CGC Cards Certifies First Known Standard-sized Example of Doug Ferguson GX

Posted on 11/7/2024

Previously, Doug Ferguson GX was thought to only have been printed in a larger-than-jumbo size. This standard-sized example was authenticated with help from The Pokémon Company International and the Millennium Print Group.

CGC Cards™ is thrilled to announce that it has authenticated and graded the only known standard-sized example of Doug Ferguson GX — a famous promo card awarded to Ferguson by The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) when he left the company! The card received an Authentic (AU) grade and is printed on standard Pokémon cardstock with a blank back.


Click images to enlarge.

Doug Ferguson was the Senior Vice President of Product Development at TPCi more than 16 years. In a post available on Pokeguardian.com, Ferguson explained that he was awarded five oversized examples of this card when he left the company in 2019. However, in the post, he explained that the five examples that he received were all approximately 18 inches x 25 inches in size, far larger than the standard card size of about 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches or even the standard jumbo size at the time of 6 inches x 8 inches.

The Doug Ferguson GX that was submitted to CGC Cards, however, is a standard-sized card with a blank back. This contrasts with the Ishihara GX promo cards that CGC Cards certified in 2023, which have the standard Pokémon TCG backing. Additionally, a closer examination of the Doug Ferguson GX card reveals a typically troubling feature — it was not printed on the standard offset printers that produce normal Pokémon cards, including Ishihara GX.

A close-up of the Doug Ferguson GX card.
Click images to enlarge.

By examining the photo above, it is easy to see that this card was not produced by the offset printing method. Standard Pokémon cards feature a rosette pattern, such as the one featured on the Growlithe from this article.

Close-up of a genuine error Growlithe card.
Click image to enlarge

However, by reaching out to contacts at TPCi and its main printing facility, CGC Cards researchers were able to converse directly with the people involved in the production of these cards in 2019. They were able to confirm that nine oversized and nine standard-sized copies of the Doug Ferguson GX promo were produced in total. Additionally, CGC Cards' contacts confirmed that the promos were printed digitally, rather than on an offset printing press. This is likely due to their extremely limited print run — it simply wouldn't have been worth the time, labor and materials to set up a standard printing press to produce such a limited batch of cards.

This CGC-certified Doug Ferguson GX will be featured in Goldin's upcoming November Elite Pop Culture Auction, which is set to open on November 8, 2024.


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