If it was printed recently you would want it to give the impression of being plausibly old with natural imperfections, as though not contrived.
You also have the possibility of matching old back scraps to new printing on the front.
This being said, I have no reason to believe they are inauthentic.
Again, the primary argument here is that it making more assumptions than necessary is inadvisable. These sheets can exist and be sold organically without any additional explanation required.
Yes, from a buyers perspective they can be reasonably confident they are legit. Even if there is a tiny chance they are not, though that can be said for any card really.
I would class these as being part of the recent Akabane personal collection entering the market (inc all the prototypes etc). He has a good reputation and history with Pokemon, so there is every reason to trust him. But if there are any issues, there has not been much time for them to become known.
Incidentally it seems that these items have been entered to the market by the Americans that met with Akabane. A lot of these are wealthy people from the sports card world.
Ya but my original point was just simply that there was an insentive to make product for themselves back then. Even with 0 forsight of what the value would be today. It doesn’t have to be some huge well thought out money making operation. Very well could’ve just been using left over scrap & making whatever with no real longterm plan out of convenience.
These cards were worth hundreds if not a few thousand dollars. Which is still a lot, especially accounting for pre inflation. It’ll always be tempting to create value out of nothing even without strong intentions to capitalize off of it down the line.
Ultimately I believe it depends on how much of this stuff we see flow into the market going forward. I feel there’s a ton more we haven’t seen but if there isn’t much from here your theory is probably much more likely.
Yes, as with all the prototypes/playtests. There is quite an information asymmetry between the sellers/holders and the market buyers these items are being introduced to. The incentive for the sellers/holders is for the market to believe these items are as scarce as possible. Perhaps they are scarce, but we have no information to indicate either way.
Im glad these have the authentic back and not the blank cardstock the “alpha/playtest” cards have.
I like the jagged edges. Gives them character. Makes it fit more into a category of “this was just trash”
These test sheets are pretty cool esp. seeing the unreleased fan club gyarados with the special rarity. I have no doubt if these were to hit an auction they would sell for a hefty sum greater than sum of it’s parts. It’s astonishing how many of these types of items are popping up within the last few months.
see: the debeers corporation and the whole diamond industry lol
Now imagine Debeers was a small group of sports card people with 100k flashy watches with monopoly mining rights to the Akabane diamond mine. They alone know the supply, and now they are selling their diamonds into the market they have not revealed the supply information. For what reason would they not reveal information in regards to the supply?.. And whether the diamonds have been heat treated or enhanced in any way (mounted on card when?).
Heheh… Jokes aside this is just a little thought exercise to convey the concerns of the market. Maybe these diamonds are indeed very scarce and completely ‘un-enhanced’. I am interested in them myself, but if I buy now I fully expect to be disappointed down the line as more details become known. I would feel a little reckless if I spent a lot.
And now they started teasing about an uncut Illustrator sheet. Imagine
Personally I find it nostalgic. We get the cutting machine out and the production line is back. We are redoing 99! 
What is going on with the holo pattern? Why isn’t the whole sheet the holo? Why is it exactly the same for each card?
Editing for one more question:
Is this not the exact holo pattern as the one @smpratte has for sale on eBay?
It’s photoshopped mate 
Oh sorry I see. I missed the label is for the SNAP promos. I thought this was encased already.
I like this theory.
I also cant wrap my head around how these are playtest cards yet are achieving cgc pristine 10’s.
These were obviously not used to playtest the game as they are described to be. once again they are just extra copies. Unless they are just design copies, it should state that on the cgc label.
the border of the illustrator is convincingly square… maybe one does exist!
Found this under my bed can I get a price check? I think my uncle who worked for Nintendo gave it to me when I was a kid.
First we will need you to check under your bed for any further copies. We Wouldn’t want to spend big bucks on these before it is revealed your uncle gave you a few thousand copies.
I think it’s important to keep a line of ambivalence about this type of thing. It’s interesting. It’s exciting, if real. But at this point, I really make no decisions or lean either way. We know what we know, and that what we know is uncertain.
@BANKS Agreed. Jumping to a conclusion (either way) makes it easy to justify an emotion. The appearance of these things in the wild makes me feel lots of things, It should. But those feelings are the most definitively real thing about it.
