Recently, there have been a few celebrities shelling out tons of money on Pokemon cards. In particular, they were interested in the first edition Base Set English Charizard in PSA 10. The last one in SCG 10 was sold at Goldin Auction for $340000US.
I know this card is iconic and brings back nostalgic feelings of Pokemon cards played in the old days.
I am wondering why those celebrities are not interested in trophy cards as they are much rarer than the Charizard.
Can you come up with a reason why they don’t like Japanese trophies?
The entry point for new collectors are almost always set cards. If they’re actually interested in sticking around long term, some might gravitate towards trophies.
Base set cards bring more clicks because they are more relatable / nostalgic for the average viewer.
I’m super duper fine with the big money guys sticking to boring 1st Ed Base cards, though.
You’d be hard pressed to get someone to pay $300000 for a card that they just heard of last week and hasn’t been hyped up by people they know. For a card’s value to increase, the hype train has to stop at that card. If it never gets there, even if the intrinsic value is high by standards of rarity, then there won’t be buyers. There may be concern that some of the more mainstream collectors aren’t interested in them in the long term.
IMO trophies are likely to increase significantly in value, but it may take time for people to learn about a lot more of the lesser-known cards and the history behind them.
It took me several months to know about trophy cards and one year four months to start collecting them after I joined the hobby in the end of 2016.
Guess what I collected in the first 16 months? Shinings, Gold Stars, Crystals, Shadowless and Charizards, of which all of them are in English which is very familiar to the start of many new collections!
I would argue that people are more nostalgic to the Pokemon than the cards, so it’s more about exposure and trusting in these huge prices for cards people have never ever seen before and mostly can’t even read. It takes time.
I think the Master’s Scroll is a great example of how if enough influential collectors within the hobby talk about a card and you have some public, easy to access sales data, prices adjust upwards for these rare cards much more quickly. It’s a catalyst for what would happen eventually.
Looking at no rarity cards for example, most people weren’t too fond of them over the past two years, but since high grade ones are so rare, it only took a bit of recent exposure and hype to really boost them up. The higher the rarity, the more exponential such a rise can be and over time, exposure grows even without hype.
People don’t jump into the hobby and go right to Trophy Cards, it is just not part of the natural progression or trajectory.
If they’re still in the hobby some years later, and have enough time on their hands to really learn about the cards, then that’s a different story. It would not at all be shocking if some were very interested in trophy cards if they got to that point.
Point of entry will almost always be the set someone grew up with and/or 1st Edition Base Set. And where they go from there depends on the individual.
Always the possibility that just because someone hasn’t posted about it, does not mean they are unaware or uninterested. Perhaps they are interested and actively trying to get one and realize that talking about it will only make it more difficult.
I’ll get a lot of hate on this: Specific set cards are much better financial investments than trophy cards despite what is regurgitated around. They’ve consistently outperformed over the long term. If you’re new to the hobby and want to invest, a 1st Ed Base Zard PSA 10 would be the way to go.
Trophies are usually the last stop on the collecting train. It’s been less than a year since many of the celebrities started collecting. Give it some more time.
I am a small fish but I’m trying to collect what I can before even these cards get hyped up too.