The price difference between 10s and 9s is quite staggering.
As a collector who has only collected the Chinese base set as an adult…are these prices justified? Are the English Jungle/Fossil cards really that hard to grade?
I’m looking at my favourite cards here - Mr. Mime, Aerodactyl, Dragonite, the Legendary Birds. Prices seem very high for PSA 10, and around 1/3 for PSA 9.
Just checked the pop report.
PSA 9 Mr. Mime: 117
PSA 10 Mr.Mime: 34
Yet… PSA 10 1st Edition Moltres: 93! 93 of those bad boys. Price seems v high!?
The prices are very justified. They are extremely desirable, very high demand. I have opened about 12-15 of these boxes in the past couple years, and yes, they are extremely hard to grade. Getting a single 10 in a box is lucky and getting more than 1 just doesn’t happen often.
From what I have seen many of the 10’s are more like 10x+ higher than the PSA 9 price. Check kangaskhan, lapras and any other low pop Pokemon.
Yep.
I recently purchased a mint condition 1st edition jungle set. The backs of the cards are immaculate.
However the majority of the fronts have the infamous silvering on the edges. And the ones that don’t aren’t 10 grade worthy.
So 9s are that price as they are so much easier to get. Where as 10s are rare regardless of the pop. As people will only sell their 10s for a premium.
I’ll just repeat what everyone else is saying for further confirmation. PSA 10 prices are very justified on most cards. That being said - it is because demand is still high and a lot of prices have been dropping so within the next 6 months to a year you should be able to get them even cheaper than the are now with populations rising and demand decreasing.
Personally, I’m getting a record high amount of requests for these in PSA 10. Many of my regulars have moved on to these sets and are having a heck of a time finding them all in strong 10 condition.
I missed out on the birds:
www.ebay.com/itm/182485653721
I’ll just go for 9s. PSA being as unreliable as it is, and the fact I’m buying these for my collection and not to sell in the future, the difference between 9 and 10 doesn’t concern me as much.