It looks like the current going rates for the 1st edition Venusaur and Blastoise are about $700-800 and $800-1100 respectively.Given that almost all sealed stuff is opened and I imagine lots of them are graded already, I don’t expect many to get graded in the future.
Would right now be a good time to pick up these cards? PSA 9 is a very good condition generally speaking and I don’t expect them to be available for these prices in 5-10 years anymore.
So are they cheap currently? It’s also very difficult to get them graded yourself for this price, because when you buy a pack you’re likely to lose money, and when you buy raw you’re not likely to find one for these prices, and there’s a non-negligible chance that you’ll get scammed too.
What are your thoughts?
I bought the entire collection this year, every single holo but Charizard wich im saving for. I’d say yes; prices are good at this time; as SM said, we are on a buyers market, you could take advantage of PWCC auctions and snag real bargains.
If you happen to have the cash for most of them; contact Gary and let him know; he sold me some 1st Ed. holos for a solid price and shipped asap too.
There are plenty of e4 members selling 1st Eds. Make sure you make a post on the Buying forum regarding this.
Are you interested in it as an investment or as a collection piece? Investment I’d say you have better cards to go for, collection piece I say now is a decent time to buy it.
I’m planning them mostly as a collection piece, and maybe partly as an investment, I at least am not planning to sell them, probably only if I’m forced to sell them by circumstances or if it would buy me a house 
(which I don’t expect)
I bought mine in August 2017 on a pwcc auction for $1300 and $700 so prices are more stagnant than low.
You’re better off waiting for a cheap auction than trying to coordinate with the market trend since these cards are readily available for the most part.
The “right time” is always subjective. I just bought a magic card in played condition for what it sold for PSA 10 a few years ago. Back then the time wasn’t right for me. I paid the current going rate today, even though I could have purchased it for less years ago.
Pro tip, people trying to time and “win” every purchase are never going anywhere in any hobby. The established collectors or businesses bought at market and still buy at market. Just buy what you like, and don’t worry about “winning” every purchase. The point of collecting is enjoying the item, not constantly ruminating about cost ratios.
Hindsight is always 20-20, can’t live by the “shoulda, coulda, woulda” mindset or else you’ll drive yourself insane.
As someone who paid $200-$500 more than the going rate today for the blastoise, I fully agree with this. I’m very happy with my blastoise and lost zero sleep over the amount of money I could have “saved”. It didn’t even cross my mind until I started to respond to this post. If you pay what you FEEL the card is worth, you will almost never have regrets.
What one personally values a card at and what the market values a card at do not have to align. It’s a way more enjoyable experience paying what YOU want to pay rather than letting the overall market dictate what price you should pay.
My motto is if you try to invest you’re going to have a bad time and stress a lot. However, if you collect you get to enjoy a great hobby worry free and chances are your cards are going to rise in price anyways. Several of my cards have gained 30% or more in the last year but I wouldn’t love them any less if they dropped 30% instead.
I couldn’t agree more. There’s too much concentrating on value which takes away from the real reason we’re here. Collecting.
I actually love to overpay some, especially to people that are true collectors, because it’s great for the hobby. That extra 20.00 or 100.00 will stay in the game;)
As far as the OPs question, it’s always an excellent time to buy 1st Base PSA mint cards:)
And at the same time these kind of purchases make the market. If a card is worth let’s say X, and multiple people really like it and are buying it for X+200, it will eventually be worth X+200, since no one is able to find it for X anymore.
And I completely agree. As a Pikachu collector reaching the finish line (although at the same time far from it - but still, need around 55-60 more cards of the total 1050-1100) I can’t be too picky about price nor condition. Reverse Holos in all languages are overall worth around 5-25 USD, but last month I bought a Spanish RH for 100 USD and the last German RH for 60 USD from collectors who actually didn’t really want to part with them at first, simply because I know I’ve been searching for them for these past 3.5 years without seeing them. I don’t mind paying quite a bit over market value, because they’re so hard to find.
Sometimes when the supply is high enough you can be more patience and smarter about your purchases, but as a collector I buy for my own enjoyment without much thought about the future worth or investment value. I bought 1k USD cards which dropped in price to 200 USD halve a year later, I also bought 300 USD cards which are now worth 1k USD. Regardless, I bought all those cards for my own collection and enjoyment, and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Greetz,
Quuador
This is spot on.
Yet so many people complain about item prices on items they arnt willing to do what is necessary to own. So they will always go without that item and usually regret not buying it at the price it once was. Which is a continuous cycle for those with that mentality.
I remember in one of your videos that you mention times you have paid premiums to guarantee getting items whilst others were trying to barter. That shows a successful intent and why you and others have progressed so far in this hobby.
For me personally the team rocket anniversary case is a prime example. Whilst others were trying to “time the market” early on i brought a few because i needed to have the item in my collection cause it was amazing. Skip forward those same people usually talk about how they remember when it was cheaper and about their regret. This is applicable across the hobby imo.