I understand that if there is a foil pattern you like, like my Dark Hypno below, you might pay extra for the card. But if you intend it as an investment, and specifically TO SELL, is that still a valid consideration? Beyond say, at least a near-god-tier swirl like this one, is it stupid to buy the card and pay say, 10%, 20%, 40% more for that feature? I think so. But, maybe I’m wrong here. I just don’t think a subjective “value” is something you should bank on actually adding value when it comes to an investment.
Thoughts?
I think people will be drawn to the cheapest option primarily. There are things that matter like the card, variant, grading company and grade. This puts an item into a bucket of similar things. Within that bucket things like cert, label, swirl placement, past owner, (and often times the “actual” condition of the card), etc. have zero to a marginal effect on value. The exceptions have to be exceptional.
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I tend to pay a premium for a beautiful swirl, but it’s what I like and prefer. I wouldn’t overpay for a swirl if I expect to sell the card later on.
There are a few exceptions where a swirl may actually raise the selling price by quite a bit, such as high-end gold stars and crystal cards.
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I agree with the premise of exceptional exceptions. Other than that I wouldn’t pay more.
On one hand you could argue that this is the natural evolution, the minutiae is no longer minutiae as every little facet is fleshed out and scrutinized. On the other, I don’t remember hardly anyone talking about orbs and swirls before the big stack$$ era of today.
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I think it depends on the rarity of the card. If it’s a pop 10 PSA 10 and you have a really solid holo pattern, I feel like it would fall into a “High Eye Appeal” section which is more common in sports cards than pokemon. But if its a random 1st ed base ect. pokemon, I would saying if you intend to sell its overkill. There will consistently be a cheaper option that fits the PSA 10 card.
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Alluding to the sports arena, might this be a level of maturity PkMn has yet to reach?
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For me its a nostalgic thing, when I was a kid I wanted the foil so as an Adult getting the foil bring me back to that mind set (time frame). I can see not caring as much if you got into the hobby as an adult and never collected as a kid.
ah, I mis-stated the topic in the title. Sorry. I meant a specific foil pattern on a card. I will correct that. =)
Maybe we can already see if there’s precedent for this in things like double swirls. For example, do PSA graded Neo double swirls achieve any sort of consistent premium over non-double-swirl slabs of equivalent grade? @Dyl @smokemon
For desirable cards like Typhlosion T17, I believe so. But not necessarily for the less desired holos. Part of it is advertising. If the seller makes a big deal about it, buyers may pay the premium.
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Thanks for the perspective.
It seems like, to answer the original question, it probably wouldn’t be too wise to pay a slight premium on a card with a nice swirl/orb placement (or even double swirl) in the hopes that the next buyer will appreciate the feature and grant it a similar or greater premium. It’s really just too subjective to count on for investment purposes.
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Agreed. I overpay because I appreciate it, but I know that 99% of collectors would never.
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