Is My Charizard Real?

Somewhere in my Mum’s back shed lies a blue folder, faded and covered in a film of dust. Inside lies my small fortune – a collection of Pokémon cards from the mid-1990s.

Pokémon cards have enjoyed a public resurgence over the past 6 years, largely thanks to the eye-watering sums of money exchanged for some of the trading card game’s rarest finds.

In February, disgraced influencer turned WWE star Logan Paul sold a card, featuring the titular character holding a paintbrush, for almost AU$25 million (US$16.5 million).

With cards attracting so much attention and money, there seem to be an increasing number of scams, fakes and frauds sneaking into circulation. 

How can you know what’s real and what isn’t?

Spotting fakes

Kenji Misino, who runs Perth’s K2 Collectibles, has seen plenty of fake Pokémon cards – and the disappointment that comes when trying to trade or sell them.

“We’ve had a number of situations where people came to showcase their shiny, gold Pokémon cards purchased elsewhere for a couple of dollars, only to be told by my team that they are fake cards,” says Kenji.

For those new to the trading card game, it can be difficult to spot a fake, he notes. 

He comes across two types of fakes often: cards that don’t exist in real sets, and cards that have incorrect texture or colouring. 

In both cases, a physical assessment is the first way to tell if something is off.

There are often tell-tale signs that cards are not legitimate – for instance, spelling errors or use of the word ‘Pokemon’ without its accented ‘e’. 

You might also notice washed-out colours, misaligned logos or the hit points and attack power are massive such as in the Charizard card below.

Comparisons can be extremely useful too. When buying or trading cards, it’s a good idea to access databases such as the Pokemon.com official database or even a reputable community website like PkmnCards. 

The above gold cards feature on neither – another sign they’re fakes.

Let it rip

Kenji has one, somewhat frightening, example of detecting fakery. He was recently gifted a holographic Raichu from the base set of cards, first released in 1999. 

The most pristine copies of this card can sell for upwards of AU$3,000.

The weight of the card was much heavier than he was used to. He was fortunate to have another card to compare it to, detecting slight differences between the pair. 

So he conducted the most brutal of all counterfeiting detection techniques – the Rip Test.

Tearing the card in two, he discovered with relief, proved it was a fake. True Pokémon cards have specific cardboard layering. The Rip Test showed this Raichu did not. Even so, he recommends it only as a very last resort.

2.B.A Counterfeit Master

There’s no absolute method to determine a card’s legitimacy prior to purchasing, especially if you’re trading and selling online, says Kenji. 

There are even instances where graded cards – those sealed in a validated enclosure – have been carefully extracted from their enclosure and replaced. 

“Our advice is to always inspect the cards you’d like to purchase in person and ask for second opinions if you’re unsure,” says Kenji.

“The community, both at physical events and in various online groups, has an invested interest in keeping the good eggs from leaving the hobby and ousting those with bad intentions. 

“Their insight can be quite helpful in preventing scams from occurring.”