What was your first big purchase?

General
21

I bought a PSA 9 Grand Party in January of this year for $400 and considered that a very big purchase.

But then I got a job and spent my sweet time saving up and I managed to buy a Moltres TMB Phone Card for $2300 a couple of weeks ago. Quite the jump!:sweat_smile:

What I experienced though is that saving up and getting such a high-end item is one of the craziest feelings ever. Made me even more sure that this is the approach I want to have going forward; to save up and go all-in for my goals of obtaining trophy cards!

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22

Get ready to cryā€¦
My first big purchase was a 1st Ed Neo Genesis booster box for $325 back in 2011. My first major single card purchase was probably a Fan Club Porygon PSA 9 for around $290 in 2013.

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23

I saved up 150 euro as a youngā€™un to buy a whole booster box of ex Dragon Frontiers.
It wasnā€™t sealed anymore since it was opened for display.
Back then the only thing I ever got was 1 booster pack every few months and sometimes a theme deck

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24

Feeling like a cheapskate here but the biggest individual card Iā€™ve bought was Ā£110 for a PSA 9 unlimited base set Charizard back in 2016.

Biggest purchase on new sealed products purchases, again back in 2016 would have been about Ā£600 in one go.

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25

Early March of this year I bought the complete Carddass file for around $300ā€¦ I remember going back and forth on whether or not i should or shouldnā€™t. Itā€™s still stuck in Japan bc of all of the craziness so i am eagerly waiting!

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26

Bought a sealed PokƩmon red vga 80 and Charizard first edition heavy played in 2016 for 1200 the Zard graded a psa 4

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27

I believe my first over $100 purchase back in the hobby was a raw Mimikyu Munch last year. My first over 1k purchase back in the hobby was Mew Ex Play Promo PSA 10. I do not remember exactly how much I paid for the four sealed booster boxes I bought back in 2014ā€¦but that was at least a couple hundred each.

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28

$1000 for a raw 1st base Charizard about 18 months ago, graded a 9!

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29

Iā€™d consider my first big purchase to be my 2010 Design Contest Illusionā€™s Zorua. I paid a mind boggling Ā£39 for it back in either late 2010 or early 2011. At the time Iā€™d only been collecting Pichu cards for around a year and this was the first time Iā€™d gone into double digits.

As for a collectible that was nothing compared to what Iā€™d spent on other hobbies, I just didnā€™t strongly care all that much about PokĆ©mon at that point. It was a long time before I spent anywhere near that amount as well as PokĆ©mon just wasnā€™t my focus, but having that card gave me the motivation to continue. I think it wasnā€™t until 2017 that I spent around the same amount again on PokĆ©mon when I finally decided to give graded cards a go.

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30

Tbh, this question all comes down to perspective and depends on the collection. When I wasnā€™t collecting PokĆ©mon cards yet, but only Yu-Gi-Oh, I usually paid <5 USD for singles, and in rare occasions 5-20 USD. My biggest purchase back in 2011-2012 was therefore a 35 USD Secret Rare Black Rose Dragon. This was in a time where I only worked a few hours on Saturdays as mailman, so paying that amount of a single card was quite high for me. So I guess you could call that purchase my first ā€˜big purchaseā€™.

When I started collecting Pikachu cards mid-2015, I had put all Pikachu cards that were in stock below 50 USD on TnT in my cart on impulse (when I was actually browsing for some Yu-Gi-Oh cards), making that 35 USD for a single card look low. Now I would buy any Pikachu card I donā€™t have yet for 50 USD each tbh (except the very new releases)ā€¦ How times have changedā€¦ :slightly_smiling_face:

Anyway, my biggest collectibles purchase thus far was 3.4k USD for my PSA-10 The Masked Royal full art supporter card, which is limited to 100 copies and a semi-trophy card. Including that one, Iā€™ve bought two cards for over 3k USD each thus far; four cards (including the previous two) for over 2k USD each thus far; and nine cards (including the previous four) for over 1k USD each thus far. (My biggest non-collectibles purchase was my first car for ~4.75k USD. :wink: )

But, what I personally consider my first big purchase are the two copies of the 175/XY-P Pikachu with Event Organizer stamp for ~1.6k USD (+ 350 USD additional import fees on arrivalā€¦ :unamused: ) back at the end of 2016. At that time my most expensive card prior was around 350 USD, so spending roughly 2k USD including fees was very high in comparison.
(One of those was also the first card I PSA-graded myself, which came back as a 10. :blush: And the other copy (PSA-9 condition) I recently sold to a friend for 1k euros, which is a little below the current market value of 1.25-1.5k USD.)

Greetz,
Quuador

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31

My 1st edition Charizard PSA 5 for $1100. Quickly after that, my mint base set box for $3700.

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32

Absolutely crazy!

33

I hope it arrives soon! :blush:

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34

Back in Dec 2018 i bought a complete base set 1st Ed set mostly nm-m for $5000; it was my first big purchase and i met the seller in person to do it.

On the same trip i bought a raw crystal Charizard pack pulled including the pack it came from for $1000; which i self graded Gem Mint!

I also bought a base set spanish booster box (1st Edition; mint case fresh) for $2K back in Dec.2018. Still sealed!

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35

First big item was a Base Booster Box for Ā£450, though I bought that purely as a consumer so I could open the packs, so as far as I was concerned at the time, it was money down the drain (albeit incredibly worth it). As luck would have it I pulled and graded a Charizard in PSA 10ā€¦

First four figure item was a PSA 9 1st Edition Base Charizard, and I also bought another Base Set Booster Box in the same deal for a total of Ā£1700. Though at this point, my mindset had changed and I saw them more as assets than something to consume. I felt confident they would hold their value over time and maybe even increase, so itā€™s more like a currency conversion in my eyes than a consumer purchase.

Biggest single item purchase to date is my PSA 10 1st Edition Blastoise which cost me around Ā£5300.

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36

First big purchase (for me) was probably the $150 I spent on Awakening Legends Shining Gyarados. For a card as iconic and legendary as it was, I was happy to finally lay claim to it.

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37

Youā€¦ Itā€™s been a whileā€¦
Got a link to the 2020 version of your Gyarados collection old timer?

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38

What was the purchase?

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39

It has been! Welcome back! Itā€™s been like what, 5ish years? I think I disappeared for a bit before you did. Haha.

And not to derail any further from the thread, Iā€™ll make an update soon with all my current cards in my newest binder. Collection thread is in my signature. :stuck_out_tongue:

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40

My first big purchase was a Charizard Gold Star for $480 back in 2017. I graded it and it got a 10, and I sold it about a year later for a nice profit. Even to this day I think Iā€™ve only spent $500 or more on a single card a few times.

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