Hey all,
It’s been a long few years out of the game and away from this forum, much has changed and I’m slowly getting used to it.
I’ve been out of collecting the past 5 or so years due to the passing of my father and the birth of my first child so I haven’t really had the money to play with.
Now I’m back into routine and settles and am aiming to start collecting slabs again I need a point in the right direction.
I used to collect slabs from the wotc era however with the price rises in cards that’s no longer achievable for me.
The new sets all Confuse me and I’m trying to wrap my head around it.
My question in what slabs would be good long time investments? If I were to buy a slab now for $1000 what would be a good safe purchase that was going to keep it’s value after the next 10 years or so?
I used to have the likes of graded 1st Ed base zards, graded 1st Ed base cards, fan club maikarp and Eevee cards etc. I’m trying to replicate that but with modern cards yet I have no idea about modern cards
Any help or info or links is greatly appreciated
Have a great day.
Im slightly confused on how you arrived at the question of “what modern slab for $1000 is a good long term investment?” after coming back previously collecting WOTC
But my answer is no modern set release card, possibly some special relase/promo etc. but id advise to take another look at WOTC
Should have stated I’m in Australia so $1000AUD AND $1000usd are quite different. Any anything wotc in a good grade (9 or above) just seems to always be out of my price range.
Hence why I’ve looked to the more modern sets but I’m at a loss at where to start.
Trust me I started back with what I know but that prices have increased 10 fold compared to when I used to buy in 2016
If you’re looking for a modern set with good fundamentals, I may suggest Evolving Skies! It’s a home-run product with popular Pokemon, beautiful alternate art cards, and is large enough for you to be occupied for some time.
Your guess is as good as mine, in terms of what will/ won’t retain value, or grow; especially for modern. A good place to start for researching sets is Bulbapedia. The safest options, in my opinion, would be rarer, older cards. 1st Edition WotC and older Japanese promos come to mind.
It is unlikely you will be able to replicate what you did in vintage, as that would kinda imply that modern will act the same as vintage did. Modern and vintage are very different animals! If you’re only interested in collecting, the simple answer is: collect what you like. If you’re interested in money, it’s gonna be a lot of guessing and hoping lol. Either way, the more you know, the better; so, I’d just suggest doing a lil deep dive down the ol’ rabbit hole on Bulbapedia.
There’s actually some good deals on WotC cards recently; modern is kinda like a rollercoaster that’s constantly cork-screwing between hell and heaven (the cards are super cool, but the culture is straight ass)
edit:
there’s a very solid chance that you’ll end up paying the same, if not more, for a modern chase card, compared to most PSA 9 WotC
I just randomly searched a few things on ebay BIN in the 1000 AUD without any knowledge on these cards price history id rather buy those than any modern in terms of investment
$1000 goes a pretty long way in WotC, believe it or not. You can purchase a PSA 9 of basically any WotC holo (outside of 1st Ed Base ones and a handful of others) for <$1000. That’s the direction I’d go rather than resorting to modern – particularly if you still prefer WotC.
Yeah, no need to buy 10s to still build a solid vintage collection even after the recent growth. I started buying a lot more vintage NM cards this year and all of a sudden I got a huge collection built pretty quickly and filled out my binder sets. Just need to take time winning the auctions and finding the deals and you can make $1000 go a long way, especially in this market we’re in.
With modern, I’d probably be looking more at pre-2020 sets/cards for investing and for post-2020/boom products I’d be buying them more for personal enjoyment and less on investing as it feels a lot more speculative to me. For what it’s worth, I love a lot of the SWSH cards, but it just feels risky right now to drop big money given the potential huge supply/re-print risks for almost any set.
For cards similar to what you mentioned in your OP, the only cards that come to mind are cards such as the Scream promos or Mario/Pikachu cards. You can still find a PSA 10 graded Eevee for around the price point you mentioned, and the Scream PSA 10 Rowlet for half of that. I would take some time to look at what’s available for Mario/Luigi/Scream Pikachu and see if anything fits your budget, even if it’s raw. Ultimately nothing is guaranteed but these cards are unique, awesome, and exciting enough that I can’t imagine them tanking long term, but that’s just my personal opinion.
Thanks for all the input everybody it really is greatly appreciated.
I’d never really considered the expedition series of cards but there’s some fantastic looking cards in that set. Will do a bit of research on bulbapedia and hit up ebay again tonight after work and see where I end up.
All English modern sets are highly speculative. If you want a “safe” investment it’s advisable you park your money somewhere other than modern. Evolving Skies boxes are already $240 - that’s almost double MSRP and it’s not even a year old. The pull rates are terrible and it’s highly unlikely many boxes are going to be opened at the $240 price point because of that. Additionally, it’s been hyped as a great “investment” set since before it released and the amount of boxes put away by the average Pokémon “investor” probably isn’t an insignificant number. Who will they sell to down the line if no one wants to open the boxes because of the terrible pull rates? Unclear. The boxes may increase in price significantly, slightly, not at all, or fall. It’s overall an unsafe “investment” with high risk of tied-up capital. The “safest” value in modern is buying at as close to MSRP as possible - because at least then, it’s not likely to decrease.
HOWEVER, the best advice you’ll hear is, don’t follow anyone’s advice in this thread including the above from myself - instead, before you buy anything, do research into the cards/product, understand how collectors/players/hobbyists view them, and develop a relationship of your own with them. The best “investments” come from deep personal knowledge of what you’re buying. Make the decision YOURSELF - don’t let anyone else make it for you.
You’re already familiar with WotC, but the hobby landscape has changed quite a bit since 2016 - so really take your time before committing to a purchase. Absorb knowledge and information like a sponge absorbs water. Re-familiarize yourself with the hobby and collecting in general. Find what you have the most interest in, stop asking “what should I buy?” and instead ask “what do I want to buy?”
For collectors, this forum usually suggests “buy what you like.” But for investors, this is just half the equation. Investors should like what they buy, but they should also be buying what they personally feel confident in. And confidence comes from experience. If you want to delve into modern investing, I would suggest you first delve into modern collecting. Get to know what you like and dislike, what you think works and what doesn’t. Then you’ll truly know what you should buy.
Oops. I was trying to recommend Evolving Skies as a “gateway” product for those looking to spend time in modern collecting. I do not recommend hoarding ultra modern product at above MSRP with hopes that it will increase dramatically in a few years.
Welcome back to the hobby. I agree with most here that anything to do with modern is speculative. They are printing modern like crazy and everyone is grading.
I also agree with everyone else that 1k can get you good wotc slabs in 9s and 8s
Agreed with both of these things. If you’re looking for safe, unfortunately, as someone here once said, “[We] have 2 balls, and neither of them are crystal.” (maybe a crystal golem…) Still, if you can risk the money, then it’s a measured risk, so If I were to risk it, near-modern promos like the scream or stamp promos might be another place to start.
The fine line between “investing” and “collecting” lies within personal desire. If investing, just do extensive market research and know that whatever anyone says about x card is going to be some kind of a guess (educated or not). If collecting, buy whatever makes you happy.
