So I ordered a Tapu Lele Full Art off of ebay and when I took the card out of the sleeve it felt like something just felt off. The only time that I’ve had that feeling before was when handling some fake Chinese cards I’d received off ebay. I’m just getting back into the hobby so it’s possible that newer cards like this Tapu Lele Full Art feel a little bit different, so I’m wondering what you experts think.
The biggest giveaway from the Chinese card was the back of the card, which was almost glossy in appearance. This card is not quite glossy, but it’s not quite matte either. There seems to be a very, very minor sheen to it. I also noticed some weird, very small notches at the very bottom of the card that I’ve never seen on any other cards before:
Another thing I noticed is that the back of the card is quite a bit lighter than all of my other cards. It’s a very subtle difference, but it’s there:
(Shining Tyranitar on the left, Tapu Lele full art on the right)
Now, it seems like this card would be a hard card to duplicate due to the pattern/grooves on the front of the card’s artwork, so I’m wondering if you guys are aware of any of these types of fakes. Or, if you’re familiar with some of the above printing/cutting variations that I’m seeing, it’d help to ease my mind a bit to know that’s normal. The ebay seller has 100% positive feedback and over 100+ feedback, if that means anything.
I’m defintely no expert when it comes to counterfeit cards, but judging by those pictures it looks real to me. I’ve seen cards with those groves before. It happens sometimes on Full Arts (or Yu-Gi-Oh Secret Rares ). As for the color difference: color differences happen a lot. Especially in the Base Set and XY Evolutions. (Just take these XY Evolution Pikachus for example.)
But again, I’m no expert, so let’s see what the others have to say. Also, could you post a picture of the front as well. It might be easier to spot if it’s a fake or not by looking at fonts, holo colors, and such.
Yes same size and cut
1.5) I also weighed the Full Art card vs a Tapu Lele Hyper Rare, both 0.28 oz
They do pass the light test
@quaador Ok, that information calms me down a little. The grooves and coloring seemed weird, but if you’ve seen that kind of before than it’s probably all good.
The notches look like booster pack crimp imo I have a mega K from FF with the same, but more extreme when the booster pack was sealed over the edge of the card…making it look like crimping grooves.
Those grooves are somewhat normal for textured full arts like Quaador said. I think your card is legit.
English cards have a thin black sheet in the middle which stops light from shining through the card. Most fakes don’t have that filter so you can see light through them.
The light test is shining through a real card and a potential fake card with a flashlight. If the potential fake let’s a lot more light though, it’s most likely a fake. Used this for two of my cards that looked almost exactly like the real cards (but was doubting, since I had never seen a Thin stamp Base Pikachu nor non-Glossy Japanese Flying Pikachu), but both turned out to be fake after the light test.
Keep in mind though that Japanese cards are thinner than Western cards by default (which is also how you spot the difference between an English Shadowless non-1st Yellow Cheeks Pikachu, and the same card from the Japanese CD Promo release).
Looks completely legit. The back grooves are found on most modern set cards to various degrees. Not sure if it’s printing location or what other factors cause it but many early Evo FArts were the same way. I wouldn’t worry about it.
). As for the color difference: color differences happen a lot. Especially in the Base Set and XY Evolutions. (