Xuzu's Collection

Collecting
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Hey everyone, glad to be here. I recognise many of you already and I’m sure some of my collection will have been purchased from a few of you. :blush: I’m from the UK, and started to collect again towards the end of last year. Had a fair amount of cards from when I was 10 or 11 years old but nothing of note or anything that has managed to make its way into my new collection, mainly due to condition.

I’m going to show all the images here with some background info for each photo, but if you’d prefer or its easier to just view the Imgur album (without descriptions) then just click here.


Really did not ever intend to collect these holo’s, but when you’ve spent a certain amount and you feel like you really belong to the ‘collector’ category now then why not do it properly… I imagine it will take a long time to finish these holo’s, but I’m not in any rush. Each one will be considered a big bonus by itself considering how difficult they are to get.


I really bought these by chance. Apart from Machamp and Alakazam they were all found in a guys collection I’d bought on ebay, and I only bought it because I saw the Charizard and there were some 1st Ed Neo Destiny holo’s in his folder. I think the shadowless versions look so much nicer than Unlimited. It feels like the colours were watered down or cheapened for mass production in Unlimited, but it could just be in my imagination. I particularly prefer the Charizard and Alakazam to their Unlimited equals.


Almost all of them came out of a booster box I purchased last year. Just in that short time it feels like the price of that box has doubled, unbelievable. Got the complete non-holo set, perhaps a few times over, and maybe entirely fresh from the box if not only a couple of cards short of it.


Saw a guy selling the complete base set in Japanese on ebay and I couldn’t believe the price really, and the guy had really stressed the conditions of these cards so I thought why not. Seems fitting to get the base set in Japanese where it all began so to speak. I already had Japanese Neo cards and I thought it was great that the vibrant holo style were also present in the Base set, adding something new to this very familiar set.



Bought complete 1st Ed Fossil & Jungle sets from a guy on eBay who had apparently taken everything out of booster boxes himself, he had planned to PSA grade them for Youtube but scrapped the project. Maybe it was a sales ploy who knows but the conditions were of cards that had just been taken out of packs so I guess he was telling the truth. :blush:


Yes, my grand Team Rocket 1st Ed holo set! Isn’t it great? I actually have 6 cards en route, and just included it as there is a page reserved for it in my folder which is what I am exhibiting, plus maybe some of you would like to trade/sell some cards with me that I don’t have. :blush: Probably only interested in the holo’s for this set.


Neo Genesis 1st Ed - purchased complete set, I remember being very excited about this set when it originally came out - they really did a great job creating the new pokemon in this generation I felt.


Neo Genesis Japanese, possibly entirely packed by me if not only one or two cards were purchased.


Neo Discovery 1st Ed, found this set really difficult to buy for some reason. I’d bought around 16 or so packs and gotten most of the non-holos bar some rares, and 4 holo’s. Been able to buy a few more but still need 7 or so. I would argue it’s the 3rd or 4th most desirable Neo set yet it seems to be the rarest, maybe just my luck.


Neo Discovery in Japanese, again maybe entirely packed by myself.


Neo Revelation 1st Ed - really nice artworks here. The Ho-Oh, Raikou and Houndoom cards are fantastic looking.


Neo Revelation Japanese - one of my favourite things about the Japanese Neo sets are the holo’s that were just non-holo in English. The Kingdra in particular is one of my favourite artworks ever in this set, the Aerodactyl also has great colours.


Neo Destiny 1st Ed - quick mention of the Japanese Shining Gyarados, even though there are probably quite a few artworks I prefer to it, it’s definitely one of my top 1 or 2 cards to own. Its rarity and overall look in Japanese with the full card holo just looks epic to me. Been lucky with the Neo Destiny’s, bought bundles that included sections of the set and now I have the complete set besides some 1st Ed rare trainers.


Neo Destiny Japanese, bought 24 packs of these from somebody and got most of the standard holo’s - and even got lucky enough to pack a Shining Charizard! Though I was hoping for more than one shining out of 24, it was the right one to get I guess!


Shinings! To think that when I decided to begin collecting again, I’d really not intended to collect Neo Destiny since I quit originally at Neo Revelation… would have missed out on these glorious cards! Bought all 6 1st Eds from the same person, and they’re all gradable for sure in my opinion - was really happy with them. I’ve had the Japanese ones for longer, but the Steelix has been sooo difficult to find. A month or so ago I’d checked the ‘sold items’ on ebay and saw that I’d missed someone listing not one but TWO in NM+ conditions for a measly £17 ($26) each. Of course somebody bought them both immediately but I was so gutted to miss those. *sobs*. It’s also the VERY last Japanese Neo card I need, feels like I will never get it! Shining Raichu has to be my favourite artwork of all time, such a nice card!


Got a few Unlimited ones as part of other deals so decided I may as well complete those too. The Noctowl is currently en route so it will be my 1st complete set of shinings.


The PSA Shinings! I plan to have all 8 in 1st Ed PSA 10. I bought the Tyranitar in a 9 before I had planned to get the 10’s, so I think I’ll just hold onto it and sell it when the time is right. I’m quite happy to just have the Magikarp and Gyarados in 9’s ‘only’. Halfway there though and pleasingly the four I have don’t include the two least popular ones that I’m not so keen on (you guessed it Kabutops and Noctowl).


Some extra PSA cards I bought. I probably bought them in haste, before I had any plan for what to collect. Again I may keep hold of them or just sell them at a later date. I just got them because I liked the artworks.


