What was it like? Jw

[jaredschallenge]

@stagecoach

@chewy

I’m curious to know if old school collectors benefited or was hampered by 2020 but I imagine its case by case

I collect Gen I and Gen II cards and I started collecting in 2008. Back then I could buy anything at any time. If I looked up a card there was always something to buy and the only concern was condition. Graded cards were not a majority presence like you see now. It actually took me a couple of years to even learn what graded cards were (at the time I thought they were proofs of some kind, I didn’t pay them much attention). That’s the thing I miss the most: just being able to find what I wanted any time I wanted it. Now I have a dozen saved searches I check several times a day just hoping a suitable option comes up for a handful of cards. Things changed slow at first.

Prices definitely were gradually rising year over year, but prices were still super low. I remember paying $60 each for Fossil and Jungle sets. I paid $80 for Rocket. 1st Edition Base Set Charizard was $300. This is the time period I assembled most of my Gen I First Editions. Sealed product was also much more common and not something people opened. They were collectible as their own thing. People often had a few sealed boosters or decks as prestige pieces in their collection, but they were low value add ons. A novelty.

I first became conscious things were changing in 2016. Prior to that it was slower. You noticed prices were going up but it was never enough to stop you from buying anything you wanted. But when Pokémon Go came out I think it was the beginning of what we see today — at least as far as vintage is concerned. Pokémon Go brought a ton lapsed fans back into the hobby who were uniquely interested in early Pokémon specifically. A lot of people started collections and demand for the WotC sets really rose sharply. I sold off a bunch of tertiary stuff at this time and put the money back in to my collection to buy different things. I am really glad I did this because it enabled me to lock down certain things before it became unfeasible. But I also regret letting certain things go, especially sealed stuff, because now that stuff barely exists. It’s bittersweet but I accept it now.

This was also when graded cards really began to take off. I don’t think there is any one thing that spurred this other than the more competitive market. I liked graded cards a lot at this point because it assured me a certain condition. I bought most of my holos as PSA 8s and 9s and cracked open the slabs and put them in my binder. Graded cards were more expensive, but it was a worthwhile premium for the certainty and security it afforded a collector like me who was picky about condition.

But every year after Pokémon Go, things got more and more extreme. Chasing easy money people sent more and more of their cards in for grading. The market now revolved entirely around graded cards. A lot of ungradeable cards were removed from circulation because people just threw them out. But anything that looked good got sent to PSA. By 2018 you were already at the point where ungraded cards were predominantly trash quality and all the cards in collectible condition were graded and commanding higher and higher premiums. I made a point to finish my Gen I sets and told myself I was done forever. I finished — I was out.

But the fervor over Generation II cards was still at a simmer. I always admired the Neo sets and thought maybe I would start that collection. I researched pricing and saw the most expensive card was still within my longterm means and decided to commit. I bought the four 1st edition sets without holos with the intention to collect the holos over the next few years. This was in 2019. This was… a bad time to begin these sets.

Generation II cards were still a bit insulated from the frenzy but in March 2020 lockdown lit the fuse and changed everything almost overnight. Cards increased 3x, 4x, 5x what they were just a couple months before. I am doing my best to finish these sets still, but I am praying for a crash to bring the costs down. I am too close to finishing to quit. I am closer than ever to finishing. But financially I am the furthest away I have ever been. It sucks.

Being a vintage collector in 2021 is both elating and depressing. The is why I quoted this post of yours specifically. On one hand, it is incredible that the cards I bought for very little money pre-2016 are worth 10x or even 20x what I spent on them. That kind of good fortune is jaw dropping and I am thankful for it. But it also makes acquiring new cards very difficult and costly. I can afford maybe one card every other month and every month that goes by increases the price. It is sad that it is this difficult to finish what I started and it is a downer to consider once I finish my current sets I will likely not collect cards anymore. I’ve been priced out.

Because of the modern market being what it is I have started to branch out in to TCG-adjacent stuff which is not usually considered collectible (flip coins, league books, advertisements, etc). There is still some joy in this. But I can tell I am in the twilight of my time with the hobby. My big hope is that after a few more years prices will moderate and stabilize lower than where they are now. Maybe then I can find something new to collect.

