Following the Illustrator portion of this thread, I’d like to offer my own opinion.
The allure of the Illustrator (to someone who has begun a collection) is its status. As humans, we are obsessed with the biggest, fastest, most powerful and rarest things. Things that are so extraordinary, they almost become mythic. The new collector will inevitably search for the rarest, most expensive Pokemon card that exists. The Illustrator invariably comes up as the most valuable example. A bit of research yields the rarity and the uniqueness.
So the prestige comes first. Then the nascent collector can begin to admire the artwork. A double-starred corner. Diaphanous holofoil that pretty much beckons you to step right through the window into that world. And then you really want it. You’d salivate over that card regardless of whether it’s in a pizza box or not.
And then there is a revelation that 20 were originally produced. Still bloody scarce, but there is better chance. Maybe, just maybe, there is one that might turn up for you.
Very well said. Perhaps what could possibly happen is that a collector interested in buying an Illustrator, may feel (rightly or wrongly) that there is a better chance that another copy may come up for sale in the foreseeable future. He or she may now be more willing to wait instead of feeling desperate and paying the price the seller was asking for. This is also just pure speculation though and not based on actual facts.
That’s exactly what he’s saying. But it must be done properly, here in Japan, where the demon was born. So, send the card to me and I’ll take care of it for you.
In light of the recent article I posted regarding the illustrator, do you have any articles showing that there are more than 24 pokemon illustrator cards?
If it is not too much to ask, how many blastoise mega battle pikachu cards were printed?
Thank you so much for joining @sataku and look forward to researching these Japanese cards as a group . We would love to hear any information you would like to share.
The Illustrator isn’t going to drop drastically in prices because of these recent news. Obviously. It has way to big of a reputation to let this crush it. Maybe if sources said that there were 50, but 20 isn’t a large enough number to cause a crisis. My biggest point concerning this recent news is that the story of the Illustrator took a big hit, and the main thing that put the Illustrator above the PreRelease Raichu in the competition of who’s better was the story. Remember the debate over on PokeGym a while back? People kept saying they like the Illustrator story better.
Yes, I completely agree that there is not one single factor that can make a card as valuable as the Illustrator is. Rarity, card attributes, and story all play a part. But, in my opinion, card attributes is the least contributing factor to the Illustrator. Yeah, if it was an ugly card that was reprinted, the value would be shot significantly, but I think it is safe to say that the story that involved the rarity of the card is really what created the hype behind the card. The card being beautiful and unique is just icing on the cake. The story is, in my opinion, what separates the Illustrator from cards like the Snap cards or the Phone cards (particularly the phone cards, because those are shaped (or at least look) completely different from every other card).
So based on what Sataku is saying, there were 3 + 20 Illustrators printed for the first tournament. And we don’t yet know how many were released from the next two competitions, but there were definitely two more competitions held and one of those competitions yielded that Mewtwo card in the vending set. So there is 24 copies, + whatever else was given out, although we haven’t yet found printed records of those.
I, like Mike, would have thought that the 3 were included in the 20? Our friend seems to think not Interesting!
. We would love to hear any information you would like to share.
