Months after it was first reported CT scanning technology could be used to see inside sealed boxes of sports and trading cards, causing widespread concern among collectors, the service has now been utilized by a major auction house to authenticate the contents of one of its items.
Included in the 2025 Winter Goldin 100, a factory-sealed 2000 Wizards of the Coast Pokémon Chinese Base Set 1st Edition booster box includes a letter of authenticity from Industrial Inspection & Consulting, which certifies the contents of the box are legitimate.
The LOA shows IIC received the booster box Jan. 16, and it passed the company’s metrics for authentication Jan. 17.
“Goldin is testing this service with this Pokémon box. This is an effort to ensure the integrity of the sealed Pokémon product we are selling, and Goldin has not yet used this service for anything else,” Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin said in a statement provided to cllct.
“Depending on client feedback, we may expand use of this service, but we explicitly will not receive any details or information on what is or could be inside — we will only ensure the product has its original seals, and has not been tampered with. This is all in service of trust and authenticity for our clients.”
IIC general manager Keith Irwin confirmed to cllct Thursday that Goldin has no knowledge of the box’s contents, and the service was used only to confirm the contents were authentic.
Goldin is believed to be the first major auction house to publicly disclose the use of X-ray technology to confirm the authenticity of sealed card products, though Irwin confirmed to cllct other customers have used the service for the same reason. In these cases, scans confirm the contents are authentic but maps that show the placement of individual cards aren’t saved or reported.
An inspection and consulting service, IIC had primarily used its CT scanning technology to ensure items are manufactured properly, with use-cases including checking for leaks inside packaging for pharmaceutical companies.
IIC first used CT scanning technology to see inside a pack of Pokémon last year as part of a case study showing off the power of its CT imaging. Within two weeks, the company began offering scanning for collectibles as one of more than a dozen different services.
Previously unknown to the collectibles hobby at large, the use of CT scanning to see inside sealed boxes initially stunned collectors, with some of the earliest examples showing the ability to see inside sealed cases of Panini America’s ultra high-end Flawless Basketball product.
Many hobbyists condemned the use of CT scanning technology in any instance, while others questioned the impact beyond the most high-end products, which are purchased by an extremely small percentage of collectors.
According to Irwin, sentiment for CT scanning has shifted in recent months after an extreme initial backlash.
Since launching the service, Irwin says the company has attempted to show multiple examples of CT scanning being used for positive outcomes. Among the notable scans from recent months was the evaluation of a factory-sealed 2006 Pokémon EX Holon Phantoms booster box — one box sold for as much as $26,000 in 2024.
According to IIC, the box was scanned following authenticity concerns, and it failed all of the company’s metrics, confirming the box was fake.
IIC has also authenticated other items including packs of tobacco cards and even sealed video games.
Though Goldin is the first major auction house to include an LOA from IIC, Irwin believes it could be an important next step for the industry.
“I would expect that this could become the norm, because it’s very inexpensive for us to authenticate a product,” Irwin told cllct. “What it ends up doing is resolving a lot of future problems for [auction houses], and it gives their purchases or bidders confidence in what they are buying. I would expect that other auction houses follow suit, and I would expect that bids could increase because of a newfound confidence in those products.”
Until recently, major trading card manufacturers had largely remained silent on the use of CT scanning technology.
Topps took the first major public step this month, however, and added a new “Intrusive Device Policy” to the service agreements sent to businesses with Topps direct accounts.
Under the new policy, the use of CT scanning has been added to a number of acts the company considers to be tampering.
As of Thursday night, the booster box offered by Goldin with IIC’s LOA had reached $3,660, with buyer’s premium, on three bids. The auction ends Feb. 22.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.