Are Pokémon Illustrator Cards good long term investments? I’m not taking about the Pikachu one from 1998 but later ones.
An image or a link would help?
Art Academy? Poke Card Creator? 2009/2010 Card Design Contests?
Anything in the link below.
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Illustration_contests#Pok.C3.A9mon_Card_Game_Illust_Artist_Contest
The Snap Cards are a very solid investment because of how “many” there are.
What about the 2010 Design Contest ones?
Poor amateur artwork from a gimmick series? Sounds good;)
Wouldn’t a ton of Pokémon cards fall under that category? The only ones I look at and really see some form of art are the Munch ones. That’s not saying there aren’t neat looking cards but lots look like they were designed on Photoshop. I sort of lean toward the Promo stuff anyway so the gimmick stuff is attractive to me. But keeping long term is the question. Could the 2010 set be worth a bunch in 5-10 years?
I can’t think of an illustration card that hasn’t increased. Literally all of them have grown over time.
Unique art
Unique release
Rare
Oh not to mention the most valuable card was released this way.
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Petrified dinosaur poop has increased over time too.
The Pikachu Illustrator was released the same way?
No he wasn’t talking about the Pikachu illustrator, remember the most valuable card is prerelease raichu 
Mjisaacs
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I just bought the attached card. It’s a design contest one I just don’t know if I made a good purchase. Good as in a good LONG term hold.
I hate to be the one to tell you but this isn’t really an “illustration card”. Although the art was done by the winner of a contest, this card had a large promo release and is not exclusive at all compared to some of the other cards on that page with 10-100 copies. If you only bought it to hold and have the value appreciate you probably picked the wrong one…
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I still think its a good purchase. The pop is only 6 for PSA 10’s and it is a design contest card. Not sure how it was handed out but it had to be in a weird way. Maybe in that magazine it references in the PSA name.
A Pichu!
This card was part of the 2009 Pokémon Card Design Contest as you’re already aware, but unlike the other cards from that set which only between 12 and 120 exist (which most of are currently on my wish list at $700 per card), the designer of this one was from the contest advertised in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine, which went on to freely distribute the winning entry en masse to anyone who purchased the issue of the magazine which followed the print run.
It’s a great card to own and hold on to, although I may be bias as a Pichu collector, but it’s certainly not likely to shoot up in value any time soon I’m afraid. The card you’ve picked up is almost always available ungraded on sites like eBay, whereas the others from that contest very, very rarely show up.
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You can believe whatever you want but the fact is that this card but it is extremely easy to find relative to the kind of illustration cards people normally refer to. What makes the illustration cards exciting to people is the rarity and how they are usually only given to a handful of winners. This card has neither of those elements going for it and that is reflected in the price:
Here’s the one PSA 10 sold listing on ebay:
rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&toolid=11800&pub=5575465408&campid=5338450246&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FPSA-10-POKEMON-JAPANESE-SHONEN-JUMP-ILLUSTRATOR-SPIKY-PICHU-PROMO-CARD-2009-042-%2F123592402440%3F_trksid%3Dp2047675.m43663.l10137%26nordt%3Dtrue%26rt%3Dnc%26orig_cvip%3Dtrue
Here’s a pretty mint copy that sold for $2.25 +$4.00 shipping (with another card):
rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&toolid=11800&pub=5575465408&campid=5338450246&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FPichu-amp-Spiky-eared-Pichu-M-PCG-Shogakukan-Magazine-Promo-Japanese-Pokemon-%2F401660013241%3Fnma%3Dtrue%26si%3DX413E%25252FXnPeTHl3K7xKxKb8ENaTc%25253D%26orig_cvip%3Dtrue%26nordt%3Dtrue%26rt%3Dnc%26_trksid%3Dp2047675.l2557
I mean there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the card, if you like it by all means I fully encourage anyone to buy it. But if you’re buying the card as an investment because illustration cards are a ‘good investment’, this is the equivalent of buying a played shadowless charmander because 1st ed Charizard is a ‘good investment’
That was a sad day for me. I had a reminder set up on my phone to bid on this auction but my phone ran out of battery and I completely forgot about it until it was too late.
I mean yeah, to go back to my previous point that’s an abnormally low price but if you have $25 the card isn’t hard to find.
I’ve definitely slept though my fair share of auctions too haha
I know right!! I’m not sure that card is as common as the above poster said. That raw card was a EX grade and that PSA10 is a great buy. Other than the two examples given the pop is 6 and finding that card on ebay isn’t easy. Maybe that just shows the card is undesirable and no one wants it.
What do you think the card in PSA 10 will be worth in 5 years?