First off, I would like to say that I am very new to this forum, so I apologize if this is not the right place for this kind of question. I just saw a few other posts asking about value of cards, etc. so I thought this might fall within that category as well. Either way, I had purchased a lot of cards from a guy on eBay a while back which included five signed cards by Mitsuhiro Arita, as well as two hand-drawn pokemon (one full-body Charizard drawing and one full-body Venosaur drawing). The Charizard drawing is on a regular piece of paper and the Venosaur is drawn on an old Japanese book that is a collection of Mitsuhiro Arita’s Art. The actual title of the book is, “Mitsuhiro Arita Culdcept Artworks”. I have sent the signed cards to be PSA Graded and Authenticated. They should be done grading soon, which is exciting! I’m just hoping to see if any of you have any ideas of what these pieces of art are worth; and if they would be worth more with signature authentication, etc. I’m going to be looking into getting these sent off to PSA soon, unless there’s any reason that I shouldn’t.
Anyway, I’d greatly appreciate it if any of you could give me some sort of price point that I should be looking to get for them; especially if you have any personal experience with these sorts of items. I haven’t been able to find anything like this on eBay, etc.
*Note: I have proof from the seller that these are all genuine signatures, etc. He was able to send me photos of him with Mitsuhiro Arita getting the cards signed, and provided me with his skype information and phone number to find out if they were legitimate photos.
That’s a very tough market to judge in my opinion. The condition issues on the Charizard sketch will certainly hurt it’s value as will the name on the Venusaur (plus it being in a book is less desirable and difficult to display). The lack of any real “authentication” also will also be a knock to the value.
If I had to put a price on them I’d say in the $100-$250 range. As neat as they are there are just too many factors working against them to put a much higher value on them.
I’d disagree and say much lower? After all the recent signings he has done, the market has a lot more artwork done by Arita. I think it was… @pokemoncenteritaly that ran the convention? I think the price was 15 euro per photo?
His sketches at the Jacksonville FL Con were pretty expensive - $300 for a full body sketch (large B&W). Judging by your pictures, the Charizard one is really crumpled up and it’s not visually appealing imo. The Venusaur is personalized to Adam so unless you can find a buyer named adam, the price will be way lower.
I don’t know how much the authentication can add to the value. But I don’t imagine a whole lot if any in these cases. It’s just a limited market and one where the artist is still actively engaged in.
Yeah, that’s true. Kind of unfortunate, because it’s definitely devaluing his signature and making his items less collectible. Either way, I’m sure someone will appreciate these items nonetheless.
It has always been the case that the value of signatures is relatively low until the figure can no longer sign. This is true in sports and non-sports. Just look at the recent trends on Carrie Fisher autographs.
If you’re selling now, I’d say auction it and take what you get for it. But I’d also say don’t sell now. Wait until signatures aren’t flooding the market. Even for lower quality works like what you’ve got, Arita’s discontinued signature service will completely change the market.
I’d also recommend looking into the possibility of a trade through some social media platform. A lot of the people who can’t afford the existing signature opportunities, but are seeing all of the action, might consider obtaining something like this if they could trade instead of having to front cash. You might have more leverage through that route instead of competing for cash with the hundreds available right now.
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