According to the Pokemon Trading Card Game community, Logan Paul’s latest big purchase may not be worth what he paid. Several prominent collectors believe the $3.5 million 1st Edition Base Set box purchased by the YouTuber is a fake.
In December 2021, the 26-year-old YouTuber went viral after revealing that he had spent $3.5 million on a 1st Edition Base Set Pokemon card sealed case and claimed that the collectible that he recently purchased was the only one in the world that had been sealed and authenticated since 1998.
The expensive retro item, however, may be a fake, according to the Pokemon TCG community. Several prominent card collectors have come forward to express their concerns about the record-breaking pack of cards, claiming that the ‘Impaulsive’ host may have been duped out of millions of dollars.
In a story published on the popular Pokemon TCG site PokeBeach on December 31, 2021, questions about the box’s authenticity were raised for the first time. The outlet tweeted, “Logan Paul’s $3.5 Million ‘Base Set’ Case May Be Fake: Pokemon Community Uncovers Significant Evidence.” The article went on to detail the item’s history in online auctions such as eBay, as well as the evidence that leads collectors to believe it is a fake.
Paul’s Pokemon card box is oddly numbered. The story goes on to say that the barcode on the YouTuber’s 1st Edition collectible doesn’t match, instead of aligning with the 6033 code without the 1E at the end. Finally, the outlet claims that the tape used by Wizards of the Coast in the 1990s is not the same as the one used by Logan Pau and the font and spacing of the said collectible are out of sync, and that there is no period at the end of the sentence on Paul’s box, and “Seal” isn’t capitalized like it is on authentic boxes.
The TCG outlet also expressed reservations about the authenticity of the box. The expensive Base Set product was primarily authenticated by a smaller company with little experience with Pokemon cards and a lack of information typically found in high-value hot ticket items.
The only way to truly verify the collectible is to look inside the box. Gary ‘King Pokemon’ Haase, a well-known collector who also owns a sealed 1st Edition Base Set Box, had to use this method to have his item authenticated.
While it hasn’t been confirmed that Logan Paul’s $3.5 million collectible is a forgery, many collectors are now doubting its authenticity. The YouTuber has yet to respond to the allegations as of this writing.