This is a very thoughtful and thorough account and I enjoyed reading it! My story isn’t quite as seasoned as yours is but perhaps one day it will be! I hope the spark and passion remains for you. It would be sad to see a true collector leave this hobby.

[Frosty.Puppy]

@daria
You’re back!

What was it like?
An exceptionally small knitted community in which friendships never cease!

[stagecoach]

@jaredschallenge

@stagecoach

I collect Gen I and Gen II cards and I started collecting in 2008. Back then I could buy anything at any time. If I looked up a card there was always something to buy and the only concern was condition. Graded cards were not a majority presence like you see now. It actually took me a couple of years to even learn what graded cards were (at the time I thought they were proofs of some kind, I didn’t pay them much attention). That’s the thing I miss the most: just being able to find what I wanted any time I wanted it. Now I have a dozen saved searches I check several times a day just hoping a suitable option comes up for a handful of cards. Things changed slow at first.

Prices definitely were gradually rising year over year, but prices were still super low. I remember paying $60 each for Fossil and Jungle sets. I paid $80 for Rocket. 1st Edition Base Set Charizard was $300. This is the time period I assembled most of my Gen I First Editions. Sealed product was also much more common and not something people opened. They were collectible as their own thing. People often had a few sealed boosters or decks as prestige pieces in their collection, but they were low value add ons. A novelty.

I first became conscious things were changing in 2016. Prior to that it was slower. You noticed prices were going up but it was never enough to stop you from buying anything you wanted. But when Pokémon Go came out I think it was the beginning of what we see today — at least as far as vintage is concerned. Pokémon Go brought a ton lapsed fans back into the hobby who were uniquely interested in early Pokémon specifically. A lot of people started collections and demand for the WotC sets really rose sharply. I sold off a bunch of tertiary stuff at this time and put the money back in to my collection to buy different things. I am really glad I did this because it enabled me to lock down certain things before it became unfeasible. But I also regret letting certain things go, especially sealed stuff, because now that stuff barely exists. It’s bittersweet but I accept it now.

This was also when graded cards really began to take off. I don’t think there is any one thing that spurred this other than the more competitive market. I liked graded cards a lot at this point because it assured me a certain condition. I bought most of my holos as PSA 8s and 9s and cracked open the slabs and put them in my binder. Graded cards were more expensive, but it was a worthwhile premium for the certainty and security it afforded a collector like me who was picky about condition.

But every year after Pokémon Go, things got more and more extreme. Chasing easy money people sent more and more of their cards in for grading. The market now revolved entirely around graded cards. A lot of ungradeable cards were removed from circulation because people just threw them out. But anything that looked good got sent to PSA. By 2018 you were already at the point where ungraded cards were predominantly trash quality and all the cards in collectible condition were graded and commanding higher and higher premiums. I made a point to finish my Gen I sets and told myself I was done forever. I finished — I was out.

But the fervor over Generation II cards was still at a simmer. I always admired the Neo sets and thought maybe I would start that collection. I researched pricing and saw the most expensive card was still within my longterm means and decided to commit. I bought the four 1st edition sets without holos with the intention to collect the holos over the next few years. This was in 2019. This was… a bad time to begin these sets.

Generation II cards were still a bit insulated from the frenzy but in March 2020 lockdown lit the fuse and changed everything almost overnight. Cards increased 3x, 4x, 5x what they were just a couple months before. I am doing my best to finish these sets still, but I am praying for a crash to bring the costs down. I am too close to finishing to quit. I am closer than ever to finishing. But financially I am the furthest away I have ever been. It sucks.

Being a vintage collector in 2021 is both elating and depressing. The is why I quoted this post of yours specifically. On one hand, it is incredible that the cards I bought for very little money pre-2016 are worth 10x or even 20x what I spent on them. That kind of good fortune is jaw dropping and I am thankful for it. But it also makes acquiring new cards very difficult and costly. I can afford maybe one card every other month and every month that goes by increases the price. It is sad that it is this difficult to finish what I started and it is a downer to consider once I finish my current sets I will likely not collect cards anymore. I’ve been priced out.

Because of the modern market being what it is I have started to branch out in to TCG-adjacent stuff which is not usually considered collectible (flip coins, league books, advertisements, etc). There is still some joy in this. But I can tell I am in the twilight of my time with the hobby. My big hope is that after a few more years prices will moderate and stabilize lower than where they are now. Maybe then I can find something new to collect.

