Were they once that cheap? Those cards are limited to roughly 100 copies, aren’t they? 
And 39 GBP back then would have been around 55-60 USD or so? EDIT: 39 GBP was 63.56 USD apparently on August 30th, 2011 according to this archived currency exchange table.
They’re going for over 1k USD each these days if I’m not mistaken. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, but it still kinda does… 
Greetz,
Quuador
Man, seeing prices like these just makes me regret not getting back into collecting sooner!
It all began with 1st Neo Discovery on February 24, 2018; 1st Team Rocket May 1, 2018; and x24 1st LP-NM on May 9, 2019 ~
Fan club karp for 3k. I had high end before that but always as a trade.
Yeah, unlike the 2009 cards, the 2010 ones appeared in bulk on YJA almost immediately. I paid £39 for mine because I didn’t know how to buy from Japan at the time - I bought mine from a UK flipper who probably paid a lot less than I did. They actually didn’t gain any traction until late 2016 - you could still buy them for around £45-£55 in 2016; that was when the YJA supply finally started to dry up.
I think the theory at the time was that a lot of them ended up being sold directly on YJA instead of being sent to the winners. I can’t remember who sold them but IIRC almost all of them came from the same seller in Japan. It wouldn’t surprise me if more than 100 copies of each of the 2010 cards exist though, as if that’s true then PSA have graded 41.6% of the total supply.
1st Ed PSA 10 Dragonite in 2017 for around $275. After that, PSA 10 1st Edition Lugia for $1980.
$150 total for 1st Ed Mint gym heroes, challenge and rocket sets in 2009. It was a ton of money for me at the time and no one wanted those cards so it was a big deal since I knew I would never be selling. I still have the sets in my binder collection 
hrm, not really sure to be honest. Big as in money would be a pretty mint Shining Charizard 1st ed raw copy, which I ended up selling to make way for better things. Big as in big for myself and happiness wise was my first Dark Typhlosion Psa 9 1st ed. Was my first Psa card and still is one of my favorites
Bought a PSA 10 Trainer Deck B Blastoise for $1.1k earlier this year. It was my first “big” purchase and I was super nervous at the time. Of course, fast forward to not more than 3 weeks later, I dropped $3.5k on a PSA 8 1st Ed. Zard.
I don’t quite remember, I wish ebay/paypal kept longer history. But I believe it was 2014 ish and I bought a complete, minty pack fresh Team Rocket set for something like $300 to $400 I think. The set would probably all grade 9/10 today if I was into that sort of thing.
The biggest purchase I’ve ever done with pokemon was just a couple weeks ago with my Mew EX, it was only $460 but that’s still a very significant amount to me
Congrats! Which Mew Ex may I ask? 
This gorgeous lad
Ah, Play Promo Mew Ex 
Truly a beaut! Congrats again
First individual card purchases
above $5: promo venusaur $5 2003
above $10: shining magikarp $10 2010
above $50: shining celebi $55 2016
above $100: Psa 9 skyridge umbreon $125 2018
Above $500: Psa 10 shining ttar 1st ed $535 2018
Above $1000: Psa 10 fan club eevee $2.2k 2019
Above $5000: Nothing yet. For now.
First “big” purchase for me was a PSA 10 first Gengar Fossil I was happy to pay around $1000 for earlier this year. But for some reason my next “big” purchase of a PSA 10 first Umbreon Neo at $1500 really brought out my sweats. I guess it was then that I realized I was getting into an area of card collecting that I couldn’t just simply enjoy without having a level of personal responsibility for also protecting my purchases. But I think it’s a good thing to have those reservations or thoughts when spending over 1k on things so superfluous. My wife still remains tolerant even though when she seems items in my collection she only sees vacation money.
I think the first thing that I considered a big purchase, was my PSA 9 1st edition Shining Magikarp. Think I paid around 100 euro for it total back in 2016 XD Back then spending 100 euro an a card felt huge!
Arrived today! Ill show it off when i get home from work
For me the first big purchase was a PSA 10 Dark Charizard back in 2018. Paid $465 for it. At the time it was on the higher end of the market but I really enjoyed the card and worked hard doing extra side jobs to get it. It was rewarding during a hard time in my life.
Back in the day when $270 was a lot in Pokemon that was my biggest first purchase (near mint 1st Charizard). I remember people bashing me for it too lol. Its currently my favorite card in my collection even if it isn’t the priciest