The ¥900,000 Pokémon Club sticker was fake: how to tell real from fake (correction)90万円のポケモンクラブのシールは偽物だった。本物との見分け方（訂正）

Hi, I'm No Rarity, a collector in Japan. This one is a correction.

In my October 21 column, “Before Carddass: 1996 Bandai Pokémon stickers now sell for ¥900,000”, and in my X article, I featured Pokémon Club stickers that sold high on Yahoo! Auctions Japan: a ¥900,000 Charizard, a ¥451,000 Nidoran♀, a ¥404,999 Pikachu and a ¥160,500 Squirtle.

@steady_collect, who collects Pokémon Club, kindly told me all four are fakes — and that fakes like these have been made since April.

I compared them with genuine ones and agree. Worse, I had shown these four as textbook examples of Club Part 1. I was using fakes as the model for the real thing.

I apologize, and I'm correcting it here. Thank you, Steadycollect.

The four sales flagged as fake

All four started at ¥1 and drew 70–107 bids. Plenty of people competed to reach those prices.

Lots of bids didn't make them real. Bidders set the price; nobody in that process checks authenticity. I missed that too.

Side by side with the real thing

Steadycollect pointed me to the two most recent genuine sales. Both were complete sets: case, figure and sticker.

Here is the same Charizard sticker: the genuine one (left) and the ¥900,000 one I featured (right).

Two differences stand out.

1. No grey strip at the bottom. Genuine stickers have one more grey strip below the green Pokédex section. On the four flagged stickers, the green runs right to the bottom edge.
2. Paler colors. The genuine grey is darker and the green bluer. The flagged ones look washed out.

The first one hurts: in my original column's “five sets” figure, I wrote “grey strip at the bottom” myself. I wrote it, and then never checked it on the four stickers that sold highest. That was my biggest mistake.

What the four flagged sales had in common

None of these prove anything on their own, but all four shared:

• A single sticker (the Charizard came with a case) in a magnetic card holder
• A ¥1 start
• Three of the four used nearly identical titles
• All listed in April 2026 or later

The two genuine sales, by contrast, were complete sets: case, figure and sticker.

Before you buy

1. The bottom grey strip. For Club Part 1, check for a grey strip below the green section.
2. Color. Put it next to a genuine photo and compare the grey and the green.
3. Sets over singles. A case, figure, sticker and wrapper give you more to check.
4. Edges and back. Ask for photos out of the holder showing all four corners, edges and the back.
5. Price and bids aren't proof. One of these four drew more than 100 bids.
6. When in doubt, ask a collector. People who know these can tell at a glance, as this case shows.

What I would do

In the original column I said I'd look for clean single Club Part 1 stickers. I've changed my mind.

Singles are hard to judge without a genuine one beside them, and singles are exactly how the fakes are being sold. I'd buy a complete set instead. It costs more (the two genuine sets went for ¥1,245,000 and ¥2,301,003), but I'd rather pay for something I can verify than pay ¥900,000 for a single sticker that turns out to be fake.

On this site, I won't use listings I can't verify as price examples.

I kept the original column's text, added correction notes and a link here, and fixed the FAQ and quiz entries that relied on these sales.

Not investment advice. Please make your own final call on authenticity.

Search eBay for “pokemon club bandai 1996 game boy case” (PR) →

• The fake call and the two recent genuine sales: @steady_collect's post (Oct 26, 2026).
• Club Part 1 traits (grey strip at the bottom): Pokemon Stickerpedia, “The early Bandai sticker sets: Club, Snack, Battle”.
• Sales: Yahoo! Auctions Japan (the four flagged sales, May–Aug 2026; the two genuine sets, Aug 16 and Oct 7, 2026). Seller names are not shown.
• Images: Yahoo! Auctions listing photos (cropped). Images belong to their rights holders. If there is a problem, please contact me and I will respond promptly.