Trying to document the origins of some old TCG flip coins (and discovering more!)

[stagecoach]

I collect TCG flip coins from before 2003. Right now my collection is content complete and I own all the coins I believe to exist from this time period, but some of them have mysterious origins I’ve never confirmed. The purpose of this thread is for people to report sightings of these coins and provide any information they may know on their unknown releases.

Saturated Gold Chansey Coin (1997?)

This coin has a dedicated thread already from when I first found it, which I will link here. All the information I have on the coin is already listed in that OP, which I will also quote below.

OP from other topic

@stagecoach

I had a very pleasant experience with a gentleman from the UK who had this coin in his old stock from buys around 2010-2012. He mentioned not seeking out coins on his own but they were sometimes included when he bought other things, so it wasn’t something he really looked at until recently. He originally believed this was the standard Gold Chansey coin from the 1997 tournament and had listed it as such.

However, it is not that coin, because that coin looks like this one, on the right.

You can see how different the coins are when you place them side by side. Not only is the color different, but the pattern is different too.

I did not know what to make of it at first. The back of the coin appears identical to other coins from this era. The front of the coin also looks exactly like the Chansey used for the face of all of these coins, of which there are several variations and colors of. But this coin does not appear in the compendium from the Trainer Mag Volume 2, which lists all the coins up to that point. You can see the other Chanseys in there for reference.

My first thought was that maybe it was one of the redder/pinker coins that had suffered sun damage, but the pattern is incorrect for this to be the case. The red/pink coins all have a mirror finish and this obviously has something different. The pattern it matches the most is actually the silver coin from the JP Base Set Decks, seen in this photo alongside side the regular gold counterpart.

So here’s the recap:

1. The packaging and design seem to exactly match all the Chansey coins distributed in this era. Every Chansey coin, including the 1997 Gold tournament coin, came in these little plastic flaps with the tape on it.
2. The sculpt of the front and reverse face seem exact and are exactly what one would expect from coins from this era.
3. The color does not match anything on record that I am aware of in either English or Japanese.
4. The pattern is closest to the silver coin distributed in multiple early theme decks.
5. It does not appear to be a damaged coin that has become this color over time.

So what is this thing? My belief at first, and this was supported by a friend of mine who felt similarly, is that this must be a fake “gold coin.” The tournament coin is the rarest flip coin with the highest asking price, so if any coin was going to be forged it would be this one. It would make sense if that was the case. But I don’t know, now that I have it in my hands and having handled many of these coins, it doesn’t feel or look fake to me. I don’t know what to think.

Thoughts? Anyone know what this thing is?

This coin is Japanese in origin and I purchased it from a collector in the UK. This is the only one I’ve ever seen. Since it was sealed, it seems unlikely to be a prototype. It could be a production error, a rare variant, it could be an undocumented release, I have no idea. I’ve got nothing. All I know is that it exists. Even just a second-sighting of this coin would be meaningful, so please let me know if you ever see one.

Jungle Vileplume w/ Starlight Pattern & 2000 Copyright

There are five known variants of this Vileplume coin, which shipped with Jungle theme decks produced by WotC. Three of them have 1999 copyright dates, including one with the Starlight pattern. But there also exists a Starlight pattern with a 2000 copyright date that I believe originates from Europe.

In fact, I think it originates from the Italian “Water Blast” Jungle theme deck specifically:

I have only seen this coin three times ever - one from a UK seller, twice from Italian sellers. Please don’t confuse this coin with the “Cosmos” coin with the 2000 copyright, which is far more common.

If any European collectors find this coin on European sites, or if anyone has an open Italian theme deck that retains the original coin, I would appreciate the information! I have a couple of these but the condition is really poor so I would love to have one in nicer condition.

Base Set 2 Cosmos Pikachu

Starlight, the common coin, is features on the left. Cosmos, the rare coin, is shown on the right. The color difference is just lighting, the only difference is the foil texture. I’m at work stealing these images from wherever I can find them.

Base Set 2 theme decks all came with the same coin - a Pikachu flip coin with a 2000 copyright date. While Base Set 2 holos were printed with Cosmos foil, the majority of the Pikachu flip coins contained in the theme decks had classic Starlight foil. However, a Cosmos foil version does indeed exist. In my experience, 90% of these coins have the Starlight pattern and 10% have the Cosmos pattern associated with Base Set 2.

