If you’ve stumbled upon any metal Pokemon card, you might be wondering if you can add it to your collection of authentic Pokemon TCG.
But hold your horses because this article will give you an in-depth understanding of one of the most asked Pokemon TCG questions on the internet lately: are metal Pokemon cards real?
Before we go to the moment of truth, let’s have a brief history lesson about Pokemon cards and how they were manufactured the way they are today.
How Pokemon Cards Were Made
To reinforce the growing popularity of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow versions for the Game Boy, a Japanese Company called the Media Factory introduced the first set of Pokemon cards in 1996.
Two years later, Pokemon cards finally made their way to the US in 1998, which led to the worldwide distribution of the familiar tabletop and online game that spans more than 90 sets or expansions as of 2024.
Since the release of the Pokemon TCG base set, Pokemon cards have been made from high-quality cardboard that can sustain bending and are more durable from wear and tear.
Additionally, a Pokemon card is actually two pieces of cardboards glued together. Between those cardboards is a thin black layer that is only visible if you rip the card.
The black foil-like layer also serves as a sign that a Pokemon card is an authentic one. Manufacturers of fake Pokemon cards don’t have the means to emulate this feature, so the rip test is an excellent (but costly) way of knowing if a Pokemon card is of genuine source.
Thanks to modern technology, the manufacturing of Pokemon cards is now highly industrialized. It’s now possible to produce millions of cards everyday regardless of their rarity and set.
Just like what we previously discussed in our article about miscut Pokemon cards, creating trading cards from scratch remains a lengthy process even with the power of the machines.
Check out this YouTube video about the factory manufacturing Pokemon cards on a daily basis:
Are Metal Pokemon Cards Real?
On to the answer to the question in topic; are those metallic Pokemon cards available online are real?
The answer is generally no. Most metal Pokemon cards aren’t authentic or officially made by The Pokemon Company, but there are indeed some sets that produced extremely rare cards made of solid metal.
Real Pokemon cards, after all, are conventionally made from cardboard, just like other popular trading card games like Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Disney Lorcana, among others.
In case you have a metal Pokemon card in your possession, there’s a chance that it’s a very valuable one if it’s proven to be printed from an authentic copy.
The most recent case of The Pokemon Company releasing metallic cards is in 2021 through the Celebrations Ultra Premium Collection.
The solid metal Pokemon cards available for such limited-edition product include these Charizard and Pickachu cards. The Ultra Premium Collection featured these to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise:
According to information online, a graded metallic Charizard card can fetch as much as a thousand dollars depending on its condition! Talk about getting a grand out of a single card!
How to Know if a Metal Pokemon Card Is Fake
Checking if the metal Pokemon card you have is fake is fairly easy. Did you find it online for a cheap price? Is the card a Pokemon from a set that doesn’t feature metal Pokemon cards?
Knowing the answers to those questions will help you confirm the validity of your card.
Many fake Pokemon cards may also contain text that are way ridiculous to believe as something that you can read on a real Pokemon card. Examples include Pokemon VMAX with insane amounts of HP, like this suspicious Arceus VMAX card:
Note: We did research about all previous printings of Arceus cards, and apparently, there was no such thing as Arceus VMAX.
However, if you have a metallic Charizard or Pikachu like the ones above, you might want to find a local store of someone who can authenticate your card, especially if you acquired it through trading or buying for a large amount of cash.
Conclusion
Real metal Pokemon cards did exist, but there’s only a handful of collectors who own them due to their rarity and value.
Majority of metal Pokemon cards that are mass-produced by counterfeit manufacturers are obviously fake, so you better ignore them unless you are into proxies of fake cards.
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