Prerelease concept

Shouldn’t the Prerelease take the 1st edition stamp place in value?

I would like to know your opinion cause I guess they both have the same concept or am I wrong?

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In a way yes but obviously in a much more limited sense in that you cannot have a complete set as only a few cards get the prerelease treatment whereas entire sets were printed in 1st edition runs.

You do see this to some extent in that the prerelease cards in a certain grade are more valuable than their standard set counterparts. It just has less pizzazz to it I think and so less demand than would an entire 1st edition print run IMO.

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Prerelease cards were usually limited to one card from the set (think Aerodactyl, Dark Gyarados) and were basically handed out to anyone who attended the event, of which there were many across the country (and probably the world). They were guaranteed acquisitions for many people, kind of like the classic 1st Ed Machamp.

Can you explain to me how long would a 1st edition run stay for? Like 1 month? Or is it simply a one time print in stores for who ever to grab and it is over? No restock that is

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Assuming you’re referring to WOTC product the print run lasted about 3 days. After then it’s a matter of distribution.

Also want to say I love the question. This is the kind of topic you will only ever see on E4 :smiling_face:

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Then why the prerelease Charizard gem mint is solid 500$? not to mention staff

While some pre-release cards are from the releasing set, some of those are just promo’s. Which makes it in my eyes not as valuable than when the card has a set number.

I agree with @carrot about the charizard. I also think the hype around Pokémon really helped inflate the price.

The staff is $4000. Even the regular Charizard is $250-300. It’s a base Charizard reprint and they don’t all grade 10s like the Japanese ones you see all day at $30 lol

I think the centering is usually off so most score a 9.

Prerelease existed when 1st Edition stamps existed. I agree that Prerelease has the limited element to it, which is comparable to 1st ed in a general sense. As already mentioned, Prerelease are usually only a handful of cards. In fact no one really cared about prerelease until Evolutions.

Hypothetically, it would be cool if they did a prerelease of the entire holo set. Something limited even with a stamp would be a nice challenge and acknowledgement for collectors.

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Yeah that’s what I was thinking. They print too many… but if it was spread across 15-20 holos it would be great. No one cares for the Machamp… but if it’s part of a set people will collect these cards.

The way this was handled, it was obvious people would only go after the Charizard. It was also very silly the way staff cards were distributed.

Indeed the way it was done (the Staff) was not in a collector sense, yet rather a “who-can-put-his-hands-on-it-from-Pokemon-marts”
It was exclusive only to marts which had the prerelease box!