One thing we have seen happening quite a bit online recently is a discussion about whether Golden Pokemon cards are real. So, are they?
There have been two official gold Pokemon cards released in Pokemon’s history. If you see a gold Pokemon card outside of those two, then you have a fake. The rarity of the official gold Pokemon cards means that you would know if you had one.
Let’s talk about this in a bit more depth. Hopefully, this will encourage you to avoid purchasing golden Pokemon cards wherever possible.
Are Golden Pokemon Cards Real?
There have been a couple of official golden Pokemon cards that have been released.
The rarest were released in the 25th Anniversary Ultra Celebrations box. These contained a gold-plated version of Charizard and Pikachu. These were recreations of the original Pokemon base set cards.
Burger King Gold Pokemon Cards
A couple of decades ago, Burger King also released metal Pokemon cards in their kid’s meal boxes. However, these were not cards designed for use in the game. They were literally a piece of metal in the shape of a card. These were exceedingly common, and there are a lot of them on the market.
Limited Sets
In addition to this, some Pokemon card sets have included gold cards in them. Although, these aren’t really gold. They are just holo cards in yellow.
We are not going to be talking about those on this page, mainly because they are incredibly common (compared to the other gold cards), and most people don’t think of these cards when they think of golden Pokemon cards.
Most Golden Pokemon Cards are Fake
Anything else, and you have a fake card. There are a lot of companies producing fake golden pokemon cards. Some are even printing Pokemon cards on a piece of card that has then been plated.
However, if your card is not listed in the conditions above, you have a fake.
It may be pretty to look at, but it isn’t worth all that much. It seems these cards have been going around in the last couple of years (since 2020) because Pokemon card-faking techniques have become a bit easier.
Here is a video showing what these fake golden Pokemon cards look like:
Many of the fake golden Pokemon cards can be found on AliExpress. There are tons of listings with different golden cards to choose from, from various sellers.
Some cards are better quality than others, and some even have monsters that are not even from the world of Pokemon.
What Are Gold Pokemon Cards?
The definition of Gold Pokemon cards can vary from person to person.
As we stated in the previous section, our idea of Gold Pokemon cards is literally a card made out of gold. However, some other people may want to stretch this definition to cover the metal cards that were released with Burger King kid’s meals.
That said, some people will stretch the definition even further to Gold Star cards, which aren’t gold. They have a gold star on them. Some of these cards are going to be rarer than others.
We will not discuss those cards on this page, mainly because a discussion of them would be pointless. They do not meet most people’s definitions and are hard to find.
If you are looking for Gold Pokemon cards for your collection, click here to check out the selection on Amazon.
Are Golden Pokemon Cards Rare?
The two plated gold cards that Pokemon released for their 25th, then they are reasonably rare. You are not going to struggle to track them down at the moment. They will set you back a couple of hundred dollars apiece.
However, as the set becomes rarer (they are sold out now), you can expect the prices to increase.
Although, we doubt that they will ever hit the prices that the original base set Charizard in a Grade 10 would hit, mostly because people are buying these as collector’s items, which means that you will see a lot more of them preserved.
The more of something around, the less likely it is to have a good value. In terms of the Burger King metallic cards, no, they aren’t rare. For a while, every child getting a kid’s meal in the US was getting one of these metallic cards. It was right at the height of the Pokemon craze, and people loved them.
We wouldn’t be surprised if there are over a million out there. Although do bear in mind that some of these cards do not come up for sale often, so you may have issues tracking them down on occasion. However, when you find them, the price will never be that high. We will discuss that in a bit more depth later on.
Outside of official Pokemon cards, you do have the Pokemon cards that have been printed onto metal which may or may not be coated in gold.
These are not rare, mainly because most cards are printed on demand. If you want one, somebody will be able to produce it for you.
What Are the Gold Pokemon Cards Made Of?
We aren’t sure what the Pokemon cards from the Burger King meals were made of. It is just a cheap piece of metal. We can assure you that these cards have absolutely no gold on them at all.
With the Pokemon cards included in the celebration box, the cards are made with the same card your standard Pokemon card is made from.
It may be a bit thicker. They are then coated in a small amount of gold. Nothing crazy, just enough to give them a little shine.
With the Pokemon cards from less-than-legit sellers, it is almost impossible to tell exactly what they have been made from.
