I managed to 'catch ‘em all’ for these promos. Here’s the complete set of Gen 1 and Gen 2. I was able to add the Ledyba which finished the set.
Some notable market observations over the last year:
- Gen 2 is still considerably rarer, but more of these have come to the market the last six months then for considerable amounts of time prior.
- There is still a schism in the naming for online markets (Betty Crocker Pokemon Promo vs. Nintendo Official Promo 1998) where the same number of listing are in each search, but majority of the time Gen 2 is listed with mention of ‘Betty Crocker’.
- Price has moved up considerably. Gen 2 promos can often average $50-$200, though I am unsure how much is being sold in that range currently.
- Pikachu is the clear stand-out of Gen 1 in terms of pricing, while Lugia and Ho-oh seem to be similar for Gen 2.
It took me a year of effort to complete this set, and I’m still hopeful that it gets its’ recognition. These promos, if printed in 1998 (where’s all my CSI level experts from the debunked CGC prototype scandal?), represent the first showing of Pokemon in North America, since Base Set came out in Jan of 1999. I see much more mentions of the KFC card set which is also dated in 1998, but doesn’t offer Nintendo branding, and features a full-set of ‘miniature’ cards per order, unlike the ‘random’ distribution method used by Betty Crocker & Nintendo.
I was reading through this “Guide to Vintage Pokemon” by Fanatics, which quite frankly owes a great thanks to the minds here at E4, and I noticed that when it finally comes to Pokemon in America, it starts at 1999 and the trainer decks and then eventually Base set. No mention of any promos from 1998. Ideally, if PSA were to grade them it would help popularize these nearly 30 year promos, though I am unsure if anyone has even attempted. At the very least, it would be nice for these to have their footnote in Pokemon promo history, not unlike Cardass, Topsun, the Corocoro vending series.