Original Pokemon Base Booster - Help on Fake or Real?

General
1

So i am new to these forums, but i have read a few posts and everyone here seems to know what they are talking about and are open to helping people, so if you feel like you can help me i would really appreciate it.

I’m looking to buy a Original WOTC Pokemon Base Set Booster Box, but ofc i want it to be real. But i haven’t got a lot of knowledge on these products. As i am getting older i want something to hold onto from the years of when i was young, and i couldn’t think of anything better. I am a huge Pokemon fan, so why not have something of where it all started for me.

So i am here asking for help to get one! I would just like to know how i can if it’s real or fake? Also, would it be worth getting it PSA Graded? Just so when people see it they can see it’s the real thing.

I have also heard about something called “Black Triangle Error Packs” And about how they was only printed for 4 hours or something? And these Booster Boxes have the chance on containing them? Anyone who could enlighten me i would appreciate it :heart_eyes:

Questions:

Q1: Is it possible to tell whether they are real or fake without opening it?

Q2: How can i tell if it’s real?

Q3: What are these “Black Error Triangle Packs”?

Q4: Are these Black Error packs obtainable in any Booster Box? So it;s like a gamble box?

Q5: Could the box i am looking at contain them? www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252805033535?euid=72ceac8327194841a691566446d05f7e&bu=44511062186&cp=1&sojTags=bu=bu

Q6: Do they PSA Booster Boxes? Or is there any where that does?

Q7: Also what are these “Shadowless vs Unlimited packs”

Q8: Is there any other information i need to know about these before buying?

Q9: I am from the UK, so i would be wanting a EU / NA One correct?

I know this is a lot of questions from someone new to the forums and i apologise, i just want to make sure i am spending my money on the right thing. Anyone who is able to help i would really appreciate it, many thanks.

  • ShameMate
2

Hello! I don’t have much experience with WOTC booster boxes but I’ll answer what I can.

A1: Opening one is really the only sure fire way of telling a box is real but you can be 99% sure of a box without opening it. The plastic seal would be very difficult to open and reseal without leaving signs. For unlimited base set boxes there will be WOTC logos on the top of the plastic seal. The seams should be for the most part horizontal and professional looking. There shouldn’t be burn marks or glue globs. The plastic should also be fairly tight.

A2: Familiarize yourself with the way a box should look. Look up pictures online from all angles.

A3: Apparently they printed some first edition foil packs for unlimited cards. They couldn’t leave the first edition symbol on the pack because the cards weren’t first edition so they printed a black triangle over the symbol. These packs are rare but I have no idea how rare.

A4: I’m not sure honestly. I’ve seen them pulled from a blue wing charizard box like the one you posted a link to. Not sure if they come from green wing boxes or not. Either way I wouldn’t count on getting one like that.

A5: Nothing from the pictures looks off to me but I personally wouldn’t buy that box. The seller has very little experience/feedback from selling and they seem to promote making the sale private (outside of ebay’s protections) for a discount. Those are red flags. It could be totally legit but it’s not a gamble I would take.

A6: I have no idea if psa deals with boxes.

A7: Shadowless cards are the first print runs of base set. They are older and rarer. I believe blue wing charizard boxes like the one you posted a link to never have shadowless cards. Only first edition boxes and *some* green wing boxes have them. Unlimited are later print runs and can be identified by the picture box having a shadow on the right side.

A8: I suggest not buying a box unless it is from a reputable seller. Ask them for pictures of all sides of the box. Know what a box should look like before you buy one. Reverse google image search all the pictures (I don’t know how to do this). They could be stolen from another source.

A9: Yes I think so. You want the english version. The text on the box should be in english.

3

Very good answers from @chinameowthsunflower. I can add a bit more though:

  • PSA does not grade booster boxes, but they do grade booster packs. Since you want to keep it sealed this probably will not apply.

  • Seconding everything that’s been said about buying from a reputable seller. Unlimited base boxes are much less expensive than 1st Edition ones and as such are faked less. However you should always do your research before buying from anyone. I wouldn’t touch a box from anyone with less than 500 feedback @ 99% positive. If anyone wants to do a private deal, avoid them like the plague. Base set boxes are not so rare that you need to take the first one you see.

  • Do your research. Do your research. Do your research. Know what a real box looks like, the different types of boxes, and their price ranges. Be prepared to pay a bit more to got a box from a trusted seller.

4

Thank you guys for the replys, i really do appreciate. You guys have really opened my eyes a lot xd.