It will vary from supplier to supplier, so your best bet is to find a legit supplier and see what they claim their products have been made from.
If you find a fake gold holo card, it is likely made from the standard card (but not exactly the same as the normal Pokemon Trading Card Game card).
Much like the standard holo cards, there will be a bit of gold foil built into this. Although, as we said, these cards are fake. There are often tell-tale signs that these cards are fake. We won’t go into that part now.
How Much Are Gold-Plated Pokemon Cards Worth?
Let’s go back to talking about legit cards here only. It is impossible to say what a fake card is worth because nobody wants to buy it. If you are looking to purchase a piece of gold with the card picture printed on it, then it will likely be the value of the gold.
The fact that a card has been printed on there doesn’t matter. Since most of these cards do not use a lot of gold in their manufacture, you can expect maybe $50 or so.
When you put this to one side, you are left with just three options for gold-plated Pokemon cards.
Once again, we have to stress that anything else is not a legit card, so if you are looking for a list of Pokemon cards here, you will be sorely disappointed.
The Burger King gold metal cards range from $18 to $25 a piece. However, you can often find them a bit cheaper than this. It depends on what the demand in the market is like at the time. You can pick up a complete set for under $100.
The prices of the gold-plated cards included in the 25th-anniversary set are a little bit more difficult to predict.
This is because the set is still brand new, which means there isn’t a huge amount of demand for the cards, and most collectors that want them probably picked up the cards in the set anyway.
The Golden Charizard and the Golden Pikachu sell for around $150 each. We can expect the price to go up over time.
However, if you expect one of these cards to be worth thousands of dollars, that is never happening.
As we mentioned before, the price of cards from the past is down to the fact that nobody saw them as collector’s pieces. This means that not a whole of them survived.
However, these cards will always be seen as collector’s pieces, so barring a couple getting lost here and there, all of the cards that were released are in the market, and everybody is waiting for the price to go up. The demand is much lower than the supply at the moment.
How Much Is a Golden Charizard Worth?
There are two golden Charizard cards out there.
The Burger King golden Charizard (which is printed on a piece of metal), is worth maybe $18 to $30, at the most. There are many of these cards around, and their price isn’t going to be all that high. You can bet your bottom dollar that everybody who wanted one of these cards back in the early 2000s would have been able to get one.
They are pretty decent pieces of metal too, which means that the vast majority of them would have survived. They weren’t the sort of thing that you would trade at school. People would keep their hands on them.
If you want the Golden Charizard from the anniversary set, you can expect to pay about $150. This is the 2022 price.
We aren’t expecting the price of the Golden Charizard to climb much above this, at least not for a while. This is because all of these cards are collected purely for collecting purposes. This means that every one of them is going to survive.
Any other golden card is going to be fake. They will be worthless, even if they have a Charizard printed on them.
If you stumble across a standard golden Pokemon card with a Charizard on it (i.e. it doesn’t look like it has been printed with gold plating or on metal), it is fake. It isn’t worth your time to pick it up and buy.
We know that some people will purchase fake golden Charizard cards. These pieces have been printed onto metal and have a slight coating of gold on them.
It is impossible to tell you how much this is worth, mainly because there will be so much variance between card suppliers.
Where to Buy Golden Pokemon Cards
If you want to buy golden Pokemon cards, your first stop should be your local card store. While many of the 25th Anniversary sets have sold out, there is still some stock out there.
Check the box to make sure that it contains the Golden cards. Most of them do.
Beyond this, you can always check eBay. The only place you will be able to pick up the Burger King Pokemon cards is on eBay, since they are not real Pokemon cards.
For the golden Charizard and golden Pikachu cards released in the anniversary set, you can check out card trading shops online, or even Amazon.
However, make sure that you are purchasing from a trustworthy seller. Better yet, try to pick up a card that has been graded. This way, you can be sure you are purchasing a legit golden Pokemon card.
Final Thoughts
Golden Pokemon cards are real, but there aren’t as many of them as you may think.
Pokemon has produced a total of 2 golden Pokemon cards, both found in the same box (golden Pikachu and golden Charizard). Burger King produced some golden cards under license from Pokemon, but these are not real. They are just slabs of metal with a Pokemon printed on it.
It is probably fake if you stumble across a golden Pokemon card in the wild. This only applies in 2022 and before, though. There is always a chance that Pokemon will release more golden cards.