I don’t mean for this to come across as one of those “tHeSe CaRdS aRe So UndErVaLuEd” types of threads, but I am genuinely curious as to why you guys think regular holo rares in the EX series have such low PSA populations?
It is not because they are too cheap to be graded. Most of these holos sell for well over $200 in PSA10 so grading them is definitely a profitable thing to do, yet most of them have populations of well under 50 in total (with most of them only having less than 10 in PSA10). A holo card I recently picked up from EX Deoxys had only 17 graded in total with only 5 tens which was my inspiration for this thread. I don’t think these cards are particularly rare, so why aren’t we seeing more submitted to cash in on the value of them? Back when WOTC 10s were around this price, they were being very consistently graded…
With the ex sets, holos are not a first or even second thought. It generally goes Gold Stars > ex’s > Holos (and honestly people have a fetish for the reverse holos too.)
Not too long ago they were selling for $50 PSA 10 or less, and remember there’s an ocean of cards at PSA right now. I am sure we will start to see plenty come back towards the end of the year and into next. Or at least I hope so, I’d love to see some of them come down so I could pick up a few for myself.
For early EX Series holos (Ruby/Sandstorm/Dragon), the holos are quite rare (as far as set cards go). You have to remember that the holo pull rate was 6 per box for Ruby/Sandstorm and 5 per box for Dragon, and there were 12-14 different holos in each of those sets. So to pull a specific holo, you’d have to open 2+ boxes of a set – which would cost upwards of $20,000. In effect, it’s not financially realistic for more copies of these to be opened.
But the real reason why the PSA 10 pops are so low isn’t because of rarity. It’s because it’s im-freaking-possible to find gem mint raw copies of these cards. Myself and a couple other forum members have been actively seeking out gem mint copies of these for quite a while. There’s so little sealed product left from that era that it’s basically impossible to add more mint copies to the supply, and raw copies are **never** in gem mint shape.
And then if you are financially reckless enough to open sealed product from that era, you won’t even be getting gem mint cards. I recently had 7 holos/exs come from CGC that I personally opened from packs *this year.* One of them got a 9.5, and the other 6 got 9s. It’s impossible to acquire gem mint copies of these cards – that’s the bottom line. I’ve spent many, many thousands of dollars on EX Series sealed product to open for very little material benefit. I don’t regret it (I enjoyed it), but doing it with the sole intent of grading 9.5s or 10s is an exorbitantly expensive, fruitless endeavor.
EDIT – oh, and for the later EX Series: no one gives a fuck about those holos lol.
Perfectly said, the OP referenced EX Deoxys so I completely forgot that in the early sets the ratio between ex and holo pulls were not what you would expect in the slightest. I didn’t know RS had a centering issue though, neat!
@athletes_and_Antiquities so basically early sets have the skewed pull rates, and the later sets have other cards that overshadow the holos by a long shot.
Would be nice to see some start coming back from PSA. Think they would be solid pick ups. Interesting to know regarding what’s generally preferred by buyers @zorloth, thanks for that.
The Ruby centering issue is weird because it only appears to affect the holos – the exs, non-holos, and reverses are almost always well-centered. The holos, however, have abysmal centering on the back. It’s such a frustrating thing. Seriously – check out the backs of some of these things and you’ll see what I mean lol. It’s really unfortunate .
The existence of EX cards. The number of devotees to the regular holos of this era can probably be counted on two hands (I count myself among them) and I say that without trying to exaggerate too much. How this could change in the future is the wet dream of course.
The fact that I could bin a PSA 10 Shedinja 11/97 from EX Dragon with a population of 15 for $600 (which is probably a highly negotiable price if the seller wants to sell anytime soon) says it all.
5 ish regular holos per booster box (assuming a high rate of pulling one from the SR line), from a set with mayyybe 200.000-225.000 booster boxs PRODUCED IN TOTAL if we’re being generous. Once you sieve away all the likely variables of kids treating their cards to the pocket shuffle and how 90%++ of the supply is already ruined, the numbers become intriguing (or at least they would be if these cards had a bright future, which could very well be the case even if it feels doubtful).
$600 is nuts for that Shedinja. I paid $140 for mine less than a year ago lol. Should be worth about the same now, maybe slightly more. Sweet card, though.
I 100% agree about the lack of interest in these cards. Very few people care about them. The interest could pick up if people start caring about rookies, though. So many of the most popular Gen 3 Pokemon had regular holo rookies (Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Salamence, Flygon, Absol, Gardevoir, and the list goes on). That’s why I care about them. Outside of that, I’d just be content collecting the exs. The exs were the cornerstone cards of the EX Series. The regular holos just happened to feature some really important first English TCG appearances – which may or may not matter to people besides me and a few others in the future lol.
Does that include the reverse holos? Anyway, I don’t know if the holos from the later ex sets are really that unpopular, but it would explain why I was able to get so many PSA 10 delta species Pokemon for a reasonable price even in 2020. I’m glad though, they are some of the most visually pleasing cards imo, and many have a PSA 10 pop below 10, so it feels special to own them. One mans’s trash is another man’s treasure
My statement was more general; people care about some of the Delta Species holos of popular Pokemon (like your Umbreon). In general, though, people don’t give a crap about late EX Series holos. They’re just outshadowed in every conceivable way by exs and gold stars from those same sets.
True! Especially the Delta Species holos (like the ones @ripguyfawkes posted above). The combination of gold stars + increased regular holo pull rates + decreased ex pull rates + not being rookies were a death sentence for them, IMO. Great-looking cards, though – 100% agreed on that.
It is, when you consider the timeline it takes cards to be graded. I have around a hundred EX-era holos and reverse holo rares at PSA right now, mix of submitted June 2020 and September 2020. I didn’t suddenly buy them up in May 2020 and decide to grade. They had been in my collection fifteen years but weren’t worth paying to grade until last year. None of these holos are even back from PSA yet. There is a massive time-gap between “recognizing cards are worth grading” to “sending cards to PSA” to “having graded PSA cards on the market”. If you don’t check eBay constantly that time could easily be 2-3 years.
Likewise I finally got around to sending Diamond & Pearl era-holos to CGC earlier this year. Again, these had been in my collection since release, but had not been worth grading. There is no magic spell you can cast in which “once holos from this time period reach $X they will be instantly graded”. The pop reports will get more fleshed out in the years to come.
Unseen forces is up there as well. Most holos are under 10. Most of the holos are $250-500 range with many being $400-600. I sold a PSA 9 Typhlosion for $450 on eBay and many of the eeveelutions in PSA 9 for $175+. There is a lot of value in the ex series.
I’d love to see more graded over the next 2-3 years. I don’t believe many people were sending them in like WOTC. Hopefully more are aware of the profit margin, so we’ll see more 10s in 18-24 months haha.
You rarely see complete or master sets of the ex series come up for sale when compared to the WOTC sets. The ex series collectors seem to be more concentrated with hardcore collectors than WOTC. Could be a confirmation bias since I talk with those collectors more
Unfortunately I was too lazy to write down an actual list of everything at PSA and instead have to rely on pictures and videos on my phone. But you can get the idea.
Just a selection of prices I’ve paid - shipping included. I didn’t get many EX era cards because my goal was primarily WOTC but as you can see, these cards were absolutely not worth grading until a year ago.
Serious answer, 90% of my grading pile is ex reverse holos/ holos. They weren’t worth grading until mid last year so most of mine are still at PSA or in my grading pile.
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