Latest Discovery: Cosmos Aerodactyl (Fossil 2000)!
Up until earlier this month, I was confident I had all these coins. I’d scoured the the internet, I’d bought so many coins to personally review, I’d skulked about on every international storefront site I could find, I’d consulted with other enthusiasts and scholars, there were no unturned stones left and I was sure I had them all.
One coin eluded me though - an Aerodactyl flip coin from Fossil theme decks featuring a “Cosmos” foil pattern. This coin occasionally showed up on incomplete lists of alleged flip coins from this era, but I could never find anything to support its existence. I was hesitant to rule it out because there had been other coins - like Mirror Eevee and Cosmos 2000 Vileplume - that were hard to track down and had uncertain origins. But after speaking with other collectors, including the author of some old documentation, I concluded this was a dead end. Clearly there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the line and the record was never corrected.
But I am nothing if not diligent. Despite concluding my hunt, I included a link to the Aerodactyl thread in a subsequent topic just in case. This caught the attention of fellow member @jac2357. Jac’s specialty is Fossil set cards with a 2000 copyright printed only in Australia. His unique commitment to these cards positioned him at the ever-so-perfect cross-section of our interests to come forward with new information on the fabled coin I’d been seeking.
Jac shared that this coin came from a “Red Label” Australian Fossil theme deck, which is a very rare sku. The unopened decks are a coveted collectable in their own right and it would be a waste to open one just for the coin inside. Conversely, any that were already opened were unlikely to still retain the coin. I immediately reached out to Jac about possibly obtaining this coin from him.
He was very generous and flexible to deal with. This coin falls under his purview - it’s associated with his specific collection of Australian Fossil 2000 material and it was asking a lot for him to part with it. But after discussing some possible purchase prices, we arrived at an even better alternative: a trade. 
This is not the first time that another member and I have fulfilled our mutual desires with an eclectic with a creative trade. Fellow member @thymeee and I made a creative arrangement last year to trade for two cards we both coveted and weren’t sure how to get otherwise. Jac and I made a similar arrangement!
I purchased a PSA 10 Fossil 2000 Tentacruel from a US seller (thanks Rusty at TCA 
) using a gift card I’d been saving. This discount allowed me to sell it to Jac for a heavily reduced price. I then performed some tasteful mail fraud to save him the shipping and import expenses and voila. We both got something we wanted!
This is the second time I’ve made an unlikely trade with a member of this forum, which I am very grateful for. I share this story to highlight a few lessons…
-
There is no more valuable resources in this hobby than your fellow collectors. No amount of research can ever match a personal interaction with a highly knowledgeable peer. I am grateful for members of the Pokémon community who share what they love with people so readily. You never know when your specific fascination is going to make you the perfect person to help someone else.
-
Always be open to new discoveries and never treat anything like a closed book. I was so sure this coin didn’t exist. I was on the record multiple times indicating there was no such coin. But just in case, I kept carrying the question forward and leaving the door open to someone like Jac to come in and prove me wrong.
On to the next mystery!