This leveling off of base 1st ed charizard may be reflective of increased acceptance of pokemon as an “asset class”. Something like a Charizard was once viewed as the safest and most protected place to spend a lot of money in pokemon. It can feel a little unnerving to pay so much money for a little piece of cardboard with a tiny little picture on it. Now as things are maturing collectors are comfortable paying large sums for many cards across many sets. Pokemon offers plenty of room for this with its many sets and cards and it’s only positive for the hobby. A card like 1st ed base Charizard will always be a grail and command a premium over others. Over time it’s value is only going in one direction. But if it’s had a recent run up, it may be cooling off for a while before its (inevitable) next one. People like to look for that “one thing”, like the black lotus in magic. But it’s better if there’s not just that “one thing”.
f you look at other hobbies like comic books there are many grails. What you choose as yours depends on your taste and interests. For some, a grail would be amazing fantasy 15 (first appearance of spider man). If you’re a DC collector it might be Action Comics #1 (first superman). Or you might love batman so your grail is detective comics 27 (first batman).
I agree with this. If you spent 40k or 70k 24 months ago on a bunch of random wotc boxes/ex era boxes or now ANY PSA graded cards due to the crazy spike you would have made out MUCH better than buying a 1st ed base box or a Psa 10 1st edition Charizard 100%.
But as far as which one I would go with thats easy absolutely the charizard. With the Charizard I know what I have an I can actually sleep at night. With the box I would be the most stressed out person not knowing if it was a resealed box or not and could potentially be out all my money. Sorry but in this day and age that box is NOT worth that kind of a gamble.
Apologises, i should have specified what i’m comparing investments to decide if its bad or good.
In terms of cards most 1st ed wotc cards have had a better % return than the charizard, even if you go back 3 year.
For boxes you could have bought any wotc box and have made a better % return than a 1st ed base, even if you bought the box at its trough.
What i’m trying to point out - if you’re buying either of these items for investment you would of been better off investing in other pokemon items. These two items are better off as collection goal than a money maker. Granted it is easier to sell 1 charizard than 40 individual cards and i respect that.
buy the box, do a box break and sell 36 packs for more than box value, take the 20k profit and add another 25k or wtv to buy a zard
for the rarest boxes, people always wna gamble and the price per pack is almost always above the box/36, if guaranteed unweighed and the sale was coordinated
