Authenticating a Trading Card: Genuine vs. Counterfeit – Part One
Collecting trading cards can be a fun and rewarding hobby. However, it is important to make sure that you are getting genuine cards, and not counterfeits. There are a few different ways to authenticate a card, and in this blog post we will discuss a couple of the most common methods.
Here at Ace Grading we handle a wide variety of cards and pride ourselves on being able to ascertain whether cards have been altered, recoloured, or are potentially counterfeit.
Most of the time, basic tests can be carried out to see if a card is counterfeit or of questionable origin but sometimes a card warrants extra inspection. At Ace, if we feel that your card is potentially fraudulent or altered during our Grading process, then we will take extra steps in order to verify its authenticity using a variety of different methods.
Some of the most obvious ways of spotting a counterfeit, if you have regularly held Pokemon cards is the feel. Do they feel more glossy than they should be? Do they not feel rigid enough? Is everything spelled correctly and do the typings make sense? After all, a glittery grass-type Gengar with ‘Hydro Pumd” doesn’t fill you with confidence!
Examples of our methodologies are using UV light, Infrared light, Spot Fluorescence, and over 90x zoom level of magnification we are able to evaluate rosette patterns and look for general identification markers that react to UV, IR, and spot fluorescence. So let’s have a look at a sample of the things we look at slightly closer up.
Printing Quality
Checking whether a Pokémon card is genuine or fake can be tricky if you don’t know where to look. One key indicator is the rosette pattern. Hold the card up to the light and look at the background behind the Pokémon. On a genuine card, the rosette pattern should be clear and sharp. On a fake card, the rosette patterns will be blurry and indistinct. Additionally, take a close look at the Pokémon itself. On a genuine card, the printing should be crisp and clean. On a fake card, the printing will be fuzzy and smudged. With these tips in mind, you should be able to tell whether a Pokémon card is real or fake.
Real or Fake?
Let’s take a little look at the rosette pattern here, it’s beautiful! It’s uniform, it has clearly defined gaps of a given length repeated with high accuracy across all of the colours on the card.
This card is real!
Real or Fake?
Hmm, something’s not quite right with this card. There’s a clear lack of definition in the printing, and the black outlines of the artwork seem to not appear at all. This card is not genuine even though they have got a fairly well-dispersed rosette.
Uh-oh, we've found a counterfeit!
Examining Reflections
One way to tell if a card is genuine is to use infrared or ultraviolet light. When exposed to these kinds of light, fake cards will often glow differently than real cards. This is because counterfeiters often use different (usually lower-quality) materials that react to different wavelengths of light in ways unlike a genuine Pokémon card. As a result, by using a simple light test, it is possible to quickly weed out fake cards from a collection.
Real or Fake?
Where has poor Charizard gone? This is not reacting well under infrared at all and has lost clarity in nearly all of the actual Charizard artwork, as well as being quite difficult to read any of the text. There are also patterns in the GX card we don’t expect to see.
A really low quality counterfeit.
Real or Fake?
This is a different card, however, it’s very clearly defined, from the artwork outlines, the font, and even the energy symbols. This has a strong and uniform diagonal reflection which is exactly what we expect from the SWSH V Cards.
This card is real!
The front of the cards above have some really obvious differences, but they’re different cards, so that’s to be expected, right? That’s correct.
However with so many thousands of variations in Pokémon Cards when it comes to backs there are only a few back designs. So they should show up the same under Infra-Red light – let me tell you how to spot the differences for what they really mean…
The print quality on this fake version is significantly less detailed than its genuine counterpart as seen by looking at both images below; however without knowing any other details about your own set or where it might have come from (ie: manufacturer), one could easily mistake these fakes for being real unless told otherwise directly onto close inspection
Real or Fake?
Exactly what we expect to see! Strong, defined colours in the blue border, very obvious contrast between the white glow from inside the ball in comparison to the swirls around it, and very easy-to-read text.
This card is real!
Real or Fake?
This looks like a Pokémon card back, but where is all of the definition? It’s hard to tell a difference between the white of the Pokéball or the yellow font on the word Pokémon. This is a very common trait of cards that aren’t genuine, and it’s usually a very quick ‘tell’ that a card isn’t genuine.
A common tell for a fake!
More to be seen in Part 2
As the popularity of Pokémon and other card games continues to grow, so does the market for counterfeit cards. While it can be difficult to spot a fake at first glance, there are a few things that collectors can look for to help authentication. In our next article, we will explore some of these methods in more detail, so be sure to check back soon.
Thomas Broomhall
Position: Head of Grading | Favourite Pokémon: Pidgeot | MetalEtamon Follower
Heya! Often going as “BaseSetTom”, I originally designed the grading scale at Ace, and upon early revisions with the Grading Team, and the leadership team, we came to make what we feel is the perfect way to grade cards! I will be giving more insights on Ace here in the blog, so keep your eyes peeled.