Hi EFour,
I wanted to get everyone’s opinion on the potential future value of the Diamond and Pearl block of sets, beginning with Diamond and Pearl Base in 2007 and ending with Stormfront in November of 2008. The block is 10 years old now and hasn’t exactly appreciated in value.
If we use PSA grading as a standard of desirability, as of this post, there are roughly 1300 cards graded from EX Power Keepers, the final set in the ex series block. From the Diamond and Pearl base set, the set directly following PK, there have been a whopping 84 cards graded. 84. 6.5% of the population of the prior set. On that note, the total populations of the remaining D&P Series sets are as follows:
Mysterious Treasures – 142
Secret Wonders – 205
Great Encounters – 49
Majestic Dawn – 110
Legends Awakened – 122
Stormfront – 330
In my opinion these figures make sense, because Stormfront and Secret Wonders are the two sets with Charizards. But back to the topic at hand, these populations are still significantly smaller than their predecessor sets. Now to analyze some factors that could be contributing to the weak market: Lack of a chase card: The old school EXs are badass; fact. Stronger attacks, more HP, and you give up two prize cards when they get knocked out. Sweet! Lv. Xs, well, they pale in comparison. No kid was excited evolving his Empoleon into Empoleon Lv.x for 10 more HP and and an attack that did only 10 more damage (potentially 10 less on a coin flip). Gold stars single handedly brought a lot of people into the hobby and are one of the stronger categories of cards as far as growth in value. In the Diamond and Pearl block nothing replaced them.
An unfortunate series of events: The housing market crashed in 2007. Money got tight. Non-essential spending decreased. It’s likely this era was less influential/nostalgic because the generation that would have got these cards didn’t get them or didn’t get as many, leaving less of an impact.
It’s too early: Perhaps it’s not fair to compare D&P to old school ex, which has performed exceedingly well, better than a lot of WOTC product has. A 10-year-old kid in 2007 just turned 20, (fun fact, that kid is me) and might just now be acquiring a source of disposable income to get back into collecting the cards they had when they were younger.
I’m sure there are some things I overlooked, but that’s why I want to have this discussion. Now let’s look at the positives of the D&P block:
The holos: I know a case can be made for a lot of sets and this is largely opinion-based but hot damn. Have you seen the Majestic Dawn holos? Gorgeous. If Palkia and Dialga were slightly off color and extended ¼” beyond the border, you would be paying $300 each for PSA 10s. Just saying.
The “chase cards”: If you can call them that… Are hard to get. We’re talking 1 per box in most sets, 2 if you are lucky. I have seen boxes have 0. As far as Lv. X art, there’s nothing to complain about. They have a shiny border and the art extends outside of the designated box like gold stars.
Print quality: Mediocre. Not so terrible to be discouraging, but bad enough to make high grades elusive.
4th gen remake: Those who follow the video game will know there have been rumblings about a potential fourth generation remake for the 3DS. This could potentially put these sets in prime position for growth as D&P hit the spotlight again.
I’m sorry if this was dry but I tried to be thorough and informative. At least I spiced it up with some jokes, right?
Let me know if you think the Diamond & Pearl block will rise in value or if you think it has already peaked, or any other thoughts pertaining to these sets. I’m interested to hear what the community has to say.
Kyle
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