Authentication
Counterfeits have improved considerably, particularly on vintage Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Here are the checks you can run yourself, and what a photo can and cannot settle.
In short
The most reliable authenticity checks on a collectible card are: the light test (most genuine cards contain an opaque inner layer that blocks light from a lamp placed behind them), examining the print rosette under magnification (counterfeits often show an irregular or blurry dot pattern), comparing font and text positioning against a known-genuine copy, surface texture, and cut regularity. A photo analysis flags visible anomalies but does not replace these physical tests.
Checks you can run yourself
Hold a lamp behind the card. A genuine card has an inner layer that largely blocks light; many counterfeits let noticeably more through.
Under magnification, genuine printing shows a regular dot pattern. Counterfeits often show a blurry, irregular pattern or dots of uneven size.
Compare font, stroke weight and exact text positioning with a copy you trust. Fakes are often off by fractions of a millimetre.
Surface texture, gloss level and corner cut regularity are hard to reproduce exactly.
What a photo analysis can do
Colour drift, misaligned text, atypical cutting, visibly coarse printing: these show up in the image.
Definitive authentication requires physical examination: light test, thickness measurement, magnification, sometimes substrate analysis. That is exactly what a grading company sells.
Frequently asked questions
Get a suspicious card analysed
The analysis flags visible anomalies. For a valuable card, have it authenticated physically.