Hi! Thanks for taking your time to have a peek at my collection thread.
Let me first introduce myself, I am Expedition, a collector from the Netherlands who has collected Pokémon cards on and off since early childhood. My history with Pokémon cards for those interested:
My earliest memory of Pokémon cards is getting a Jungle pack from our local mall. Inside were some beautiful, colorful cards, and I specifically remember liking the Persian from that pack. My sister and I worked on completing the Pokédex of the first 150 Pokémon, mostly by trading. She ended up pulling a Shining Charizard from one of the few packs we ever got, which I was insanely jealous of. Later I collected ex-cards for my own collection, before abandoning Pokémon as a young teenager. During the 2016-hype I re-entered the hobby and collected Expedition holo’s, as the other E-series were already expensive for my taste, but Expedition had some absolute gems as well. In early Sun & Moon era I had to focus more on my studies and Pokémon slipped to the wayside again. In summer 2020 I sold most of my graded cards for TRIPLE what I paid for them (some cards I graded myself, giving an even larger, whopping 20x return). Little did I know selling these cards would fill me with regret later, but also suck me right back into the hobby. So here we are!
In this thread you will find my favourites amongst cards I own. As I am in the process of cataloguing my collection I thought I could share some of it with E4! My current goal is to complete the PLAY promo set (currently at 22/32 - or 69%). In terms of artists I particularly enjoy Mitsuhiro Arita, Atsuko Nishida, Hajime Kusajima, Hataya and Kyoko Umemoto.
The showcase collection:
Here you find cards I particularly enjoy, framed in a card specific background.
In november Mitsuhiro Arita came to The Netherlands for the first time, and since I’m a huge fan I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to see the absolute legend in person. Signatures were limited to one per person, so I had a tough choice ahead of me, but I settled on getting this card signed:
It was a great experience overal (well organised and pretty chill). I still have to frame the other artworks of his I bought, but for now this piece graces our living room!
I’ve also been working on my 2023 goals, selling a lot of the ‘fat’ of my collection. All with hopes of buying a nice Vaporeon Goldstar PLAY promo, but I ended up crossing a different PLAY promo off the want list. I bought this beauty from @shizzlemetimbers, it arrived today and I’m ecstatic to add it to my collection:
It is (by far) the biggest purchase I’ve made in this hobby in terms of money, so I was quite the nervous Nellie. In the end, I had nothing to worry about!
I’m excited to continue on this journey of collecting all PLAY promo’s, it is somehow extremely fulfilling.
I recently sent in my first submission directly to PSA. It consisted of 81 cards most of which I will detail in this post. I ordered them by year of release (more or less).
Old back + e-series cards had great results! The Koffing I received for secret santa last christmas makes me really happy. The Light Dragonite was actually the first card I imported from Japan through ZenMarket. And then some all time greats, my second PSA10 Split Earth Raikou. The crystal Nidoking I sourced locally, almost felt like a barn find.
On Blastoise and Dragonite I aimed for 9s, they are cards I considered selling, but I'd likely get way less for them raw than in a 9 so off to PSA they went. As already stated earlier in the thread I collect PLAY promos, I collected them raw, but for some of the higher cost cards I thought getting graded copies would be a lot safer (have had plenty of purchases with undisclosed damage from Japan, I don't want that on my $1000+ cards). The aim is a 9/10 set that might get upgraded over time. I sent in all my best copies that had 9 or 10 potential:
So a mixed bag here, the Regice not getting a 10 is a bummer, the __'s Celebi getting an 8 solely based on centering as far as I can tell, but the Vaporeon getting the 9 more than makes up for it, I was scared of the infamous 8.5 for that card.
Aim was 10 for all of these, understandably some didn't get there. Definitely love the standard Tag Team GXes done by Arita. Glad to see they got 10s, anything less would be a loss. The incorrect holo Charizard is currently pop 10 (also just realised the label has an error, its not s10b, but s8b)! The Reshiram & Charizard GX alt art I pulled from my first Japanese booster box ever. That one has steadily been trending upward in the last year!
I am quite happy with the results, I will be selling some of these to continue funding my collection. I hope to spend less and less of my paycheck for Pokémon, but have the funds come from ‘flipping’ cards like these.
More returns and updates to my collection to share! I’ve submitted some more aqcuired PLAY promo’s to PSA, and am happy with the results! There is something about hunting down these cards that just really scratches an itch for me…
Sick. VS blastoise is probably my favorite Nishida card ever. So good. Some satisfying scans we have here. Rainbows and foils. * wafting visible aroma of deliciousness *
Sorry about play mew man. I once cracked a 6 that is better condition than that. PSA these days man. So many mess ups. Like, way too many to count.
. Currently waiting on a reply from PSA on this one…