This is a very thoughtful and thorough account and I enjoyed reading it! My story isn’t quite as seasoned as yours is but perhaps one day it will be! I hope the spark and passion remains for you. It would be sad to see a true collector leave this hobby.

It’s a weird position to be in for sure.

When I was a boy I had the worst luck with cards. I almost never got holos in my boosters. I lost cards to theft or peer pressured trades. My family was poor and my mother and father hated Pokémon because they perceived it as an expensive, obsessive fad. Getting a booster was so rare and often took being at the right place at the right time (like the generosity of a friend’s mother, or my grandmother taking me to pick up her prescriptions at the drug store). My childhood collection was stingy and sad. But I loved Pokémon very much and still appreciated what I had even if my cards were not broadly desirable.

When I was an adult with disposable income I had not interacted with Pokémon since my youth, but there was a small part of me that always went back to my childhood want. I never did get that Charizard (or my personal white whale, Blastoise). Those things shouldn’t have meant anything to me anymore, but for some reason it did. And I had the epiphany that despite my fledgling adulthood and decade long break from the series, those Pokémon cards were the only thing I could think of that I always wanted. So why didn’t I get them?

My original collection was just going to be three cards (Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur). But I thought, well, if I’m going to get those maybe I should get the whole first set. And when I did I thought I should just get Base, Jungle, and Fossil. That would be good. But it felt so amazing to get these cards. To hold them and sleeve them and care for them as an adult quieted a restlessness I’d carried since my boyhood. I was giving myself something I always wanted and that felt incredible.

My collection only grew. Rocket, then a long endeavor in to promo cards, then the Gym Sets, then converting to 1st Edition, then expanding to Neo, etc. It hasn’t been a straight line. There have been lots of detours and things I’ve bought and sold due to space or waning interest. But my collection is something built on a genuine emotion I can trace to some of the most formative years of my youth.

So with things the way they are today, it is important I finish what I started. Quitting before I finish would leave me in the same limbo I was in as kid where Pokémon was out of my reach. I don’t want to have that again. I would be lying if I said the increased value of my collection has not been exciting and legitimizing. There are many cards I have that are now the envy of others. This feels good. But the pressure of something I love carrying so much financial burden and becoming the playthings of investors and millionaires is hard to swallow. I can’t compete with that. So I must find new ways interact with this hobby.

Archiving and documenting niche material seems like a good direction for me. It is a fringe aspect of the hobby most people don’t care about and I don’t think it will ever fall victim to an investment gold rush. Saving random papers and ephemera that depict a special period of time in Pokémon history makes me feel like I’m “taking care” of Pokémon. I think I’ll still be able to take pride on that.

[woolsluk]

I preferred pre 2020 in terms of things being easier and the community being more together (in my opinion) a couple years back but the fact that the hobby has gained so much traction since then makes it more exciting for me now in terms of acquisitions. 4 or 5 years ago I could afford most things I wanted without saving and could pick them up easily as there was more supply readily available whereas now I have to save and then search harder so when I finally do get cards I’m looking for it feels more of an accomplishment than before.

[cujucuyo]

Back then it was a wonderful time to have gotten back into the hobby, cards were for the most part not overpriced, you could sometimes watch a lot of (currently) expensive cards stay at a low-buy price for days or weeks on eBay or other sites, the Black Star promos were super cheap (i.e. Holo Mew? $5, Lucky Stadium New York? $15-20, etc. with many being less than $1-$0.50) and best of all you could treasure hunt on Y!J where you could get some insane deals, now it’s more of finding a needle in a haystack, you also got some sweet gifts from the sellers, I used to get a lot of Coro-Coro cards, some lucky stadiums, and other promos, now since they’ve all gone up in price this practice is rare.

It’s nice to see the value of my collection grow to ridiculous heights, but it’s saddening to see the cards becoming less and less accessible to new collectors so I’m really hoping they keep reprinting older sets and art like they did with XY Evolutions.

[daria]

@Frosty.Puppy

(…)
What was it like?
An exceptionally small knitted community in which friendships never cease!

Yes, Frosty, I have fond memories of our small knitted community and how you provided us with your stunning images and most informative guidance on valuation!