So what is the difference between a 1st Edition Box and Unlimited Box? How many types of this Booster Box are there? xd.

Also, whats the difference in the Charizard’s wings? What does that mean exactly? From what i’m reading there are 1st Edition Boxes, Blue wings and Green wings?

5

A box with a Ken Sugimori Charizard(Blue Wings) are almost always Unlimited or They might contain Triangle error packs(unlimited cards) and the wrapper will have WOTC logos. The boxes with a green winged Charizard might contain Shadowless cards or Unlimited cards, the chances are 50/50. A box with the 1st Edition Stamp will always have a green winged Charizard and will always contain 1st Edition packs, but the wrapper will not have WOTC logos(making them highly vulnerable to tampering).

The difference between unlimited and Shadowless appearance wise is self explanatory. One has a non-shadowed border the other has a shadowed border. Shadowless cards also have darker illustrations and a lighter outer base when unlimited cards have lighter illustrations but darker outer base.

Shadowless:

Unlimited:

6

Gl with that while I make great deals.

Ofc, larger amount of positive feedback indicates that everything will go all right and the product is a real deal.
However, 500 is A LOT of feedback. Especially if we are talking about seller feedback only. To have a such amount of feedback you either have to be a professional seller or VERY active (seller) hobbyist.

I haven’t collected booster boxes but instead 90’s ‘PC big boxes’. That’s pretty similar type of product to collect in many ways and their prices can also climb up to 3 or even 4 figures a piece. Both, big boxes and booster boxes, are products that are meant to be unboxed and consumed.

What I want to point out here is that there are - I’d say - at least three type of sellers with this type of products:

  1. ‘Randoms’. These can be previous store owners or just regular people who for reason or another have these products lying around. There’s high chance (or risk) that the owner doesn’t understand the value or collectibility of the product. They can be forgotten next to a unboxed microwave to a storage for many years and the owner may think the microwave is much more valuable than the weird childrens’ toy. Whether the owner understand the value or not, these pieces pop up randomly and the owner most likely just want to sell the useless item(s) away. If it’s not flea market, it can be ebay or other similar selling platform. For this kind of casual sellers, I wouldn’t expect to see much feedback. But the seller can still be totally legit.

  2. (‘high level’) Collectors. There are thousands of this type of people - including me. I understand that major of the Pokemon collectors are underage or just casual collectors / players who doesn’t go so far that they would purchase expensive products like booster boxes. And that’s why in Pokemon scene it might look that only special, known or large sellers have this kind of products available (?? if that makes any sense??). But the thing is that there are always loads of private collectors who just purchase stuff to their personal collection and doesn’t really showcase them. And it’s very normal to this kind of unknown people to decide give up with the collecting for various reasons. If they haven’t been selling stuff before, it’s very likely to them to have very little to none feedback. But still, they can be totally legit.

  3. Sellers (the ones who may have the 500+ 99% positive feedback). These can be the guys who purchase their rares from the two type of people mentioned before, take the ‘risk’ and sell the product to you for more or less higher price.

I personally have bought expensive collectibles from sellers with very low feedback without any problems. But in these cases, I’ve always made sure via some other ways that the seller is legit as possible and the product is a real deal.
One of the easiest ways is to ask for more photos. Maybe with date, name or such. Asking for a short video could be super helpful. Though, I understand that not everyone are able or have the time to provide a such thing.
And there it’s more important to you to understand and have the knowledge about the product and to be able to detect fakes and scams.

In my opinion, feedback is something that you shouldn’t trust blindly. As said before, legit sellers doesn’t always have huge amounts of feedback. Also, there are couple other things in scam wise. For example:
Sometimes there are sellers who may sell cheaper products reliably in larger scale. But every now and then they put up for sale something expensive and scam just the expensive sales. This doesn’t affect their feedback too much and they remain ‘trusted’. Sad thing but works.
Other thing is that the feedback score can be botted - in good or bad. This is something I see happening with the chinese mass sellers. Though, they are usually pretty legit sellers (if you are looking for cheap / pirate products).
And then there are the thousands of other ways to scam.

If you aren’t that familiar with the collectibles you are dealing with, it’s better to stay with the known trusted high feedback sellers. It’s pretty safe most of the time. And remember to ask.

But at the end, it’s up to you what’s consider trusted enough. There’s never 100% safe deal.

And one more thing I want to point out when dealing with boxes. There are good chances that your product gets damaged during the shipping process if things aren’t handled properly. Especially when you deal abroad.

Spoiler


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