Shadowless vs First Edition Base

General
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Interestingly the shadowless fakes topic comes up a number of times in the 2000 chat logs:

  1. What about those Pokémon cards with copyright 95 96 98 and some have 95 96 98 99 are the 99 fake?
  • Nope, copyrights change on the cards as different print runs and dates pass.
  1. Are the base set cards that have a date of @1995,96,98,99 fake because they have 99 on them.
  • Nope there was a legal thing that Nintendo made us take off the 99 after many cards were already printed and distributed. In fact the ones with the 99 are a little older then the ones without the 99.
  1. If a card has a thin HP text and no shadow from the picture, and lightened background, (most people call it “second edition”) are they fake?
  • Nope, they are just from the early print runs of the cards before we darkened them, thickened the font, changed the copyright, and added the drop shadow. No, there was a slight color change between print runs.

Bonus quote:
167. How can you tell if a card is fake?

  • The light test is the best way. Hold the card between you and a light source. If you can see the printing on the back of the card through the front, it’s fake.
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