Since No Rarity has been ‘discovered’ for a while now. I wanted to ask if anybody who has been monitoring/collecting them has any input on value range for these cards?
I know it’s really tough to find some of the cards, especially the holos, in Near Mint or better condition so differentiation for that would be helpful.
TL;DR: Anyone with info to share about No Rarity prices/trends?
A lot more have surfaced in the past couple of years, probably because sellers in Japan have began going through the “commons” bins at card shops and began amassing the no-rarities that were previously overlooked.
In general, commons go for anywhere from 100 yen to 500 yen; uncommons for 500 yen to 2,000 yen; and holofoils for 2,000 yen and up (often, way up).
A year or so ago they were selling for much more; but they are simply not as difficult to find right now, especially if you’re not too particular about condition.
My most recent no-rarity purchase was the rare (but non-holo) Dragonair, which set me back 5,000 yen. Condition was VG. (A week later, I found one selling for half that price.)
Thanks for the feedback.
Obviously something like a Charizard, and to a lesser extent Blastoise/Venusaur, are going to fetch some pretty steep prices, even in a VG~ condition. But do you have any gauge for NM-M condition of the other holos?
Holos that are NM-M are still going for upwards of 15,000 yen.
I’ve yet to find a Magneton in NM-M condition, for example. In heavy bidding, I did score one in VG condition for about 7,000 yen.
If you’re thinking about assembling a no-rarity set, I’d strongly recommend going for the commons at first. In my opinion, they are greatly undervalued right now. I really feel that in a year or so, the availability will begin to dry up again.
I am not really too interested in doing a set myself right now. I think it’d be something I might do in the future, but my funds right now don’t allow me to indulge.
I started the topic because I am generally interested, but there was some selfish motivation because I won an NM-M Alakazam yesterday for a price that I thought was very very cheap.
I feel these cards value will be on a “roller coaster” going up and down very often. For a couple of reasons:
For all these reasons it could also raise the value too haha
There were so many produced that the peak has probably happened and waiting is the plan. Dirt cheap could be right around the corner;)
Weren’t they supposedly only produced/sold for 2 weeks, though?
I know in that 2 weeks they would have still sold A LOT, but that’s still a very small time frame in the grand scheme of things.
If I recall the dates right, the entire English base run (1st through unl) lasted 4 weeks and that included the stall waiting for the 2nd unlimited run artwork sheets.
They can pump them out pretty quick.
I’ll tell you this…personally I’d love to see them go up again. And up and up and up.
One thing I think this set will hold in value is Near Mint condition holos.
One thing you hear get tossed around a lot are people wanting cards in “near mint-mint” condition, but in actuality what they want is MINT condition. I feel this is evident in the way PSA 7’s and 8’s sell compared to 9’s and 10’s (though these graded more often).
For this set though I could it see where the 7’s actually hold value.
Then again this is where that mix of: Japanese collectors not liking to grade cards meets the casual collector + serious english collector wanting those Mint holos a 9+.
I hope the prices of these cards do rise in value, just because they are so vintage!
Btw for what it’s worth I consider myself a “casual” collector hahaha
I sold these recently:
www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Japanese-Pokemon-1st-Print-No-Rarity-Base-Common-Set-32-Cards-Pikachu-/281612555537?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
www.ebay.com/itm/29-Japanese-Pokemon-1st-Print-No-Rarity-Base-Uncommon-Cards-Charmeleon-Wartortle-/281612554847?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
for about $225 together if that helps
I disagree. These cards were never widely available here in Japan, not even in the first few months of the TCG. I was having a difficult time assembling complete sets even back in the 1990s, when almost nobody in Japan was “collecting” the cards in any serious way.
Nowadays, certain uncommons and rares almost never show up for sale. Magnetron, as I mentioned before. The Lass Trainer. Electrode.
That’s about 60 right there for 3.50usd. Great price. At auction you may have got only a buck each:)
You were in Japan already in 1996? I wish I was lol.
Why do you figure those two rares are sparser? Weren’t there 7 to 8 per sheet like the others? Maybe the kids didn’t like them? Just curious!
Yeah I figured someone wouldn’t mind paying a little extra for a complete common and almost complete uncommon set as opposed to hunting and buying each one individually.
Also I hope Electrode is rarer, I have one 
Just over the past few years watching for Gyarados and a few others, I’ve seen rares generally go for 30 USD to around 75 USD on average, with only a few of the bigger names earning higher. Generally it’s in the 50 to 75 USD range though from what I’ve seen mostly this past year.
www.ebay.com/itm/271854627683?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
These do not do well on auction at all
That is so painful to see. :\
I had a similar price on an auction I did last september:
Near Complete Japanese No-rarity Base Set 47cards Pl-Nm 2holos! (#221561704574) US $31.00\
2 Holos were Venusaur and Alakazam.
These should never be sold via auction imo