it’s admirable you want to sell it to pay off your depts. The problem here is how you’ve been trying to sell it, and how you’ve been commenting on this forum.
I am still grateful you’ve shared all that information back in 2019, because it resulted in uncovering this great piece of Pokémon history. But right now I don’t understand why you’re still on this forum? You said you don’t collect Pokémon, nor have any intention to. You also haven’t commented on any other thread in general.
Your card is a real test print; your card is authenticated by CGC; your card is now worth a lot of money. You’re in the process of selling it for a lot of money, so congrats and good luck with your shop in the future.
But because of all that I’m generously curious: if you don’t care too much about Pokémon (yes, this is just an assumption, but this is based on: 1) you said you don’t have any intention of collecting Pokémon; 2) you haven’t commented in any other thread besides your own or this article; 3) you’re trying to sell a piece of Pokémon history - regardless of what it is worth. So I’d say it’s a pretty reasonable assumption in that regard), nor are you too fond of most of the members here, why are you still here? I don’t mean this in a bullying or mean way. I’m just sincerely curious: why?
At this point, the card is real, and an actual test print, as you wanted. The card is worth a lot of money, and because of the pandemic and famous YouTubers, the current Pokémon market is as high as it’s ever been with new record sales on a weekly or sometimes daily basis, so an ideal market to sell in.
But based on the comments back and forth, it’s clear you don’t like our community. At this point, I also wouldn’t consider you a friend anytime soon either (even though I am grateful you’ve shared information back in 2019).
Just sell the card, and enjoy the easier life with the earned money. And good luck with your shop in the future.
Such an abomination! Don’t understand why anyone would buy something like that. Awful font style, questionable centering and off-putting blue color… Nah, that label really doesn’t do it for me
I want to add my bit of relevance to this discussion.
I am a long time Magic error collector, and was active on the Magic Library (now Librarities) forum for many years. I was involved in the initial discussions regarding the German Pokemon / Magic examples, and was one of the few voices that thought they could be real.
I was one of the earliest English Pokemon collectors, and was the first to formally describe the “shadowless” set.
I was, until about a year ago, the owner of the sole known Pokemon-backed Magic cards, in the form of the uncut sheet referenced on the first page of this thread.
I advised Tavis and Ben, in their early authentication attempts; with Tavis for error and oddity cards in general, and with Ben more specifically for the Blastoise cards.
The owners of the Blastoise cards are correct that there has been a long-standing bias against these cards, both the German versions and these later Blastoise cards. Some of that bias has concerned the lack of genesis information. Some of that bias, as already described, has been the methods by which the cards were being marketed. This was especially true in the Magic community, although more recently it spilled over to the Pokemon community.
When the early German cards were “discovered”, they were found, owned, and marketed by someone who was pretty much “Mr. Pokemon” in the states. I’m sorry that I can’t remember his name. But he was an incredible bundle of energy about everything Pokemon at a time when in-depth collectors were hard to find. With virtually no one on the Pokemon side to confirm his find, he approached the Magic Library forum seeking a seal of approval to increase what he could sell the cards for. In hindsight it is pretty comic that his desired price point might have only been $500 to $1,000 per card, but a decade-plus ago that was a lot. Anyway, to my recollection none of us ever got to actually see any of the cards (I think he lived in the Baltimore area so I would have been among the closest geographically). We got some scans, and the forum discussion devolved to about a dozen of the most hard-core Rarities members dealing with no information and hypotheticals. And most of those members were clueless about Pokemon. The consensus - to which I disagreed - was that the cards were likely higher quality user-designed mock-ups, as there were many examples from the early days of Magic. And I believe a big reason for that determination was the owner’s hard sell regarding the cards.
When I first saw the Blastoise I remembered the Japanese artwork (I still have multiple copies). I spent over a decade in the printing industry and knew enough about prototyping and product development to consider the possibility of it being a test print. I have never seen a Blastoise in person, but my communications with both Ben and Tavis never gave me reason to not consider the possibility that the card was a “real” test print or prototype. As these cards have been introduced to both the Magic and Pokemon communities much of the bias against the cards has been because of the way they have been marketed. As already noted, there has been a whole lot of hype.
