1996 Pokemon Japanese Beta Presentation Mounted On Card Clefairy #35 CGC 8.5

Prior to 2024, very little was known about the creation of the Pokémon TCG. Fans and collectors knew the general story behind the birth of the franchise, but what actually went into those first iterations of the 1996 Japanese Media Factory Base Set that established the foundation for the beloved cards was a mystery. Photos of early printings known as Presentation cards appeared in the late '90s in CoroCoro Magazine, but nobody could confirm if they were ever actually printed, or at what stage of the creation process they played their part. Fast forward almost 30 years and groundbreaking discoveries have provided Pokémon collectors and historians with a clearer picture of Presentation cards' importance. In July 2024, Takumi Akabane, one of the founding fathers of Pokémon, verified that Presentation cards were the third iteration of Pokémon TCG cards, made in the months following the creation of Prototype and Playtest cards. While Prototype and Playtest cards feature energy symbols only found on those two early creations, Presentation cards are the first versions to have the same energy symbols eventually included on cards in the 1996 Japanese Base Set and beyond. Similar to the Prototype and Playtest cards, Presentation cards also lack the rarity symbol, which would later be added to the bottom right corner of 1996 Japanese Base Set issues. Featuring watercolor designs by beloved illustrator Ken Sugimori and colored-in backgrounds, Presentation cards are some of the rarest, most historically significant Pokémon cards to come up for auction. The September Premier Auction is home to a stunning presentation of its own in the form of three of these groundbreaking issues. This CGC 8.5 Clefairy is one of three total Beta Presentation examples ever assessed by CGC Cards, with the other two a CGC 10 Mewtwo and a CGC 8 Charizard. And all three are up for individual sale this month. This is the first time these three CGC-graded Beta Presentation cards have been sold at public auction, making this September Premier Auction an exciting moment in Pokémon history. The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 09/03/2024.