# Your Biggest Collectible Failure (Value Wise) **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** general-board\ **Created:** [September 26, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012 "2017-09-26T08:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![moredoom](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/moredoom/32/274348_2.png) [@moredoom](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/moredoom)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/22 "2017-09-26T22:29:40Z")
> [@pfm](#): > > Let me weave you a tale of childhood innocence and regret. What is the rarest, most desirable card next to the Holy Grail 1st ed Zard? The Holy Star. The Spiralsturmangriff. The Black Quaza. English EX Deoxys Rayquaza Gold Star. It is here where our story begins. > > I was a young lad on vacation in Florida. I bought a $5 EX Deoxys pack. Little did I know the Holy Star itself laid entombed in this foil coffin. I broke the seal on the tomb and I held the Sky Snake carefully in my hands. I knew this card was special. At that moment I became the embodiment of my username. I was the Flying Master. > > But fate is a cruel mistress. For some reason, all of my holo EX Deoxys cards would warp, as if bending down to the Noir Quetzalcoatl himself (seriously, what’s with this set?). Eventually, even the Golden Beast himself would succumb to the pressure… I could have thrown the card and it would have came back like a boomerang. > > Alas, hope was not lost for I had in my possession an object to undo the accursed spell. A leaf press. With this weapon, even the most unruly leaves could be straighted and preserved forever. But would it work on Pokémon cards? There was no time to waste. I summoned the Guardian of the Air and slapped him down between two slabs of cardboard. I tightened that press to absolute tightness. There would be no escape. > > A month passes and I am ready to release the Shiny Lord from his second tomb. I unscrew the press and pull out the card. It worked! The card was as straight as it was the day I pulled it! But… something was wrong. Battle scars. The card was riveted in the shape of the corrugated hug of the cardboard press. Eternal sadness. I have damaged my god. > > I prayed to the Holy Star every night. The card actually lost the rivets (mostly) over time. I’m getting it graded soon out of respect. > > tldr: I wish I was nicer to my Rayquaza gold star Please, bring us more of these stories. Besides that, my largest collection failure is probably spending about 150dollars on water damaged wotc holo’s mainly from jungle and fossil. Still wondering how it didn’t ring a bell to me; I won all those auctions so easily. Should’ve took the time to actually read the descriptions. Lesson learnt. ---
**Author:** ![churlocker](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/churlocker/32/100762_2.png) [@churlocker](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/churlocker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/23 "2017-09-26T22:54:04Z")
> [@gemmintpokemon](#): > > 1. Sold off 25 1st ed Yugioh boxes from MRD-AST for $2800 3.5 years ago. The guy pulled 2 Mirror force out of 3 of the MRD boxes > > 2. Sold a PSA 10 1st ed Charizard earlier this year to a good friend on here. 3 weeks later the price jumped 7k. > > 3. Scammed out of 7 1st ed Gym Heroes boxes. I was getting back into Pokemon and I sent first. A well known collector said he was a good guy, but I misread his email which actually stated to be careful. I glossed over the wrong word… The guy kept/stole the boxes & never completed the trade. > > 4. In first grade I traded a pack fresh Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie for a “Babe Ruth”. It looked old, but it was from a cereal box. That’s when I learned if it’s too good to be true… Brutal. You reminded me. When I was a kid I got invited to the Colts training camp for a couple sessions. Small crowd, invite only. This was the glory years. Saturday, Harrison, Manning, Wayne, Edgerrin James, Freeney, Dungy. And I got my regulation football signed by 100% of them. Fresh signatures. Crisp. My brother and I threw it away when the air left the football. Didn’t have a clue it was worth anything. ---
**Author:** ![Pbali](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/pbali/32/360_2.png) [@Pbali](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Pbali)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/24 "2017-09-26T23:16:10Z")
I was heavily invested into Derrick Rose. Had his exquisite RPA, UD Black, chrome, etc. It all came crashing down after his return when he wasn’t the same player. Lost a little bit of money. ---
**Author:** ![morgan](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/morgan/32/766_2.png) [@morgan](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/morgan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/25 "2017-09-27T03:26:11Z")
I bought 200 bitcoins when they were $5 each, then sold them when they spiked up to $100. ---
**Author:** ![hypernova](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/hypernova/32/68957_2.png) [@hypernova](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/hypernova)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/26 "2017-09-27T03:57:56Z")
> [@morgan](#): > > I bought 200 bitcoins when they were $5 each, then sold them when they spiked up to $100. I’m not sure making $19,000 can be considered a big failure. It’s easy to look at hindsight and think ‘what if’ about any number of things - still, you made $19,000 lol ---