In terms of actual value, I think they are probably worth more than the naysayers expect, but nowhere near what the owners hope. I don’t think they are the first English language Pokemon cards, although they may be the first English language foils. They aren’t PSA 10, and they aren’t a prototype Charizard. They aren’t even the first cut of the actual 1st Edition Blastoise, and are instead an alternate art. This, in my opinion, diminishes their value. Because the test print is more a proof of concept than tied to the 1st edition English release.
At the same time they are truly lovely cards, although they likely will appeal much more to a Pokemon collector than a Magic collector. And there aren’t a lot of known copies, which always helps.
As I divest my Pokemon and Magic collections I am holding onto a few rare or unique items of sentimental value. If I were already the owner of one of these Blastoise cards that would probably be the Pokemon item I kept. But after holding the uncut Magic/Pokemon sheet for almost 2 decades, I know from experience that finding a motivated buyer is extremely time consuming.
Maybe all the current hype, for these cards and for the Pokemon market, will get someone willing to spend $50K or even $100k for one of these cards. I think the odds would have been much better a few months ago. With one up for auction our waiting for an answer will be short. But if asking prices are anywhere near those quoted by sellers, it wouldn’t surprise me if reserves aren’t met (assuming they are allowed). Error and prototype cards usually don’t get the wild speculator crowd, or the analytical “investor” crowd.
Saying this is like laughing at people from the middle ages because they dismissed nuclear physics. Not sure why we need to bump a month-old thread for nothing more than a “I told you so.”
In 2016 no error like this had ever been seen before. What this forum had seen was many very bad fakes. And without any supporting information, the community rightfully fell back on the notion that they were fake. As we should, strange “misprints” or “test cards” should be considered fake until they are proven real. As the years went on, supporting documentation, photos, and stories for these MTG/Pokemon cards came to light, and there is now no debate that they were indeed test prints.
Everything was done as it should have been in my opinion. I believe this has been gone over several times before though.
Eh — I read through that thread only because it was linked, but it is a bit awkward everyone was so quick to dismiss. Just my two cents though. It’s funny, that’s all
I also am just now reading since this thread was linked in the giant market thread (and I am a very new member). The old thread you linked is indeed funny. Of course now, in a very different context it’s easy to think maybe people should’ve considered (even remotely) the possibility of a card like this (prototype, test prints, etc.) even existing? But of course and as always hindsight is 20/20. Interesting stuff nonetheless.
I do indeed agree everyone was a bit too quick to dismiss it in 2016.
In 2019 when the second thread was created there was already quite a bit more evidence, and people had in general more reasonable responses due to that: www.elitefourum.com/t/pre-base-set-test-print-prototype-blastoise/23779/1. There were still similar responses as last time that immediately dismissed it, but also an actual discussion and good questions. Although in the end it was still locked because some of our questions about dot patterns and such weren’t answered, and the owner primarily tried to sell it.
And then in December 2020 we finally had answers to those questions we asked a year prior, and I wrote that article in response to put it all in a single timeline.
With the exception of it being a bit too quickly dismissed in 2016, I agree with @fourthstartcg though: the way this entire history and evidence unfolded was reasonable. Unlike the MTG community where a lot of WotC employees are well-known sources of information, we as Pokémon community like to see hard evidence, since we only have ~10 known test prints in the total 25 years the Pokémon TCG exists. The communities are simply different.
Anyway, I’m repeating myself. All this is already in the main article, as well as the other comments.
Not gonna lie, it is suprising to see this jumpstarting right into the S tier of the most valuable Pokemon items. But it goes to show that the approvement of e4 doesn’t single-handedly determine the price of a card.
tbh I think that the owner of the card did not help the approval from e4… it’s not like “our” approval is needed for large record making transactions to take place anyway, but I know what you mean
