Trying to rule out the existence of an Aerodactyl flip coin [SOLVED!]

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2024 Edit: Stop the presses!! Cosmos Aerodactyl exists! This coin comes from red logo Australian theme decks!! :exploding_head:

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2000 copyright! Never stop believing!!

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EDIT: Based on all the documentation we have, I think we can conclude it does not exist! Thank you everyone!

Bulbapedia reports: “Comes in four varieties, Light-Brown Cosmos Holofoil, Light-Brown Starlight Holofoil, Dark Brown 1999 Copyright, and Dark Brown 2000 Copyright”

However I know this is not accurate. What I believe to be accurate is:

  1. Light Brown w/ Mirror Finish
  2. Mixed Tone w/ Starlight Finish
  3. Dark Brown w/ Starlight (1999)
  4. Dark Brown w/ Starlight (2000)

Here is an example photo of the two coin colors. This is lifted from an eBay listing and is not my own:

On the left you have the “Dark Brown” color with the Starlight finish.
On the right you have the “Light Brown” color with the Mirror finish.

Most Aerodactyl coins are Dark Brown and I believe the only actual Light Brown coin has a Mirror Finish. I’ve gone through so many of these coins at this point and have never seen a definitively Light Brown coin with any finish other than Mirror.

What I have seen however, and is difficult to photograph, is a Starlight coin with both tones. From one angle it looks Light Brown, from another angle it would look Dark Brown. Below are some of my own photos to illustrate this. Here you will see four Aerodactyl coins. They are split between two rows, but they are the same coins as I described above.

  1. Light Brown w/ Mirror Finish

  2. Mixed Tone w/ Starlight Finish

  3. Dark Brown w/ Starlight (1999)

  4. Dark Brown w/ Starlight (2000)

It’s that second coin that’s the tricky one with the mixed tones. You can see in this first photo that it’s much closer to the coins that follow it than the one coin that precedes it. But if we take the photo from a different angle you can see the coin take on its lighter appearance.

And here are the two dark coins for comparison. You can see how different they can look.

And here is another wide shot where the difference between the second coin and the subsequent coins is more pronounced.

So the pickle I’m in is that after reviewing dozens and dozens of these coins (Aerodactly are some of the most common flip coins and there are a lot to review), these are the only ones I can definitively state to exist. However I am hesitant to disqualify the existence of other Light Brown coins yet because… stuff pops up, you know? I did not believe Starlight Vileplume with a 2000 copyright existed until suddenly I found one (still looking for duplicates, by the way!) I can look at 100 coins and never see what I’m looking for and then suddenly the missing coin appears.

So rather than continue to review and buy coins for sale and try to see for myself, I wanted to try polling from the opposite direction before I close the book on it. Does anyone have any Light Brown Aerodactyl coins with a finish other than Mirror?

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Do you shared somewhere your CoinCollection? I would really like to see it.

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I haven’t yet but I’d be happy to share some pics now. Unfortunately these are items that should really be scanned because of how important the light source is to actually show the different patterns on each. Most of these will look identical to their neighbors in these impromptu photos.

I’m happy to answer any questions you may have now or in the future about these coins.

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Here is my checklist as well. It does not include the mysterious gold coin in the toploader or the errant status counters on the last page, which I’ve only just started inserting. [EDIT: I forgot I did add the mystery coin to the list. I just noticed in the pic.]

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While Im sorry that i cant be of any help towards the issue here, I just want to say I absolutely love your coin collection here and love seeing side collection things such as this. Super happy to see someone getting into these types of items as deep as you have so thanks for sharing!

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I can’t help on the coin but you have a beautiful collection, congrats!

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Thank you very much! I really like this project and the research element in particular. I have a draft for a proper collection topic I will make once I take some good scans of the coins. It’s really splendid in person where all the different holo textures are instantly apparent. I also take pleasure in collecting something a lot of other people historically discarded. Even I didn’t keep these from my decks as a kid. But we are at a point in time where a lot of this sort of stuff is right on the cusp of disappearing if it’s not properly documented so correcting and expanding the record has been a big motivator for me.

It’s hard though! Lots of questions and not a lot of answers. Sometimes I just have to let my experience dictate my conclusions. If I’ve learned anything though it’s not to consider anything definitive. There’s always the possibility of one more variant somewhere.

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I might be of little help: As someone who grew back in the day, I am pretty sure that the Portuguese coin and the english one had different collorations and slight differences in the holo pattern as well

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This is a good lead. I have noticed lots of subtle international variations. If you are in a position to help me find some Portuguese coins for comparison, I would gladly pay your for both the coins themselves and your assistance. Just let me know!

Finding variants specific to a certain region is very difficult because they are not labeled as such. People don’t know the difference.

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I could try to find on cardmarket, but not having certainty until they arrive it’s like shooting in the dark.

But if I stumble upon any, I will surely let you know…
Maybe italians are the same? Or even more likely to be the one? I know Italy uses the japanese holo pattern from base set on, so maybe the coins as well?

Our vileplume coin also had a cosmos holo instead of the star holo

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I’m not sure, but I do know about the European Vileplumes. The Cosmos 2000 Vileplume are pretty common and all seem to come from Europe. There is also a very scarce Starlight 2000 Vileplume, but I’m not sure if that is also from Europe or not.

Cardmarket is a really mixed bag. I have a Dutch friend who has helped me contact sellers there and we’ve turned up a couple winners in the past. But it is a big investment of time and energy to try to sort through them and contact sellers for a small return. I’ll take call the help I can get!

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That I am sure. The starlight ones come from the UK :blush:

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That is terrific, thank you. I only have one of them and the condition is awful. I’ve been looking for a nicer one for some time. Knowing they’re specifically from the UK will help.

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I like this. I, too, collect the coins (though only ones released in English language decks) and I have long believed Bulbapedia to be incorrect on the Aerodactyl coins also. My collection of these matches exactly yours, if that’s reassuring any.

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Unfortunately, Bulbapedia is wrong on a lotta stuff regarding the tcg, and even more so it’s japanese side

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Hi, I helped some with the creation of that bulbapedia list. After pulling out the coin in question I think I can put this to rest.

My lightest coin has pretty significant scratching that at some angles and lighting looks like a holo pattern. I’ll need to investigate a little further, but I think looking at it now it’s just badly scratched mirror foil.

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Thank you very much for the contribution!

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Derufin and I used a list from ebay user canman202020 when we researched Wizards era coins for the Bulbapedia list. This is the section for Aerodactyl on why we thought there was this 4th version of the coin.

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This seems to match up with my findings in the OP, actually, which is reassuring that we are cracking the case and on the right track.

Bronze Shiny = Light Brown w/ Mirror Finish
Bronze Star = Mixed Tone w/ Starlight Finish
Dark Bronze 1999 = Dark Brown w/ Starlight 1999
Dark Bronze 2000 = Dark Brown w/ Starlight 2000

We can probably equate “Shiny” with “Mirror”, which is similar enough vocabulary.

Do you have this entire form you could post? This “Light Blue” and “Dark Blue” Starmie catches my eye as well.

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I’ll try to get images posted within the next day or two.

I do believe the Dark Blue Starmie is the Starlight Holofoil and the Light Blue Starmie is the Cosmos Holofoil. If I remember correctly, this person called it “Holo Circles” before PTCGO gave us the official Cosmos Holofoil name for that type of pattern.

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I would very much appreciate you sharing what you can find too.

Thank for you visiting this thread - and apologies if my initial posts felt like criticisms; Bulbapedia contributions are an invaluable resource and I’m always mindful that my conclusions may simply be down to my own misfortune in not seeing certain variants in the wild for myself!

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