I was worried my guess was too high but you lot are starting to make me think it’s too low haha.
1 Like
Markets open up when there’s something with mass interest and value. This is ALWAYS true with EVERYTHING. And fortunately it is. It’s the only way towards growth.
If these type things followed your model there would be 5 members here in efour and 20 items listed on eBay. Everything would be (sadly) seasonal.
3 Likes
Let me also dispel a few myths.
First, I don’t have control over the listing.
Second, the rarity claim is completely false. Every Illustrator customer of mine was fully aware of the intended distribution numbers. Moreover, this current auction describes the intended distribution in excruciating detail. Simply put, these record sales all occurred knowing the intended distribution numbers of 20-39 copies.
Lastly, we are not the keepers of the Pokemon market. Being passionate is fine, but when you use that emotion to dictate the market, it is completely baseless. Qualifying if a buyer is “worthy” or “pure” is extremely non-nonsensical, especially when you don’t have any real relationships with these individuals. I know the owners personally; they are collectors who are simply willing to spend more for something they want.
1 Like
Are you going to re-invest in Pokemon with the sale Scott? 
That’s my question as well! The only reason why he is selling this card is because he has something that he is interested in purchasing and/or has lined-up to purchase 
2 Likes
Please believe! I love pokemon almost as much as I love you guys. 
I can see it selling for over 20k, because of the hype build up over the years.
If Scott has sold multiples, has more and it pops up occasionally on Y!J then it is obviously not the rarest card out there. That needs to get fixed before Ben starts throwing no rarities at people.
1 Like
i reckon it will go for atleast 30k-45k.
There is one good thing to come out of higher sales for the card itself.
And that will be making it rarer in a certain sense. By making it more expensive. It gets more rarer for some body to own. Or somebody to even think about owning.
This is a good thing, dont you think?
Im all for maKing a card more rarer then it was once. Like putting a normal ungraded card into a Pristine 10 BGS case. As apposed to a psa case… Yeah thats right… PSA 10 isnt as rare smprattican.
The funny thing is… This sale doesnt mean we wont be able to pick it up on a wierd site ungraded for 1 5th of the price!.. or will it 
Everyone hates me now =D
I suppose it doesnt matter what this sells for, because gold star latias just went for 710usd at auction… we wont be able to afford them now, and were all doomed 
Also @darkrai just because i have stated what i have stated… This doesnt mean you and your buddies are aloud to sell me shit for 10 times market price. I exspect to get such things cheap. Give me your latios psa 10 1st ed 
First off, I am not trying to bash you with this response, nor is this response directed directly at you - more-so everyone who has posted claiming that this is / is not the “rarest card”.
Discussing the “rarest item” is EXTREMELY SUBJECTIVE! There are MANY VARIABLES that need to be taken into consideration when discussing the “rarest item”:
How many were created and how many remain? How often does the item appear for public-sale? How many people are collecting the item? What is the condition of the item? What is the price-point of the item? Just to bring-up a few points…
There really is no single right-or-wrong answer when discussing the “rarest item” - of course, that is within reason…
1 Like
According to several people on eBay a base bill trainer is the rarest card
5 Likes
I can’t refinance my house so soon 
lol jk
The joke being that in this lending climate you actually could!
Krabby’s a close second
Yes the krabby of course, so rare I forget about it
4 Likes
No worries, you are entitled to an opinion as well. But that description is almost written in bold when stating that it is the most rare Pokémon card in existence. I cannot stress enough how that should not be as factual sounding as it is. It is fine, the card is fairly rare, but the rarest? Relax.
Now what you just wrote is something that would and should be said to clarify its description. What I’m trying to say is that maybe they can add ‘one of the’ or ‘soon to be’ the rarest card in existence, not for the sake of this community(because we know what’s what, *cool glasses emoji*) of course but others out there who will misinterpret and start chit-chatting to the world how there is only one Pikachu Illustrator in existence, furthermore spreading misleading info, when it could’ve been prevented; but instead, a true fact could have been spoken Thanks to that bold statement on said discussed description.
1 Like
This is a good way to describe the problem. In collecting, rarity is 1/1 but it is also derived from nuance (like what a bunch of people have stated earlier). The average person only knows rarity as a number out of a number, but collectors know it to mean nuance.
The general public might make an assumption based on the title alone, but the articles I’ve read based on the heritage listing have all stated the background of the card including intended distribution. And anyone who goes to read the auction will also read the same number. Not using the term rarity because the general public might misunderstand doesn’t warrant not using it (obviously imo), especially when it is being used correctly and the distribution details are included.
People should take descriptions like this with a grain of salt - it is up to YOU to have the knowledge of exactly what you’re buying. Sellers constantly use hyperbole to make a sale, it’s the nature of the beast. I’m certain smpratte didn’t write the description. I’m sure the auction house did a little digging online created the description for the card fairly briefly.
I personally think the card will sell around $30k and while I have no reason to believe Smpratte would falsify any number (he has an outstanding rep) in ANY instance you always have to consider the source of where these approximate values are coming from. If I were a potential buyer, the owners approximation of value would mean very little to me.
1 Like
Something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. WITHOUT a well established market value, it’s impossible to make a true or false claim about what the card is actually “worth.”
If the card sells for more than any other Pokemon card due to it being hyped up which in turn makes the card more desirable for people, it shouldn’t be surprising that the card sells for more than any other. The card has extremely strong demand and extremely short supply (albeit not the rarest of cards, but still extremely rare).
The reason the card sells for more than any other card is because people always want the best version of something.
Why don’t PSA 9 1st edition cards sell for nearly as much as PSA 10 1st edition cards? Because a better version exists.
Why don’t PSA 10 Unlimited cards sell for nearly as much as 1st edition cards? Because a better version exists.
Why does the Charizard command an enormous premium over any other card in the base set? Because people want that #1 card.
The Illustrator, due to a combination of factors - trophy card, old school, Pikachu/Charmander, beautiful design, rarity, uniqueness - all fed into enormous hype, and then the hype takes on a life of its own to make the card the most “valuable,” which in turn makes it even more desirable because it is perceived to be the most valuable, and everyone wants to own the best and most valuable card.
But anyway, the bottom line is that there is no established market value for the card due to the small sampling of how many times this card has actually sold for. Therefore, don’t talk about how much it’s “actually worth.” It’s worth what people are willing to pay for it, something that is unknown and highly volatile. So much so that whoever wins this card may well be able to sell it for much more just a week later, or much more if they sat on it for 20 years… Or they might not get nearly as much for it in those time frames. It’s a complete unknown, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
2 Likes
This is all you need to know about why literal rarity isn’t the main or only factor. These cards have apparently only 6 copies, and they don’t sell. In fact, 2 full sets/3 of the piplups were on ebay this year alone. This is the first ever psa 9 illustrator in bid auction on the open market. Which one is more difficult to obtain?
3 Likes