What Are Metal Pokémon Cards?
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: December 2, 2023
If you’re a collector of Pokémon cards, then you may have heard of metal Pokémon cards. But what are they? There are many fake metal cards in circulation, with only a few being officially produced by The Pokémon Company. Learn to tell real from fake, and which metal cards are worth big bucks in this article written by a Pokémon card expert.
Fake Metal Cards
Within the past 2-3 years, fake metal Pokémon cards have exploded in popularity. Many of them come from sites like Aliexpress, Wish, and Temu.
Unfortunately, they often appear on school playgrounds and end up being traded in exchange for authentic cards.
Many of these metal cards are designed as fan-made custom cards, without the intention to actually scam anyone. But they still cause trouble after being purchased.
How to Spot Fake Metal Cards
- Compare it to photos of the 5 authentic metal cards (check below)
- Check spelling and grammar
- Edges/corners should be smooth and round
- The back should be colored like a regular Pokémon card
- Did it come from a reputable source?
Luckily only a few authentic metal cards have been made, so if it is not one of the official ones, it’s easy to declare fake.
If you purchased it from a card store, that doesn’t mean it’s authentic. Some card stores may not be experts in Pokémoin cards and sell fakes by mistake.
Are Fake Metal Cards Worth Anything?
The short answer is no.
As mentioned above, these usually come from online stores like Etsy, for example, where they usually cost just a few bucks.
They have no collectability and aren’t sought after by players or collectors. There is no potential for a fake metal card to increase in price, so it would be considered a bad investment.
Official Metal Cards
As far as official metal cards being distributed by The Pokémon Company International (TPCI), only five have ever been produced.
2021: The Celebrations Metal Cards
In 2021, the Celebrations Ultimate Premium Collection hit store shelves. Among other fun stuff, the product contained two metal cards. One was a Base set Pikachu replica, and the other was a Base set Charizard replica. The faces of the cards are colored gold, while the backs are blue and yellow. This Charizard and Pikachu from the 1999 Base Set are iconic cards, recognizable by virtually all collectors. So it’s understandable that a lot of fakes would be produced.
If you’re worried that you might own counterfeit copies of the Celebrations metal cards, pay close attention to the craftsmanship. The official copies are very nicely made (with some exceptions), with intricate textures and coloring. They are thick, heavy, and evenly weighted. It is possible to bend them in half, but it would take a good amount of effort.
In contrast, counterfeit copies are often less detailed. They are often thin, easily bendable, and lacking the enamel on the reverse side of the card.
2022: The Arceus Metal Cards
The second set of metal cards to be officially manufactured came out in November 2022. The Arceus Ultra Premium Collection contained two metal cards, one Arceus V and one Arceus V Star. Unlike the Celebrations metal cards, these were made in full color. They are replicas of two previously printed Arceus cards from earlier in the year.
These Arceus cards match the Celebrations cards in weight and thickness. They also have the same reverse side to them. The colors are so vivid on these Arceus cards that they don’t even appear to be metal if one does not pick them up and inspect them closely.
The metal Arceus cards were the first to have a metal texture paired with an enamel on the front. You can see in the image above how Arceus has an enamel finish and the background of the card’s artwork has an etched pattern throughout.
This makes the cards incredibly appealing to look at and highly difficult to counterfeit.
2023: The Pokémon 151 Metal Card
The recently released Pokémon 151 expansion will also include a metal card. This time we get just one metal card, and it is Mew ex. This will also be our first metal version of the popular Gold Secret Rare cards.
This metal Mew ex will be included in the Pokémon 151 Ultra Premium Collection, released on October 6, 2023.
The main problem with metal cards
There are some drawbacks to metal cards. On the manufacturer’s side, they are expensive to produce and take up additional time and resources. Also, metal cards require more delicate packaging which again, calls for more time, money, and material. This of course leads to scalping and unhappy customers.
