I found a full green-wing Charizard Base box in my storeroom. Too bad the thing is open!
Having examined the packs themselves, I believe they have all the hallmarks of being shadowless. The correct text and artwork placement on the fronts, the correct text on the backs.
So, now Iām wondering whether I should:
A) Keep the packs intact and have them graded by PSA. (If I get good grades, would the packs be worth considerably more than unopened but ungraded packs?)
B) Keep the packs intact but not bother with grading.
C) Take my chances and open them. (Do I have a chance of getting close to building close to a full set of commons and uncommons? If I found even one Charizard that was, for instance, a PSA 9, would that make the effort worthwhile?)
I want to maximize their collectibility. I donāt want to regret my decision. My shadowless fate is in your hands!
I would actually go with opening them. Shadowless is starting to become more of a collectors item, so PSA graded copies of commons and uncommons will sell well. Even ungraded mint ones should go for some good money. As much as I dislike weighing packs, if youāre looking to grade some packs, grading packs with possible holos in them is kinda stupid. So I agree with @missingno basically.
yes you have to pen them all, and grade the best centered ones and all the holos regardless. you will make some good dollans.
It will take a while, but if you get good grades which is most likely to happen. thern You can make some good pennies over timeā¦ if you wanna get it over and done with, then sell the packsā¦
Also engrish shadowless sell like hotcakes, and the PSA 10ās go for dam good prices.
Knowing your stance on English cards I donāt foresee you actually keeping them, but if youāre truly planing on collecting them. Keep three, open the rest.
Otherwise money aspect: PSA grading the packs is the best option, but most time consuming (seriously PSA graded packs are a challenge to sell if they donāt get 10s, and the 10s are hard too). Sealed packs are the next best option, theyāre fairly easy to sell.
Opening the packs is if youāre trying to collect the cards. You wonāt get more money from them unless you luck out with a Charizard, and even then youāre not making too much more.
Great advice so far, everyone! Though Iām still not sure what to do
@cullers, Iām considering keeping them for my personal collection if thereās a chance I could assemble a near-complete set (minus holos, of course). That would make the challenge of completing the set a lot easier. However, if Iām likely to end up with less than 1/3 of a complete set, I donāt know if I want to go down that road.
@richiel1991, maybe I need to do a bit more research. Are there two different types of shadowless packs ā one that is guaranteed to have shadowless, and another that could either be shadowless or with shadows?
Glenn, I am not an expert by any means - but in my experience the problem with determining shadowless cards is for the box (booster box and theme decks) and not the packs. Once the packs are determined to be shadowless you are almost guaranteed to get a shadowless cards inside. The packs that are of concern are the unlimited packs, with the accidental 1st edition stamp - those cards will have unlimited shadowed cards in them.
*EDIT Again: I still stand behind this opinion lmao:*
I would just open one pack to find out honestly, the worst that could happen is you open one and find out they are not shadowless. You could just re-buy another base set pack to get your total back to 36
Yes. A significant number of āshadowlessā packs do NOT contain shadowless cards.
Ebirdman just had a problem with a buyer he sold some graded shadowless packs to. The buyer cracked one and the pack was full of shadowed cards.
There are actually 3 known pack variants, the one not mentioned is the mixed 1st edition & shadowless cards. I remember watching a long time members @legendslugia251 video ages ago, and he opened a couple shadowless packs in which the last 3 cards were 1st Edition.
The shadowless packs literally and figuratively capture the transition between the three main base set print runs.
Thanks, @notzeldagilroy and @smpratte. That helps clarify things a bit more for me. Seems like it might be risky to break them open in the hopes of getting all shadowless. Maybe I should do a pack-rip YouTube video for the fun of it.
Yikes! Thanks for finding and sharing that with me. Makes me rethink whether I want to start this collection now! (I thought it would be a fun challenge, and I sort of feel the shadowless have the same aura about them as the no-rarity Base Japanese cards have.)
Sure !! I actually prefer the shadowless base set cards better, they look more eye appealing, but that is my preference.
Since the box is already opened you could always open one pack just to see if they are shadowless, and you would still have 35 sealed packs left. Iād watch that opening video!
