So to keep a long story short… A coworker from 7 years ago had me over his place to look over some pokemon product that his father bought during the hype of 1999. He had zero interest in pokemon, but simply bought different cards and boxes from sports though pokemon thinking it may eventually have value. Items include the original theme decks, several PSA 10 cd promo zards from the initial craze and an unlimited base box (english) and japanese base box. He also has the original receipt for his Japanese box, which I told him was crucial.
In talking with him, he for now decided to hold both his boxes, but what advice would you give him? I plan to make a video of his collection on Sunday.
In short, he has a japanese base set box with clear wrap, gaps in the wrap on both sides and it says “Only for sale in Japan” on the bottom. Not sure if I recalled that perfectly, but it’s that version is what I mean. I told him the last auction went for 17k. He also has the original receipt and kept it stored and mint all these years. It looks straight out of the factory kinda clean.
What would you guys advise? Should he keep holding it? Sell it? Is it still even worth 17k still or more?
I seriously wish I could buy it, but the ship has sailed for me I think unless I off load another box in my own collection. Makes me sad for sure.
Now’s probably a great time to sell. Japanese Base Set prices have gone up more than almost any other set cards around - Charizard in PSA 10 was a $350 card last year and it’s now $13,000; Bulbasaur was $10 and now it’s $1,000. Personally I don’t think now is the time to be holding onto anything Japanese Base-related as I can’t imagine these prices can hold.
Japanese Base Set itself was printed up until at least 2001 as well, so I imagine it’s the most common early-era Japanese set. I don’t think there’s ever going to be enough demand for these cards for the prices to stay as high as they are right now.
If I had one of these boxes I would not be holding.
Yea this is a tough call for the guy. He held onto them for so long that I think he does n’t mind just holding longer. He doesn’t need the money that bad I think. He is going to sell me the theme decks at a good price at least.
Although it is probably printed a lot, finding a true mint sealed box is extremely hard.
It cannot be compared to English base with almost unlimited (hue hue) boxes left and always many for sale somewhere.
I personally don’t find the extreme correction of the graded cards strange, they still have a very low pop, sure also because of less demand but still. I have a very nice box myself and this is one of my most precious items I’m confident I’ll never find back if I sell it.
Back to the question of op, does he need $20-30K right now? In that case just sell, as he has no connection to it.
Maybe try to auction it somewhere? The receipt makes it extra cool. Awesome find!
Finding a sealed Japanese Base box has been difficult for years, the supply of these are really low it follows along more the Skyridge road, boxes are scarce so they demand a high premium over the set cards, although the set cards sell very well and you get a butt load of them in 60 packs
@handschoen all I’m really saying is: what does the coworker expect to get from this.
If they’d come to @joer last year and he’d told them the box was $2k, would they now be selling if it’s now worth > 10 times that amount?
If so, if they come to him now and he tells them it’s worth $30k, are they going to be disappointed if he then advises them not to sell and next year it’s half that amount?
Personal feelings of what is currently going on in the hobby shouldn’t really apply as quite literally anything can happen. Advising someone to sell is probably the best thing anyone can do in this situation.
Yeah I understand and agree, it all depends on what the coworker really wants with it.
And I just wanted to add my personal opinion of how I feel about the box, not taking anything away from your point, just adding my 2 cents .
All the best!
My Golden trading rule. When in doubt sell half(value). It goes down in the future you locked in gains. It goes up in the future you lock in more gains. It’s the only safe advice you can give other than no advice.
Would lock in the profits if the purchase was completely for investment purposes. They could take that money and invest elsewhere as well. Sounds like it will be quite a hefty sum.
Thanks for the advice guys. I’ll pass it on, but I bet they opt to hold given they have providence with the box and have nothing to lose by keeping it. They don’t need the money and ya gotta imagine 10 years from now it will only be worth more.
Made a video of just some of what he actually had… The hilarious thing is that he swore he had more because he said “I always buy 2 of everything, so I must have more somewhere”
He was clear that he does not need the money, so he does want to just sit back in the dark closet to come again someday.
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