I will try to make this story as short as possible to describe this odd situation.
I took the family on vacation to Florida for Christmas to visit my mom who is retired , and in her early 70s. Instead of dragging my kids gifts all over the place , I simply bought them, and sent the shipment to her house.
One of the gifts was his first Pokemon starter kit. It was scarlet, and violet.
I also bought thin protective sleeves which we put all the cards in because the kid is 6, and you want to show him how to protect the cards. Anyway, after the whole ordeal of packing up to go home, my son left all of his foil cards there. About 15 or so, in thin plastic sleeves.
I didn't realize this until a week later when My mom told me she found cards and she already sent them to me. She texted me a picture of them.
Again, she's in her 70s, so she just tossed them in an envelope, and mailed them not understanding they can be damaged that way. Whatever.
Today, my wife says in a text "we got a letter from your mom that was ripped open, she said it was the pokemon cards" (first image)
After a conversation on the phone, she says "it only came with 3 cards". So I said great…looks like someone realized they were Pokemon cards and ripped open the letter , and took what they found good"
However, when I get home and see the cards, I don't recognize them. (2nd picture).
Keep in mind, I don't collect or play Pokemon, but I was around since they were first release in the 90s working at comic store. I understand a thing or two.
Another thing that threw me way off was "hard cover sleeves". I didn't buy those, and my mom wouldn't have those laying around. I bought thin soft plastic ones.
3rd thing that threw me off was Japanese writing. The cards he got were in clear English, and from scarlet and violet.
After some more research , I find out that it's impossible to get these cards in the English set I bought. Closest thing I can find is that sometimes Japanese packs are sold in the US from 3rd party retailers who had extra stock.
So the conclusion is , someone broke into this envelope between NJ and Florida, and swapped out the 15 cards cards with 3 Japanese cards "in thick hardcovers"
What makes this even more strange is that the value of the switched out cards I received is basically of equal value of the cards I was supposed to receive. Doing this for some financial gain makes no sense, and the rarity of the OG cards wasn't a big deal. I already looked up the value and availability.
It's almost like whoever did this might have been a postal service worker who realized the envelope was severaly damaged with cards ruined and decided out of his own merit to replace them with Pokemon cards that he had. or someone felt bad for stealing them and wanted to leave something else. This is baffling.
by JuicySpark