Fake Error Card: Major Miscut Raichu

Collectors often submit miscut or misprint TCG cards to CGC Cards™ for authentication, grading and encapsulation. While many of these misprints and miscuts can be easily identified and authenticated (for more information, check out the CGC Cards Error Guide), some cards appear to be so heavily miscut that they raise suspicion.

Recently, CGC Cards received a submission containing a Fossil Raichu holo card that looks to be severely miscut. However, although the card itself is authentic, CGC Cards determined that someone intentionally cut the card from a sheet in a way that gives it the appearance of a factory miscut. CGC Cards does not certify regularly issued cards that were cut from a sheet after it has left the printing facility, so this card was returned to the submitter ungraded.

Click images to enlarge.

When Wizards of the Coast was producing the Pokémon TCG, the company would sometimes offer full uncut sheets of Pokémon cards as prizes or giveaways at certain events — similar to what is done for Magic: The Gathering tournaments to this day. One of the most common sheets given out this way was the KB Toys Fossil holographic sheet. It was given to KB Toys stores in the United States to use as prizes for in-store events. Each of these uncut sheets has the same layout. Based on the color bars on the right side of the card, as well as the blank holo area above Raichu, it is clear that this card was cut from the top right corner of an example of this sheet.

An uncut sheet of holo Fossil cards, produced by Wizards of the Coast for distribution as a KB Toys promotion across the US. (Images provided by Paul Sandler.) Click image to enlarge.

When cards are cut from sheets at the printing facility, the manufacturer takes great care to set the cutting machine to precise measurements to avoid serious miscuts. When errors do occur, they are typically caught in the QC process before being released. However, for a card to have such a serious miscut as this Raichu, it would mean that the sheet would have had to be shifted both vertically and horizontally, two errors which don’t typically occur at the same time.

In addition, magnification of the corners of this card clearly show how much they differ from a genuine pack-pulled Raichu from the same era. As you can see in the overlay photo below, the genuine card (blue) has a much wider radius and smoother corner cut than the fake error.

The corner of the fake miscut Raichu overlaps that of a legitimate card. Click image to enlarge.

While CGC Cards does authenticate and grade miscut, misprint and other error cards, CGC graders will reject any cards purposefully altered in order to appear to be an error. If you see a Wizards of the Coast-era Pokémon card that is extremely miscut, such as this Raichu, it is likely too good to be true and is possibly cut from a sheet.

It’s important to exercise caution when purchasing ungraded cards, especially cards that are rare and valuable. Every card certified by CGC Cards is guaranteed to be authentic and not overgraded under the CGC Guarantee. For more information, click here.