The previous posts have covered really well the reason why people collect 10’s.
I would just like to highlight that I think you can still be a serious collector without collecting 10’s. The question is how is a “serious collector” defined?
For me in general it is someone who has a genuine interest in the hobby, puts time into researching about many different aspects such as the cards/history/artwork/how to store them etc, engages with the community and shares knowledge and works on building a collection over a sustained period of time.
I don’t think you have to have only PSA 10’s in your collection to be serious, while it would be nice it’s just not viable for the majority of people. Plenty of people collect lower grades and I think a nice binder collection can be one of the most satisfying collections to build and for viewing purposes.
Also I believe some of the old Japanese trophy cards don’t even have any population at PSA 10, but would I say Scott isn’t a serious collector because he doesn’t have them only in a 10? A bit of a extreme example I know but you see my point!
I think you start falling into the grey area between people buying for the hobby and people buying for investment. Not saying everyone who buys 10s is looking at it from an investment perspective, but I would argue that more of them are.
It just boils down to what you want to achieve out of the hobby - are you in it for the love of the cards? If so, then what excites you the most? We have pretty much every collector type here - specific Pokemon, specific Cards, specific Eras and the crazy set collector (like me ).
For me personally, I didn’t come back to the hobby to play the investment game, I came back to complete something that meant so much to me as a child as I probably had what you would say a poor(ish) childhood, but now I have the financial freedom to acquire everything that I want.
If you think that’s a steal, I remember at around the same time I agreed to give you $1k for the complete PSA 9 set, ebirdman was offering a complete PSA 10 set for $5k. This was during a time when some PSA 10 1st ed base holos didn’t even have a double-digit population report yet. At the time it seemed unbelievably expensive, today it seems quaint.
I also vaguely recall a mint Illustrator appearing on eBay around then for $20k with a best offer option.
Loving the cards and seeing the cards as an investment opportunity are not mutually exclusive propositions. I collect/purchase cards with both things in mind.
It honestly comes down to one of the basic natures of a human being. People want things that other people don’t have. There is much more exclusivity in owning a 10 where most wotc 9’s are abundant and easy to obtain. The 10’s aren’t always for sale and there is random price movement based on what people are willing to pay when the next one pops up. If I was going for prestige and wanted to show my set off - then showing off a 9 set is not big deal - but showing off a 10 set is a feat of perseverance and perfection (most of the time).
This is definitely partially opinionated based on my own beliefs and drives. I crave a challenge in collecting. If I’m just buying to have a NM 1st Ed set to own. I buy 8/9’s and crack them out for a binder set. Binder sets are awesome.
This is a slightly unfair comparison. Naturally, if you put more money in you will get more money out on the end. How many 9 sets could you have bought with that few extra thousand? How many holographic 1st ed base set 8s 7s and 6s could you have amassed with that kind of money back then?
Yes you might still be ahead with buying the 10s. And I fully agree with your thoughts that when a 10 does increase or fall it tends to be dramatic which means there a lot of potential. But the idea that a PSA 10 is always the best and ideal investment I dont agree with
Personally, as a few others have mentioned, a 10 can’t be beat. I know that if I had a 9 of something I’d always look at it think “damn, it’s not a 10”. I know the difference between a 9 and 10 is subjective and more often than not has very little difference but it’s just a mind set thing for myself, I like perfection
I take your point, but it just depends. If we’re talking about investments, we have to look at what the same amount of money gets you from an investment standpoint. And you can usually get several PSA 9s for one PSA 10. But in general, I would argue that PSA 10s have the most potential for exponential growth. Take the PSA 10 1st ed Charizard. When I bought one in 2009 for $700, the PSA 9 was selling for $250-300. Today, those cards are selling for $40k+ and $5k+, respectively. So clearly in that case, buying a single single PSA 10 was a better investment than buying 2 or 3 PSA 9s. But yeah, it’s going to vary. When price between PSA 9s and PSA 10s are massive, I wouldn’t argue with someone who wanted to invest in a whole bunch of PSA 9s.
The other thing is balancing the whole collecting with investment thing. As I said before, when I buy cards I consider both. Owning a single PSA 10 is much more satisfying to me than owning several PSA 9s.
Collecting condition makes sense. The better the condition, the better the aesthetics eye appeal.
However the unexamined aspect is value. Is it always worth spending 12-16 times more for a 10, on a card with thousands of copies printed? That is up to the buyer. But that idea is one of the most unexamined trends in Pokemon. There are still people who bought at the peak a couple years ago waiting for their card to recover.
10+ years from now a thread “psa 10 or bust” will probably look ridiculous as the other grades will be more fleshed out. You can already get a preview with more challenging cards to grade/acquire. Ultimately any grade simply represents a subjective condition.
Not at all. PSA 8s are still great cards. As it says on the label, they’re in the range of Near Mint to Mint.
They’re less expensive to buy. They have less room for growth from a value standpoint but also less room to decline from a value standpoint.
It also depends on the card. In general, some rarer/more valuable cards are worth owning in any grade, while other cards (Jungle/Fossil commons/uncommons come to mind) aren’t really worth owning unless they’re graded a 9 at the bare minimum.
).
