Cards like the unlimited starters are a strange animal. I feel like they “should be” $50 in PSA 10. No more no less.
Grading costs $10 and takes a half a year at best. These are iconic cards and even with 50,000 PSA 10’s one day I feel like demand could be there to keep them up to $50. Even though they are a $2 raw card (or less) It’s just such a palatable price point that nearly anyone could afford it and any collection could fit these cards. Many people dont want to wait and end up with potential 9’s.
But right now impatient people and/or stonkers not wanting to wait for them to be graded decide to pay $200+ then I’ll gladly sell them for that. I’d just not advise anyone to do it. Maybe I’ll be wrong and they’ll rise to $1,000 each. Boy how I’d love to be wrong. It’s almost not even as much the 10s selling for 200 that’s crazy it’s that 7-9s sell for healthy profit too.
Oh yeah, the Gold Star Rayquaza haha. I discovered him right after that sold. Having purchased 90%+ of his non-holos, everything from Expedition onward is pack fresh mint. My EX Series set are like 75% from kenlar-7029 lol. I have so many exs from him. I remember getting a Rocket’s Scyther ex for $10 (PSA 9 quality, highest quality TRR ex I’ve ever purchased) among dozens of other great deals.
And yes, his son played in the early to mid-2000s. I was lucky enough to find an English Championship Arena (among thousands of other Pop Series and Nintendo promo cards) in one of the bulk lots I bought from him. I still have ~30 Rocket’s Admins from that bulk among a ton of other good stuff. I got very lucky with discovering him early. I set up Distill.io for his eBay newly listed page and bought every lot he listed that had cards I needed. Such a windfall – really nice guy, too, wish he still had more cards haha.
Man, a few million psa10 base pikachus. If that is the case, investing in them is hilarious as you say. Perhaps I am crazy, but I have bought quite a few of cards like that raw (along with a bunch of sealed decks). I have taken the dice roll, now I say to all the mint raw base unlimited non-holos ‘Bring it on! This is Sparta!’ xD (inb4 avalanched by psa10 base unlimited pikachus)
I think it is reasonable that base unlimited pikachu psa10 will some day be worth $1000. Call me crazy, or just joking. Either way the theme decks will be worth $1k at least surely.
Yes the 7-9’s selling well too.
I think everyone needs to pay attention to this psa9 Gust of Wind then get back to me about investing in base unlimited xD www.ebay.com/itm/154081348502
Sealed product is a lot safer than the cards. Honestly, though, I’d just cut my losses with the mint raw Base Unlimited non-holos. There’s a pretty low price ceiling for them. But best of luck to you on them lol.
Yeah my best items are sealed product, I can afford to lose the money with these raw cards. Lets the games begin! Thank you also, crossing my fingers for $1000 base unlimited Pikachu
If you think that might happen, you should just invest in sealed light Base Unlimited packs. If the non-holos have as bright of an outlook as you think they might, then light Base Unlimited packs seem like a straight-up bargain at $200 a piece (or whatever they’re going for now).
In my opinion the light packs are overpriced af, you can pick up theme/starter decks for less which include a holo and several desirable non-holos. $1000 Pikachu is a bit of a joke but I have already bought a tonne of sealed decks and pack fresh singles so am already prepared for a scenario where the value maintains/rises.
I will be fair though, at least the light packs can have cards such as Dragonair that you do not get in theme/starter decks so they might have some extra value fore that reason alone.
Really? Because if you think the value of PSA 10 Base Unlimited cards will maintain or rise, then $200 light Base Unlimited packs
are a great buy for you. They have significantly positive EV right now with the current PSA 9/10 non-holo values. Perhaps the theme decks are even more positive EV, but the packs are also much more widely-desirable and iconic in addition to still being positive EV. I don’t see how they can be ‘overpriced af’ if you think the non-holo prices aren’t also ‘overpriced af.’ Because if you opened a light pack and paid $110 to grade all the cards and got the cards back today, you’d likely be at least making your money back (even if some came back as 9s).
Overpriced in comparison to starter/theme decks. Unless you consider cards such as Dragonair valuable enough that the value of the contents outweigh a starter/theme deck.
