Noob here. Been looking at 1st Edition Jungle, Fossil, and Rocket rares and comparing the holos to the non-holos. As a first project I was thinking of trying to complete the rare cards from one of those sets in either Non-Holo Rare PSA 10 or Holo Rare PSA 9. I enjoy the artwork and look of both, and think the non-holo backgrounds are pretty cool looking on a lot of the cards.
The prices are in my starter range and seem roughly comparable. On average the Holo 9s are maybe 30-50% more than the Non-Holo 10s.
Looking at the POP reports I noticed that there are often a lot more Holo 9s than Non-Holo 10s. Sometimes there are even more Holo 10s than Non-Holo 10s (Rocket Dark Charizard for example).
What are peoples thoughts? Are the Non-Holos under rated and likely to experience growth? Or do most people just chase the shiny cards so there won’t ever be much demand for the Non-Holos?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
P.S. - I’ll end by saying I aim to collect what I enjoy rather than trying to look at the hobby as an investment, but obviously it’s a good (bonus) feeling when your cards appreciate
In my experience there are 3 main reasons people would be interested in nonholos.
Great art with no holo variant. Think Dark Vaporeon or Jungle Cubone.
Popular species. Non-holo Dark Charizard, Pikachu cards, etc.
Set collectors who want a full graded set.
In terms of your question, (1) doesn’t really apply since we’re talking about cards with a holo variant. There are very few nonholo rares that fall into category (2) but I think the ones that do will potentially see growth (Dark Zard). And unfortunately for (3), there are very few people who are looking to get complete PSA 10 nonholo sets of anything other than Base.
So overall there is very limited demand for nonholo rares. Compound that with the fact that there is literally more of them (due to higher pull rate) and you’re stuck in a position where you have lots of supply and limited demand. I don’t think the added requirement of a grade of 10 will have a big impact on scarcity. The pop for these cards may be lower but that’s most like because people just aren’t grading them.
But you should collect what you love. The nice thing is a PSA 10 nonholo rare set is a relatively cheap choice. With low-demand items like these, if you’re patient you will eventually come across cheap auctions that you can snipe for a good price.
Yeah I agree with Gary, the thing with non holos is you don’t have to worry about silvering on the borders or scratches/print lines on the actual holo… I’m not saying every card fresh pulled out of a pack would grade a 10, but I would definitely focus on the holos if I were you. Of course if you get a great deal on some of the non holos, buy them.
