Last year, hundreds of vintage prototype, test, and presentation Pokémon cards believed to date back to the creation of the game in the 1990s sold for auction to various collectors for hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively. Now, one of those collectors has investigated the prototype cards they bought more thoroughly and made a terrible discovery: they were seemingly printed only just last year. “I will lose thousands,” they told fellow fans.
The collector in question, as first reported by PokéBeach, is a user who goes by pfm on the Elite Forum discussion boards where people facilitate trades, analyze market trends, and scrutinize auction prices for the rarest cards. In 2024, that included hundreds of cards printed during the creation phase of the Pokémon trading card game that were authenticated using the personal collection of Takumi Akabane, one of Pokémon TCG’s original creators.
“CGC Cards utilized all the tools at our disposal to help document and authenticate these cards, compiling vast resources for comparison with future submissions,” the grading house wrote last year in a press release. “A very thorough process is in place for the authentication and grading of these cards using ones verified by Mr. Akabane.”
Now, however, at least some of the cards authenticated by CGC and later sold at auction for anywhere from $1,000 to over $200,000 are being questioned as fakes. On January 26, user pfm shared several examples of early test cards that displayed printer metadata suggesting they were actually created in 2024, including even some signed by Akabane. The alleged discovery has made the entire collection suspect in some collectors’ eyes, as fans speculate about how a possible scam might have been orchestrated, including the potential use of high-quality original art leaked in the past.
“It was really disheartening to find this out,” pfm told PokeBeach.
“More than the financial aspect, I thought it was cool to own a piece of history and it’s unfortunate it turned out this way.” It’s still unclear how many of the hundreds of cards sold may indeed be fakes, and if Akabane was aware or just duped like everyone else. Collectors who were already unsure about test card auctions last year are now being extra critical of grading house CGC as well.
“We’re aware of recent claims regarding CGC graded Pokémon Prototype and Playtest cards that have been sold across various platforms,” one of the sellers, Alt auction house, told PokéBeach in a statement. “CGC has assured us they are taking these allegations seriously and are conducting a thorough review. We’re staying in close communication with CGC and will share updates as they become available.”
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