This is such an interesting thread. I’ve sworn up and down I don’t care about sleeves but man there’s some awesome arts that seem to have such a large spectrum of styles! I have a bunch of burning questions for anyone who can help.
Does TPC give info on who the artists are on each sleeve art and where do you get that info?
I’m assuming there is no “set lists” with a picture of every sleeve ever produced…or is there?
What is the range in cost per sleeve generally? I would imagine more rare and older styles command a large price.
What’s the largest “lot” or “sleeve collection” someone could reasonably expect to buy? I don’t have the time or patience to acquire sleeves one by one, but I may be interested in buying a large lot or collection potentially.
I can’t answer all of your questions but there are multiple people with incomplete lists (few excel sheets and websites) that are being worked on.
Age is definitely a big factor in the price but even more so is the circumstances of it’s release. A lot of tournament releases were very limited and to they can command quite a price (mind you nothing compared to card prices).
I know of some people with near complete collections and I imagine some people do have compete collections it’s definitely in the realm of possibility unlike sith the actual cards. It’s also something that I’m currently working on. I’ll post photos of my progress shortly.
As I’m trying to collect them all I’m organizing the binder in chronological order (loosely so that I can group reprints and themes). Right now I’ve collected sleeves from 1999-2011 with a few gaps.
The sleeves early on are really interesting because of their history (my favorite is the New York pokemon center exclusive sleeve). But the modern sleeves make up for the lack of history with gorgeous art
Whoa, amazing collection! I had no idea there were PCNY sleeves! I have fond memories of visiting as a kid, did you get the sleeves back then or have you acquired it later?
I don’t believe the public information for artists exists, i think some artists share their work in social media and some are just very recognisable but i guess that’s it. Also regarding price, most of the modern sleeves are available as singles for 1-2$ so very affordable even if you only pick something here and there instead of buying lots
Appreciate the help thanks. Makes sense on price it’s a much more niche market I’m sure. I kinda of like how there is less information available, everyone loves some mystery.
Ooo, this is a fine collection. Those binder pages are really awesome and you can see the evolution of sleeve art from 1999 to later. Very cool. Awesome work compiling these without many official sources and thanks for sharing.
Have over 250 scans of more recent sleeve designs (including Worlds, ICs, English Pokemon Center etc) from our eBay store if anyone needs. Feel free to share/use.
Especially at the card shows people are loving picking up single sleeves at the moment, they are definitely becoming more mainstream in the past year or so.
Im a huge fan of this thread - lurking here is what got me into sleeves and now my themed binder collections incorporate sleeves as if they were regular cards. The price you pay for the art you get just feels unreal.
These are my two highlights - they fit in great with my Domestic Garden binder.
Do we have documentation about which specific sleeves were limited releases? I’m curious what search terms to use for the more historic ones and what kind of prices they go for.
In terms of modern sleeves with an interesting release, I put forth the 2019 Berry’s Forest, Ghost’s Castle collaboration with artist Kayo Horaguchi. You can find more information about it on this Bulbapedia page. You can easily buy these sleeves for a couple bucks each on eBay so I doubt they are particularly rare.
In terms of population I have no idea how they compares to like the sleeves from the Pokemon Simplified Chinese Master Tournaments which are also cheap and easy to find.
Appreciate it! Was going back and forth on whether the colors weren’t harmonious/cohesive enough but wanted to challenge myself beyond my usual “grass is green” approach