For the consumer side of things, the Pikachu and Charizard we recently saw in the Celebrations UPC came packaged in regular plastic which we see many cards packaged in. Once the first wave hit, Reddit and other communities began to raise the issue of the metal cards coming chipped and dented, straight out of the package.
Unfortunately, TPCI didn’t learn from this. The metal cards that were included in the Arceus Premium Collection were not packaged in plastic at all, but simply freely floating within the box. After the product was released, the community exploded with disappointment as most customers found their Arceus cards to be roughed up from the shipping process, even when purchased in-store.
I personally found my copies to both have light scratches on the reverse side of the cards from sliding around inside the box before opening. Luckily all of the edges were still intact for me, but many people reported chipped paint from this poor packaging as well.
With the Pokémon 151 UPC, the metal Mew ex was again not sealed in plastic. However, it was in a cardboard holder which prevented the card from jostling around. My Mew ex card had no damage on it, which was awesome.
Getting metal cards graded
It didn’t take long before people began to receive their graded Charizard and Pikachu back from the big grading companies. The first thing that people noticed was that the cards were chipping inside the slabs.
PSA quickly made an Instagram post informing the public that their grading service would be temporarily canceled for the metal cards. However, this came only after 259 metal cards had already been graded. If you want to check on PSA’s current status regarding the metal card issue, click here.
CGC has confirmed that they will grade the metal cards, and the community has not yet found any damaged cards inside CGC’s slabs.
Since these cards are so fragile, I would recommend just purchasing already-graded copies. Have a close look at the metal Pokémon card eBay listings to be sure there are no chips.
Should You Invest in Metal Pokémon Cards?
People are often curious about investing in Pokémon cards or flipping them to make money. While it can be done, it’s often risky.
Investing in cards would be easy if one could tell which cards will increase in value. In this specific case, the five official metal Pokémon cards would be a smart investment, as there was a very limited supply distributed, and just how unique they are. This product is still in high demand and probably won’t come down any time soon.
The best place to buy these cards would be eBay. Pay attention to the auctions, and you can find deals on the metal Charizard.
Burger King Gold Cards
In 1999, Burger King announced their new toys that would be available with the purchase of a kid’s Mighty Meal. The campaign included 6 different gold-plated metal Pokémon cards, each coming in a Pokéball.
The “cards” weren’t the size or thickness of an actual Pokémon card (as demonstrated in the photo above) and featured 1 of 6 Pokémon with a short description. Today, the Burger King cards have not increased in value by much, and most of them can be purchased on eBay for about $20, with the exception of Charizard, which costs a little bit extra.
The 6 featured Pokémon were:
- Charizard
- Jigglypuff
- Mewtwo (pictured above)
- Pikachu
- Poliwhirl
- Togepi
Conclusion
Metal Pokémon cards are cool. I think we can all agree on that. However, the inability to meet supply and demand, the difficulty of having them graded, and the cost of the card itself make metal cards a difficult product to be received by the community.
This does raise the question of whether The Pokémon Company will be producing more in the future. It may happen, it may not. They know that, and that’s why these two cards were a special part of the 25th anniversary. With all this to consider, are you still hunting for a UPC?
6 thoughts on “Metal Pokémon Cards- What Are They?”
Any psa 10s of Pokemon Celebrations Ultra Premium Collection Pikachu Gold Metal out there?
Hey Derek. I don’t see any for sale on eBay, but after checking PSA’s records, we can see that they graded 70 copies before no longer accepting metal cards. They only graded two 10’s. The breakdown is as follows:
PSA 7: 1
PSA 8: 17
PSA 9: 50
PSA 10: 2
Wouldn’t it be incredible to own one of those PSA 10s? Holy Crap.
have any gold metal cards from burger king have ever been graded…?
I don’t believe so, I just looked into it but couldn’t find anything.
Your blog is a masterclass in effective communication. Bravo!
Thank you, Freddie.