All is not well in the world of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) as one collector managed to use a law enforcement forensic technique in determining the authenticity of a recently purchased playtest and prototype card.
Last year, prototype versions of the Pokémon TCG began circulating in various auction houses and secondary markets. Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), a third-party grading and encapsulation service for cards and comic books, worked closely with Takumi Akabane, one of the founding members of the TCG’s initial design, in certifying the legitimacy of such items.
These items were a hot commodity last year as they began their rounds at the auction houses, some easily going for five digits in price. There was also a set of three “Pikachu Trophy” cards, a special promotional item awarded to the winners of tournaments in Japan, being sold at around $800,000. There was also that famous purchase of the “Pikachu Illustrator” card for about $5 million, just to name a few examples of how much value was placed on the items by collectors.
In recent weeks, one such member under the online handle of Pfm had been able to use a technique that consisted of high-resolution images alongside color adjustments, revealing a machine identification code in the form of tiny yellow dots printed on the cards which are normally invisible to normal sight.
They go on further to explain that this code acts like a veritable signature for different printing machines and that this technique has been used by law enforcement in the past when investigating forgery cases. With this approach, Pfm was able to read when the item was printed out, the year, the month, down to the exact time of printing as well as the serial code of the machine used.
Naturally, this rocked the community to its core, and as a consequence, collectors worldwide who have purchased items like a series of uncut Pikachu Trophy cards, have begun applying the same technique. Unfortunately, many were dismayed at the results, that being their supposed “piece of history” was printed out just last year.
Thankfully, this does not seem to hold true for all, as some collectors reached out to Pfm with high-quality images of the alpha versions of Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur cards. Much to their relief, they were authenticated to be genuine articles. That said, the saga continues to be a black mark for Pokémon, as some of these forgeries were not just auctioned at a high price but even came with Akabane’s personal signature.
At this time, CGC has responded that they are aware of the goings-on and are currently investigating the situation. There is hope that things will resolve themselves and those hurt by what transpired will be compensated.
Only time will tell how the wounds of this incident will heal and become a cautionary reminder moving forward. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading Pfm's findings and their explanation of the technique they used in identifying forged cards, you can find the article in question over at EliteFourum.com.