The Reliquary · Written Knowledge

The Codex · Pokemon Collecting Guides

Articles, guides, and deep-dives into the corners of the hobby that don't fit on a catalog page. Authentication, history, market notes, and stories from the archive.

◆ From the Archive ◆
The Codex is the long-form companion to the catalog. It holds the writing that does not fit on a sticker page, from authentication walkthroughs to the history of a series and market notes from years of resale.
The published articles are below
Published
No. 001 · AuthenticationThe Yellow BackAmada's 1996 Hyper Sticker Collection 1 was printed twice, and collectors tell the runs apart by the colour of the paper on the back. What the difference actually is, why the obvious explanation is probably the wrong one, what the backs prove identical, and how much of the rest nobody has established.27 July 2026◆2 min readReadNo. 002 · Exhibition RecordPOKÉMON X KOGEITwenty Japanese craft artists, one of them a Living National Treasure, spent four years touring Pokémon they had made in lacquer, clay, iron, glass, wood and silk. Who they were and what each of them actually makes, every venue and date including the one leg outside Japan, and why almost everything collectable it produced was given away rather than sold.27 July 2026◆2 min readReadNo. 003 · Format GuideWhat Are Pokemon Menko?A floor game centuries older than the hobby, in two shapes, from four makers. What a menko is, how you tell kaku from maru, why patchin is a different object, and the pack size this archive had wrong until last week.13 September 2026◆7 min readReadNo. 004 · AuthenticationAmada Print RunsFour things get used to date an Amada sticker. The wrapper brand dates the era rather than the run, the number dates nothing, the copyright line is identical on both runs, and the yellow liner is a printer's stock rather than forty years of sunlight.13 September 2026◆5 min readReadNo. 005 · Format GuidePokemon KarutaA game with a checklist hiding inside it. How a round is played, what the ninety-two pieces are, why it is forty-five pairs and not forty-six, and why the same kana holds a different Pokemon in every box.13 September 2026◆7 min readReadNo. 006 · Arcade RecordWhat Is Pokemon Battrio?A hundred yen, a plastic disc, three of them on the machine. Five eras, twenty-six sets and a twenty-seventh nobody catalogued, one thousand one hundred and seventy-one pucks, and an honest account of the four things about the puck itself that still have no source.13 September 2026◆5 min readReadNo. 007 · IdentificationTopsun Cards and StickersTwo products wearing one name, and a third nobody separates from them. The shape that sorts all three, the wordmark rule and its two limits, why the card set is at least a hundred and fifty-one rather than a hundred and fifty, and what the error cards actually show.13 September 2026◆8 min readRead