I started digging through my old collection (1998-2000 ish) and came across a few promo cards (in addition to full series of most of the early sets). In looking, I remembered two of the cards were signed by Ken Sugimori. I’m pretty sure I got them while competing in a (1999? 2000?) TCG tournament.
Would anyone have insight into these promo cards? Anything you know on how to value these is insanely helpful. https://imgur.com/a/6emRVel
I’ve never graded anything before but imagine these are worth it. Any ideas on value and how to find a buyer after grading would be great, too. Happy to post photos of other old stuff too in case anyone enjoys seeing these (here’re a couple old Japanese promos from a 1999 trip to Japan). Literally anything you may know about the value of any of these cards is ridiculously helpful.
I lived in CA but if I’m right about the source of these, the tournament was in NJ/NY (the east coast Super Trainer Showdown)! I went to one in Long Beach, CA before that but don’t think I got any special cards there
Definitely send the autos in for authentication. The Japanese promos are pretty common. However if they are mint they will have some added value graded, especially something like the ooyama Pikachu. Either way cool you shared the story! The early tournaments were a special time. I actually have a couple competitors collections I kept aside just because of the nostalgia!
I cant speak on the value, but if the autographs are authentic (not doubting they are), those would be extremely easy to sell on ebay through a buy it now listing. Get the right keywords in the listing and plenty of eyes will see it
They really were. We might’ve even played each other back then (I was in the 10 and unders!). The West and East Coast Super Trainer Showdowns (and the west coast qualifiers) were the only competitions I ever went to but it’s a fond memory for me. https://imgur.com/a/KJjwuOu
This is actually perfect. Thanks so much for putting it together and linking this.
I see a holographic version of what I’ve got (grade 7) got sold for $13,000-ish recently, which is absolutely nuts. Mine’s not holographic and English (vs. Japanese, though it is first edition) and I have no clue what the grade is other than that it’s been in a binder for 23 years, but I was expecting a couple hundred dollars at most so this is all mindblowing.
cards look great, probably will get PSA 7-9 depending on how the grader feels that day.
personally I would not get the cards nor autograph a numerical grade as they wont be high grades and just be distracting IMO - you can simply get them labeled “AUTHENTIC”:
It’s personal preference but I think your cards would present better without a numerical grade. I cant speak for the whole market but I have seen cases where the same card sells for more with “authentic” vs a mid level auto grade.
Not sure If this is any help for you, but I have an autographed wotc black star promo but from a different artist. I paid $600 for it during the covid craze so Im sure I overpaid (came with PSA 10 copy of same card without auto too). Looking back now, it’s my favorite card in my whole collection so just glad I have it at all. This is also a case where the card was NOT mint, so it was only graded as ‘Authentic’ by the owner before me. If it was a PSA 7 or 8 it would be distracting so I find this perfect.
Hopefully this helps you at all for speculating wotc black star promo auto prices. Good luck and congrats, those are amazing!
