Such a good video. Some insight to some of the business and foundation. I wish it were longer. Also interesting that he graded it as the “Aoki Collection” piece and it is stated on the label itself. Thoughts?
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#4☆
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Going to start requesting my personal PSA cards to have “The PokeMatt Collection” on the label when I send them to get graded now
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Is there a filter over the video or are the colors of the card off?
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I was offered my own designation a couple times but declined. Ever since the McNall/Gretzky t206 card I disliked the extra label clutter. It takes some focus off the card itself. Maybe Zack feels the same way?
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1999 Pokemon Game
Charizard - Holo
1st Edition Kng. Pok. Gry. fr. PwnS. Col.
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“Steve Aoki got an illustrator” is a fine thread on its own! “Steve Aoki got an illustrator and lets speculate on the overall market effect and how much it’s worth now” needs to go in the Giant Market Thread.
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Why are the original owners not grading them themselves?
I don’t understand it, especially if they have multiple copies
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I enjoyed this video! His enthusiasm is infectious
Imagine having your own 1 of 1 card as well, that must be so surreal
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Why bother taking the risk of overseas shipping and paying $5k to grade if the cards clearly sell regardless of graded or raw.
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The seller has no interest in a public video taped sale.
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The people in the video are middlemen.
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Thank you for the kind words. I was surprised to open this thread and read them here. The struggle is real when chasing any collection goal. LC was no joke and I’m happy to have accomplished the initial goal.
I have an odd view of adding a personalized label. For context, PSA will rarely add a personalized label except in special circumstances (newsworthy or celebrity). It seems to come off as a PR campaign versus denoting something noteworthy. Case in point - have you ever seen a personalized label without some sort of social media presence - probably not. So I don’t hold Aoki getting a label against him. If anything PSA likely pushed it without Aoki even knowing it was an option.
My view: I believe having your own label is a bit narcissistic. In a way, it says this card is better than the next one. In reality, nearly all collecting is about helping the next collector achieve their goals while also achieving yours. That’s the fulfilling part of this hobby. The personalized label elevates one card above others with no true factor other than the owner. If the label’s goal is to categorize a card, then a personalized label isolates collectors by no fault of their own.
The alternative: Everyone personalizes labels, then this takes on a new meaning. It would become more like getting your own baseball card in little league. This Base Set Pika was in Jimmy’s set - This would be a cool gift idea. PSA would probably rake in dough on re-labeling fees. It’s worth mentioning CGG does have an option for adding a personalized label when grading. So, there is an option in the marketplace to do this. I do not recall seeing any examples though.
All of this aside, I’ve talked with Steve Sloan about adding things to the PSA label, such as first card graded in a 10 (via a symbol, etc). He declined, although I was brainstorming ways to add layers of value to PSA. This was all unsolicited btw.
Instances where I believe a label is a hobby positive would be the first to achieve a set registry goal. I’d prefer a non-personalized label such as “First Set Completed - Date”; This would add some history to set collecting and motivate others to track their sets with PSA. The challenge is we’re so far into so many sets. It’d almost need to be modern moving forward.
TLDR: No harm no foul on Aoki getting a label. PSA probably asked him to and he said yes.
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Filter, colors are fine
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I kinda hate the personalization. Made a verbal “ehh” when I saw it but with gem mints idea of a marking to show first 10 or a designated registry completion would be a cool idea. Maybe a sticker label of sorts like we see in coins. In coins however some of those companies that grade and sticker an already graded coin are a different company altogether.
Feels like everyone and their dog owns an Illustrator nowadays.
These custom PSA labels are an interesting idea. If the card had been showcased at some event or was an ex-museum piece then fantastic, I’d love a special label distinguishing its pedigree like that, but I feel like for something like this it’s just meaningless fluff. If two identical condition and identically-graded Pichu cards came up for sale I’d opt for the one which didn’t have the extra text.
As someone who owns a fair amount of first-graded PSA 10s: please no. Getting cards graded isn’t a race.
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Yeah that would for sure be a problem with modern. Maybe they’d have to differentiate between WOTC era and others but that would still be weird since they are already in other collections.
I think personalization should just not be a thing I suppose. If a card is considered famous or in a famous collection to be named, we could use the registry and cert numbers to keep track of those.
You don’t. 
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Completely agree with the narcissist perception. I have nothing against Aoki or any other collector who decides to go the personalization route, but if I was passed on a card with that kind of label, I would get it reholdered immediately. Labels are about designating the card, not the holder. The personalized label in this specific instance comes across as a means to use his celebrity status to inflate the monetary value of his cards over cards of similar quality. Whether that was his intent or not is not something I know or claim to know. I can only speak to what it looks like from an outsider’s perspective. Then again, I also place no additional value on autographed cards, which is obviously much more aligned with the hobby, so my position on this is probably more radical than most.
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No, and I’m very happy younger me decided Pichu was the Pokémon to go after. I’m not looking forward to the day a Neo trophy surfaces with Pichu on its artwork.
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Or even cards graded within a year of release. Any card received by PSA within a year gets a “Release Year Designation” At least it’s not one card getting the label and it’s anyone who was actively collecting during the cards release. It encourages collectors to send cards in for grading.
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I watched those videos recently, so good