They are more common from UK sellers, which made me suspect it might be a from a European release. But the Starlight pattern is still plenty common in the UK, so it isn’t a case of a universal regional variant. Additionally, I have seen the Cosmos coin from US sellers.

One lead I’d like to spoil out the gate: In addition to coming packed in Theme Decks, this coin was also packed in the “2-Player CD-ROM Starter Set”. One of the gimmicks with this release was that it contained a Base Set Machamp printed with Cosmos holofoil to bring it in line with Base Set 2’s foil. Previously I suspected the Cosmos version of the coin might be from this release, but you can easily find open packages of this sku and all the ones I’ve seen contain Starlight coins. This does not seem to be its origin.

This one is not nearly as rare as some others in this thread, you can usually find at least one for sale at a time if you went looking, but I have no idea where it originates.

Mirror Eevee from the Starter Gift Box

Eevee is a rare flip coin to begin with. It was only released in the “Start Gift Set” which was released in between WotC’s Jungle and Fossil expansions. This premium sku contained two theme decks and a booster pack, plus a playmat and the other normal deck components like damage counters and a flip coin. This it the only sku that Eevee was ever available.

Do not be fooled if you are ever shopping for this coin. All flip coins appear to have a mirror finish from a certain angle and many Starlight Eevees will look like Mirror Eevee when photographed a certain way. Be sure to inspect all the available images or ask a seller to confirm. Just buying the ones that look like they might be Mirror Eevees is a losing strategy. Trust me, I tried that.

I have also considered the possibility that the Mirror Eevee is a misprint of the Starlight Eevee. We have seen cards misprinted with Mirror holo instead of their intended Starlight pattern. We have also seen among these cards with very few stars, giving the deceptive appearance of a Mirror foil. But I don’t think that’s the case here. Other coins were produced with a Mirror finish and this Eevee looks just like them.

But I have no idea how this coin could have two variants if it was only released for one gift box, all of which were made in the USA. If you have an unsealed Starter Gift Set with the coin inside, please confirm which Eevee is in it!

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“Light Brown” Aerodactyl Coins: Previously I was trying to determine if there were any Fossil Aerodactyl coins with a Light Brown finish and a holo pattern other than Mirror, but currently I think this case is closed. I do not believe patterned Light Brown coins exist and you can read some research on the subject in my previous thead.

EDIT: This thread delivered so hard. Cosmos Aerodactyl exists!

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July 2024 Edit: An Eevee from Starter Gift Box has been found with the black text checkerboard background, previously thought to be exclusive to Chansey coins. This means other coins produced in 1999, like Vileplume and Aerodactly, may exist with this background too as WotC depleted any lingering stock. Please let me know if you find them and check out the find below!

[Soda_Eesti]

Hey! This Is A Pretty neat thread! I have a project pretty similar to this, thats documenting every item that came with, or is about pokemon cards, that is not a card itself, Im done with Base-Neo and I have a question for you, Do you know what coins are in the Japanese Rocket Gift Set? Or The Japanese Starter Gift set?

also if u can tell me about the variants and origins of the variants, for the Chansey, Vileplume, aerodactyl, pikachu, meowth, starmie, eevee and alakazam coin ill appreciate it, but like i dont even expect you to, its like alot of info,

[stagecoach]

I’d be thrilled to compare notes with you to the best of my ability. My documentation is more narrow but I will never turn a cold shoulder to another researcher. We have to work together!

For the Japanese Rocket Gift Set or the Japanese Starter Gift, I unfortunately can’t help you at all. But let’s see what I can share on some of the other stuff.

Let’s start with an easy one: the C/G/M versus the C/G variants for various Japanese flip coins. If you look at my spreadsheet you’ll see what I’m referring to:

All of these coins originated in Japanese theme decks. You can see which theme decks they originated from here. This particular information is accurate.

The coins with C/G/M were produced prior to 2001. They are a copyright representing Creatures Inc, Game Freak, and Media Factory. However Media Factory’s involvement with the TCG ended in 2001 and the copyright was revised accordingly. To my knowledge there are no alterations to the skus other than the revised copyrights. Japanese stuff in this era was typically for sale a lot longer than we were accustomed to in the US.

