Can you tell if a wild Sinistea is Phony or Antique before catching it?

Question

Sinistea has two forms: Phony and Antique, often called the fake and real forms, respectively. They can be distinguished by either:

• The item required to evolve it. Phony form requires a Cracked Pot, and Antique form requires a Chipped Pot
• A mark of authenticity. Only the Antique form has this. This mark is on the bottom of the cup, appearing as a grey seal inside the rim at the cup's bottom.

The mark of authenticity is difficult to spot, so often the first is the easier way. But this requires catching Sinistea.

If you find a wild Sinistea, can you distinguish the two forms apart in the wild? For example, can you see the mark of authenticity on wild Sinistea as the battle camera changes?

Answer 1

Following damadam’s comment, it is possible to check whether or not the Sinistea is authentic or phony without having to catch it. There are two steps required for the fastest method:

1. Imposter Ditto (Transform will probably also work, but Imposter will be faster)

2. Use an attack move, and must deal damage. If the enemy Sinistea uses protect or other similar moves, it won’t work.

By doing the method above, Ditto will transform into the Sinistea, and using a move to deal damage will cause your Ditto/Sinistea to lean into the proper angle. If done correctly, you can see the Mark of Authenticity

Answer 2

Its too much effort to do the Ditto method, but there's an easier method. When you encounter Sinistea, you have two chances to see the seal stamp under it when it jumps up and down.

Otherwise, when you capture it, have empty slot in your party so you can check if it takes the cracked pot item. If it does, its a phony Sinistea.