I’m looking to buy a sealed printed 2001 barcode variant Japanese Neo 1 (Genesis) booster pack. My offer is $750, or 4 times the going rate for the regular 1999 pack - whichever is higher.
For reference, I already have the original printed 1999 barcode (ST 9; 4935228 98512 8) and 2001 sticker barcode (ST 1; 4521329 00794 6) variants in my collection:
It is my belief that a third, printed 2001 barcode variant pack exists, which will look identical to the 2001 sticker barcode variant only with the barcode printed directly onto the pack instead. That’s what I’m looking to buy.
I just checked my loose packs. None have the revised barcode printed on the packs.
Do you happen to know whether the barcode printed on the bottom of the booster boxes themselves differ between the 1999 and 2001 releases? (The number on the box barcode is not the same as the one on the pack barcode, as I’m sure you probably already know.) If those are different, I can check my sealed boxes to see if I might have what you’re after. (I know you don’t want a sealed box, but I could be persuaded to break one open.)
@japanime I hope @thetropicalwoodsman doesn’t mind me sharing this picture of his, but we know that the packs with sticker barcodes on came from boxes with sticker barcodes on:
If the printed 2001 barcode versions were also distributed in boxes I would assume those would have printed 2001 barcodes on as well, but I can’t say with any certainty.
Also, the number on the box with the sticker barcode is different than the number on the sealed boxes I have on hand in my office, and I presume they are 1999 printings. (The box barcode number on those is T4935228985135).
If I happen to come across any boxes (open or otherwise) in my storeroom that have the T4521329007953 printed on (sticker or printed), I’ll let you know. (Not likely, though. I think I only have the ones here in the office.)
@pichufan, since there was a correction for Typhlosion I’m wondering if that adds to the hope, since the correct attack versions are relatively rare so it could support a 2001 variant
@japanime yep, so for some reference 493 and 452 in both barcodes simply refer to Japan (493 is the older pre-1992 code, 452 is the newer 1992 onwards code), then the 4 digits which follow refer to the ID of the company which manufactured the goods - in the first case, 4935228 is Media Factory and in the second 4521329 is The Pokémon Center Company.
I have a write-up about what I believe happened here if it’s of any interest: www.elitefourum.com/t/guide-to-early-pokemon-tcg-history-1995-test-card-versions/31779/1. The tl;dr is that The Pokémon Center Company took over manufacture of Pokémon cards from Media Factory in 2001 and initially stuck their own barcode over existing Media Factory product barcodes (which is what those sticker barcodes are) but in some cases went on to directly print their own new product (which is what the top Neo 2 pack in my first post here is).
Under that sticker barcode should be the Media Factory 4935228… barcode.
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@shizzlemetimbers in terms of corrected card distribution, earlier this year I had a chat with a Japanese collector who believes:
If it’s an original Media Factory 4935228… pack it will not contain corrected cards;
If it’s a Pokémon Center Company 4521329… sticker barcode pack there is a 50% chance it’ll have corrected cards (if TPCC printed the cards directly instead of repurposed old Media Factory packs);
If it’s a Pokémon Center Company 4521329… printed barcode pack it will only contain the corrected versions of the cards (Jungle Venomoth, Neo 1 Typhlosion, etc.).
I don’t know if this is true though, but it would certainly make a lot of sense. I’m certainly not going to be opening any printed barcode TPCC packs though as they’re not exactly common!
@japanime fortunately the price of sticker barcode packs is on par with that of the original 1999 packs, so even if someone did forge the sticker it wouldn’t have any financial merit.
That said I think the majority of people have no idea of the variations in these packs which may contribute to the lack of price difference.
At any rate, it’s the printed 2001 variant I’m after here. I still don’t know if that exists for Neo 1 but I can only assume it does.
Bar the people who have read this thread, the amount of people who know/or care about these packs is very low (I wasn’t aware until pichufan shared the info). I’ve only seen a couple of these pack varieties and they’ve been listed as normal packs. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I consistently saw sellers list 291 yen or 300 yen versions, so this is another step beyond that.