Theres inherent value with a sealed pack, especially for vintage. It’s not always about whats in the pack. To own a base set pack, regardless of if its light or not, is to own a piece of history and some great artwork so I don’t think they’re really overvalued. You could argue theme decks are underpriced but there’s generally much more nostalgia for packs then decks imo.
Fair points. If you value the pack as a sealed item that is something for sure. Myself I prefer a sealed theme deck, largely because of the contents but there is some nostalgia too. More nostalgia for packs though probably as you say. There is another issue with packs that I will mention, cards inside packs are more likely to get damage such as dents than cards inside theme/starter decks (though of course the holo in decks often has sticky damage as previously mentioned, but the non holos are safe).
When you speak about non-holo set cards here, are you referring only to unlimited printings of these cards? Or would you consider 1st edition non-holo set cards uninvestible as well? I guess to declare my bias, I think high-grade 1st edition gen 1 set cards have growth potential even now. Take Dragonair. Of course, holos are more exciting, but in my view, non-holo 1st edition base Dragonair at ~$500 right now is very reasonable considering the popularity of the species when something like a holo Poliwrath in PSA 9 1st ed base sells for north of $3k. I like the 500 Dragonair much more than the 3.5k Poliwrath in terms of potential growth and value you get for what you pay (speaking wholly from an investible mindset).
The only exception to my claim about non-holo set cards is 1st Edition Base. Every other 1st Edition set is much more plentiful and much less iconic. So even iconic Gen 1 Pokemon rookie cards like Jungle 1st Edition Eevee and the like have very limited growth potential. The supply is way, way too high. And sealed product is much too plentiful and inexpensive. 1st Edition Base non-holos, though, are much rarer and are contained in sealed product that is also both rarer and more expensive.
Still, my issue with non-holos (even 1st Edition Base ones) is that they are much easier to maintain the condition of. So if a previously unknown trove of pack fresh 1st Edition Base cards is discovered, tons of non-holos will still be in PSA 10-quality condition. But the holos would likely not be. And it’s not so much a matter of holos being tougher to grade straight from the pack – it’s a function of the fact that holos have to have been stored a very specific way to be preserved. Once opened, the holos would have to have been immediately put in clean penny sleeves and away from dust. If even a near-microscopic speck of dust gets on the surface of a holo and any amount of pressure is applied and any sort of movement occurs, the holo will get scratched. Compare this to non-holos – they can get as dusty as you want; the surface simply isn’t as prone to scratching. Basically, my point is that the PSA 10 pops of non-holos are more likely to increase dramatically. Any 1st Edition Base holos, on the other hand, that were opened 5+ years ago and have not yet been graded are very, very unlikely to get 10s. The pops are much less likely to increase.
But if you’re going to ‘invest’ in non-holo set cards, 1st Edition Base Set is your best bet. Still, I think you’d be better off going after holos simply because the pops are less subject to significant growth.
I also wanted to add onto this idea a bit too even though its a little old. You make a good point @dragonwarrior, in saying that art collectors are not in their 20’s and 30’s which a lot of the people exposed to Pokemon as a kid would currently be. However, I think something like this can become the generational collectible similar to how sneakers have attracted collectors that are in their 40’s and 50’s especially around iconic shoes such as the SB dunks’s that were popularized in the 90’s and 2000’s.
Sneakers generally have a lower cap in the market because of the lack of “serial number” series (although some companies are starting to move into those ex. Dior 1’s 8400 mens pairs (I believe) retail $2k, resale after release $12k). So I feel that these same collectibles may have that dip over time, but also create a whole new resurgence such as how @smpratte, talks about you will have more money in 10 years generally than you would today.
Being a newer member of this section of the card hobby, I’m wondering what “knowledge based” means in pokemon. In something like sports cards it’s characterized through the player’s performance, their off court relevancy (Shaq, magic Johnson being retired but still commentators and such), and what they do outside of that (Jordan with the iconic shoes). But with something like pokemon, does it contain more to things like “release, how hard a card is to grade, what the availability is of the card during release, history of how this card was sought or not sought after, and then the more vague–popularity”?
base 1st edition is in its own class, and always will be. base 1st edition zapdos will always sell for more than 1st edition moltres and articuno in the fossil/jungle sets. 20 years later, base 1st edition sells for 20x more than 1st edition jungle or fossil. enough said.
Either way the theme decks will be worth $1k at least surely.
