Paul showed off the “sealed and authenticated box,” which he believed to be one-of-a-kind; however, a number of collectors and Pokémon experts immediately questioned the cards’ authenticity.
Online community PokéBeach conducted a thorough investigation on Paul’s card set and noted a number of suspicious details. The red flags included inconsistencies with the product code, the tape used on the box, as well as the original eBay listing for the set.
The Base Set case first appeared on Canada’s eBay site on March 29th, 2021. Fans could place their bids for 10 days. The seller “number1pokemonmaster“ had almost no feedback and their listing was riddled with significant grammar errors. The seller also changed their username right before the auction went live, as if to hide their history.
On Wednesday, Paul returned to Twitter claiming he was traveling to Chicago this weekend to get the case verified by Baseball Card Exchange, the company that previously confirmed its authenticity. But, as PokéBeach points out, BCE isn’t known for authenticating Pokémon cards.