Taken off of IG, curious to hear everyones thoughts 
has CGC written up about the authenticity of these?
Credit to IG: Thefinecard
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Is this the first time a ‘proof of concept’ has been kept in such good condition it gets a pristine 10?
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And of course the Pikachu would get a Pristine 10….
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I love them for the nostalgia that those sprites give and Im sad I wont own any of them assuming their values. Anyone else find it odd for the pokemon creators to be cashing out with so much prototype and production proofs being released? Most artists and creators keep this stuff around so Im not surprised its still around but maybe they got a manager to go through all their personal archives.
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These are really cool, but I don’t understand how you can grade them accurately.
With the edges you could just trim it if they are mounted on card. Also the centering is done by comparing them all to each other, as we don’t know how they are supposed to look.
It’s great they are authenticated and are made public, but the grading bit just doesn’t sit quite right to me.
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I don’t care. To me, these are the kind of thing that shouldn’t leave the backroom, and not because they’re sacred relics.
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These cards should be more radiant and understood, yet how they are being handled has created confusion and disinterest. IMO these are being mistreated and recklessly dumped on the market. These cards were only rumored and never seen, and probably should have stayed that way, then all of the sudden they are dumped en masse by multiple sources. The average collector will struggle to differentiate what’s happening as everything is being flooded, making it more difficult to digest, and most importantly appreciate.
This just isn’t how historical items should be handled. It reminds me of the snap poliwags. For those who weren’t around, the winner showed a photo of all of them and proceeded to auction one after another. While it’s a great card, it diminished the demand due to the process. Anyway not trying to be a downer, just highlighting the process matters.
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I’m an experienced collector and still struggle to keep the prototype and developmental timeline straight! I think we need a deep-dive article or resource on this.
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My honest thoughts is that these should be in a museum.
It is what it is, lots of things which should be in museums are in peoples personal collections. (I’m not strictly speaking about Pokémon of course).
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And lots of things in museums are in peoples personal collections. 
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Big brain move is when you have a personal collection of museums. I do wish more people were able to get together to make something like a museum of pokemon. Somewhere that would vault and safeguard parts of pokemons history, while being available for others to view.
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I don’t have any issue with these being sold or making it into the public’s hands. I think it is nice that collectors can have the opportunity to own such history.
However, it is extremely disappointing how it has been handled. Feels like an endless rush for a quick buck when it could be used as an opportunity to educate more people on the history behind these.
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Yes I’m wondering the same thing sort of. What the hell is the standard for a 10 on a prototype card that doesn’t even have a back…?
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The instagram post has spiralled into a 
show too. Some defending the cards whilst stating others should do their research.
I agree with you Scott, items like these are true museum pieces for the hobby, no one is entitled to anything of course seeing as they are privately owned but the irony of one of the commenters saying ‘do your research’ when it seems these were hidden from the general public (as most of these type of items are in the first place) is funny.
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Maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t care for these at all…
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I too can’t keep up with all of the niche prototype releases and I have no interest in them. Grading prototypes and trophies en masse and dumping them on the market leaves collectors with a sour taste in their mouth. It’s so obvious what’s happening behind the scenes.
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There’s also that controversial chinese collector that has been posting a bunch of these prototypes in his stories. Seems to have a full set of alpha, beta & whatever the 3rd type is.
All of these prototype, sheets & extra trophy cards makes me feel like early employees had some foresight that pokemon would be a massive juggernaut someday. So they just made themselves a bunch of extra stuff to capitalize later down the line.
There’s supposed to be 39 illustrators awarded. But for some reason, 20+ copies were given to a few high ranking employees. Along with numerous other top tier trophies including ones that are supposed to be “one of a kind”. Then you have Ishihara just having a bunch of random one of kind product tailored to himself. Just feels like every month we learn about a new prototype, sheet or some rare unreleased product.
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Yea im gonna be honest all these prototype cards have absolutely zero value to me. Im not even excited to learn about them. Without any concrete povidence or officiality, these are just pieces of paper with stuff printed on it. It just doesnt feel very meaningful to me.
As for extra trophies and stuff - cards are printed on sheets and it makes sense they would have extra ones they gave away or just kinda had. Price increases created a supply vacuum that sucked em all outta hiding i guess.
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Here is a good article written back on 7/20/24 about the prototype
Few screenshot of the article …
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I mean, it makes sense to have a few extra copies, but more than 20? Thats a bit questionable imo. Especially with selling at this frequency. But who knows I guess.
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