My ‘proper’ collection ends at Neo Destiny, but after being involved in the market for a while some newer cards have caught my eye at times so I have a little personal collection of mixed newer cards with artworks that I like. The bottom three I packed, otherwise the Meganium probably wouldn’t be there…

Sorry for the really long post, hopefully you may have found it somewhat interesting! As far as PSA cards go, my ambition right now is to own the following:

  • All 8 Neo Destiny Shinings in 1st Ed English PSA 10 (currently own 4/8)
  • 1st Edition Base Set Holo’s Charizard/Blastoise/Venusaur PSA 9 (currently 0/3)
  • Japanese Shining Gyarados PSA 10 (THE ULTIMATE!)

Cards not photo’d that are currently en route:

  • Shadowless Raichu & Blastoise
  • Raichu, Arbok, Vileplume, Gyarados, Magneton, Energy, from Team Rocket
  • Shining Noctowl Unlimited
  • Expedition Blastoise
  • Full art Charizard
  • Kyogre EX
  • Plasma Storm Secret Charizard
  • The blue secret Mega Charizard
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Hey! First, Welcome!

Second, thanks for doing such an awesome, extensive write-up! It is always wonderful to see people talk about their collections, how they came to collect, what they include, why they include, how they got it, why it means something to them, and so on and so forth.

You have a very beautiful collection started. It was great going through it all with you. I hope you continue to post updates as you get new arrivals you’re excited about. :blush:

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Hey, thank you very much!

Well I had to make an effort since this is where all the big boys hang out… but I agree it’s definitely nice to read other peoples experience when you know you share an appreciation with them.

I’ll definitely keep the thread updated, though I am (hopefully) coming to the end of my collection, I’m just hunting for the odd holo and PSA card now. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Wow, fantastic WOTC collection! All those old-school cards really look nice together. Do you plan on PSA grading any of the cards you’ve pulled yourself or do you like the look just in a standard binder?

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Thank you! I’m not entirely sure. I like to have all the cards together on one binder that’s for sure, but there are some cards that could be worth grading e.g. the Shining Charizard 1st Ed is very good (and if it’s a 10 it’d save me spending lots of money on one). The way I think about it is I’d like to let my collection grow some more first, so that if the times comes, I will have lets say 20+ cards that I’d really want to grade and get them done at once. Like with some of the cards e.g. Shinings, I’m always on the look out for good deals on them, even if I have them already so I’d prefer to send off a huge bulk of cards to get done one time only.

There’s really not that many cards I want in PSA graded and I’m not interested in becoming a dealer either but I can appreciate there are some cards that deserve to be graded. :blush:

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I’m jelly of your cards brohass

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Hey xuzu that is a truly amazing collection for being back into collecting for one year.I started collecting last year as well but have had to build my ebay shop up so ive not been able to collect as much as I hoped to.I got that shining steelix that you missed out on last year for £17 lol.As its the only one you need to compleate your set pm and we can work out a price if you want cheers.

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Hey, thanks! What do you intend on collecting? Do you mean last month? I think the two Steelix’ the person sold was at the end of March or start of April this year. I’m so tired right now though and I will PM you tomorrow if you still would like to sell, it’d be greatly appreciated but no worries if not!

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Hi I thought you ment you checked last month and saw the one I bought last year.If two japanese shining steelix sold for £17 last month im not doing my job good enough lol.I want all the japanese holos in psa 10 from base set to eseries, know it will take a while but Im fine with that:-)
I am happy to sell it,I Was keeping it for myself but you need it more than I do,its in nice near mint condition cheers.

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Good job on the layout.
Best of luck quitting after you fill those holes lol. There’s always another collection direction to go in:)

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That would be incredibly nice of you! What an ambitious collection you are going for as well, hows it going so far?

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Thanks, one of my biggest dilemmas has been and is the layout! I think it looks really cool to have them in card colour groups or alphabetically for example as it just mixes all the different cards and sets up and looks cool in my opinion. I also like it when people organise them by Pokedex number, choosing their favourite artwork for each Pokemon. I still think I will do that one day when I am bored just to take a photo of it. Then there’s the alternative collections I have inadvertently gathered such as about 12 different Charizards - would be nice to have them all together.

I almost wish I had multiples of each card just so I could use all methods of organisation - very sad haha. You’re right too, stopping the collecting is a very hard thing to do!

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So far I have 0 of the japanese psa 10 holos lol.I just bought a japanese base set booster though and will be getting the holos in that graded so starting to get somewhere now.

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Post removed by Xuzu to remove excess photo’s from site.

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nice cards man

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Have to say an absolutely MASSIVE thank you to thebeezneez108 for helping me to complete my Japanese Shining set by giving me such a generous deal for the most elusive card for me - Shining Steelix, I really appreciate it a lot and hope to return the good gesture one day.

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Cheers! I totally agree, very satisfying to complete. :grin: I’ve not heard of those cards, so probably not, but never say never…

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Thanks xuzu glad to have helped. Thats a great collection for under a year,not an easy thing to do!

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Wow @darkrai, I never knew that Magikarp had a Neo Destiny style holo. Definitely will look out for that card in the future, would be a cool one for me to have.

I made a new album to post on Reddit. Not too much new stuff but I’ll leave the link here and just add a couple of photos from it that I’d like to share here.

Album: imgur.com/a/2b1jT


My top 10 artworks (from Gyarados to Umbreon, then Jolteon to Raikou). Just substitute the Umbreon for a 1st Ed English version and the Raikou for an ungraded version. I will have all 10 ungraded NM+ and long term all 10 in PSA 9 or 10, the more 10’s the better…


Along with the PSA versions I already have.


My Charizard collection (so hot right now), didn’t mean to start one really but just amassed a few naturally. Did you notice my latest PSA card? :grin:


My post Neo Destiny collection.

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Do @ and then their username right after. Like a Twitter handle, if you use that.

Also be aware peoples display name isn’t always their username.

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