The other coins you asked about also all came from theme decks, which can again be referenced in the Bulbapedia article. But what has never been clear is where each one came from. Vileplume for example has 5 variants - more than any other coin from this era - but there were only two actual Jungle theme Decks - Water Blast and Power Reserve. All of the Vileplume coins except for the Starlight 2000 variant are readily available and easy to find in the US, indicating they were accessible in large quantities to regular North American consumers.

It is probably not going to be possible to identify beyond doubt the exact origins of each variant. There may have been a random element. There may be differences based on the sku (for example, perhaps Water Blast had one coin and Power Reserve had another, then the Water Blast deck contained in the 2-Player Gift Box also contained a unique variant, etc). The coins may be specific to factory runs of the skus. It could be lots of different things. But short of buying numerous examples of every available sku and opening them up for this explicit purpose I don’t know if we will ever know.

The story with these coins involves a lot of generality. We know certain coins are associated with certain skus, but saying which box you can open to receive a certain one 100% of the time is beyond me.

I’m happy to answer any specific questions you have about specific coins. I enjoy talking about them and am happy to share anything else I’ve learned.

[lyleberr]

I didnt read through all the details of your previous posts so apologies if I touch on things you already know.Most of my decks are sealed so its difficult to known exactly what is in them.

I’ll have to check if I have an open italian water blast deck with that style of coin. There are 9 total variants of this specific deck in english (2 of which have a 1999-2000 copyright version with a coin) and at least 6 different nonenglish versions (French, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian). The same amounts for Power Reserve decks which have the same coin style. It may be difficult to source exactly which it comes from but the 1999-2000 version of english decks are difficult to source so that may be a possible coin source.

For base 2 coins, the psych out deck had a late revision that I estimate only effected about 5% or less of decks judging by difficulty finding it. The box revision corrected the card image error on the back since the deck does not contain Poliwrath but Chansey. I have no confirmation but that may be a possible source for a coin variant.

Also there are 3 variants for the Base 2 starter deck: From a deck display box, from a hangtab (J hook) box, and packaged in the deluxe box which included an instruction VHS (the box itself is a display box version by all outer details). I assume the deluxe version was a later release and thus a later print so its possible that there may have been a coin variant in some portion of it.

The Starter gift set has 2 versions (Power Reserve and Water Blast) but there is no way Ive found to know which version you have without opening. I havent seen or found details of if there is a UK/International late printing version. Ive been researching this just this week and will let you know if I find anything that isnt yet known is found.

Fossil decks each had 4 english variations plus the 6 nonenglish languages, although it sounds like it may have been a nomenclature difference.

[stagecoach]

Tremendous infodump, thank you so much for contributing all this information.

[lyleberr]

I have no idea if the box variants or revisions actually adjusted any of the content like coins but it may give you more details to try homing in on. I can message you the deck box details I have if you need them in order to do research, just hit me up.

[stagecoach]

Thank you so much — and if you have anything open where you can verify the coin, please let me know.

[jac2357]

Reading this thread and your other thread you believe there is no cosmos Aerodactyl?

[stagecoach]

I’ve never seen one. If you think I’ve overlooked one, please show!

[jac2357]

[Soda_Eesti]

YO WHAT HOW DID YOU FIND THIS WHRE DID YOU GET THOIS

[stagecoach]

1. Would you sell this to me?
2. Do you know where it came from?

Very exciting post. That’s what these threads are for!

[Soda_Eesti]

Whelp Update ur Thingy Ig Lol. A new coin that You knows exist

[stagecoach]

I’m excited to! I love a new discovery!

[jac2357]

Maybe and yes and yes lol.

[jac2357]

There’s likely to be two new ones if this one’s new

[stagecoach]

Tell me more, my friend. Thank you for posting.

DM me and maybe I can buy that coin from you.

[jac2357]

Red logo theme decks

[Soda_Eesti]

I Might Make A Whole New Section In My Spread For Variants Of Things- My Spread Is Really Unorganized, And I dont have many resources to go from

[stagecoach]

Is that Australia?