**Author:** ![pierce](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/pierce/32/767_2.png) [@pierce](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/pierce)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/27 "2017-09-27T04:08:31Z")
I’ve been pretty fortunate in terms of my collecting, haven’t had any significant losses or failures. The worst was probably two years ago, I’d bought an old MTG collection for $9k. It was all from the dark and earlier, had power, duals, legends, arabian, antiquities etc. Anyway the collection had 8 pack fresh karakas from legends which at the time buy listed at $90 because they were a $200 card. I already had a few of them so this put me at about 12 total, anyway I took too long selling them because I was lazy and they were reprinted in eternal masters when I still had around 9 of them. Went from $200ea to $80ea … I ‘lost’ about a grand in value but in reality because of what I paid for them my true loss was only out about $100-$140 total on those. It sucked but considering I made about $8000 off that collection once I’d sold everything it wasn’t really a big deal. So yeah, lost about $1000 in value but only out of pocket about $100-$140 … that’s probably my biggest failure. Always buy reserved list kids! ---
**Author:** ![morgan](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/morgan/32/766_2.png) [@morgan](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/morgan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/28 "2017-09-27T04:25:31Z")
> [@hypernova](#): > > > [@morgan](#): > > > > I bought 200 bitcoins when they were $5 each, then sold them when they spiked up to $100. > > I’m not sure making $19,000 can be considered a big failure. It’s easy to look at hindsight and think ‘what if’ about any number of things - still, you made $19,000 lol It helped me buy my first house. But there’s still that bitterness, coulda been a millionaire. ---
**Author:** ![KingPokemon](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/kingpokemon/32/283_2.png) [@KingPokemon](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/KingPokemon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:45am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/29 "2017-09-27T07:45:05Z")
> [@churlocker](#): > > > [@gemmintpokemon](#): > > > > 1. Sold off 25 1st ed Yugioh boxes from MRD-AST for $2800 3.5 years ago. The guy pulled 2 Mirror force out of 3 of the MRD boxes > > > > 2. Sold a PSA 10 1st ed Charizard earlier this year to a good friend on here. 3 weeks later the price jumped 7k. > > > > 3. Scammed out of 7 1st ed Gym Heroes boxes. I was getting back into Pokemon and I sent first. A well known collector said he was a good guy, but I misread his email which actually stated to be careful. I glossed over the wrong word… The guy kept/stole the boxes & never completed the trade. > > > > 4. In first grade I traded a pack fresh Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie for a “Babe Ruth”. It looked old, but it was from a cereal box. That’s when I learned if it’s too good to be true… > > Brutal. You reminded me. > > When I was a kid I got invited to the Colts training camp for a couple sessions. Small crowd, invite only. This was the glory years. Saturday, Harrison, Manning, Wayne, Edgerrin James, Freeney, Dungy. And I got my regulation football signed by 100% of them. Fresh signatures. Crisp. > > My brother and I threw it away when the air left the football. Didn’t have a clue it was worth anything. OMG…and this reminds me of a bad one. I had two footballs from a 1969 team dinner of the Chicago Bears, with 15-20 autos each. 3 autos that appeared on both balls were Brian Piccolo, Gale Sayers, and George Halas. I sold those balls away for an amount I don’t even remember and I don’t know what they’d be worth today. I really don’t want to know. ---
**Author:** ![elftan](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/elftan/32/638_2.png) [@elftan](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/elftan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:20am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/30 "2017-09-27T08:20:19Z")
I let my mum convince me in my early teens to throw out all my wotc-dp cards so she would let me get new cards. I’d be collecting english instead of Japanese now if I didn’t do that. I eventually got rid of my remaining collection a few years later during our move. Wish I hadn’t done that. I had a 1st place Victory cup that I won in my very first tournament after moving into Masters devision and my all time favorite deck I used to compete with. ---
**Author:** ![Quuador](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/quuador/32/237215_2.png) [@Quuador](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Quuador)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/31 "2017-09-27T17:33:50Z")
Well, I guess most already know my failure by now… Buying a card for ~950 USD, and 1.5 months later it’s worth ‘just’ 200-300 USD. And I’ve also bought two other cards for 1,550 USD which are worth only 150-250 USD each halve a year later… Ah well, I’ll hold on to the duplicated of the 1,550; and hopefully it’s worth at least that amount in ten years. 😉 Greetz, Quuador ---
**Author:** ![sandmantheenless](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/sandmantheenless/32/626_2.png) [@sandmantheenless](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/sandmantheenless)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/32 "2017-09-27T19:00:51Z")
> [@Quuador](#): > > Well, I guess most already know my failure by now.. Buying a card for ~950 USD, and 1.5 months later it’s worth ‘just’ 200-300 USD. And I’ve also bought two other cards for 1,550 USD which are worth only 150-250 USD each halve a year later.. Ah well, I’ll hold on to the duplicated of the 1,550; and hopefully it’s worth at least that amount in ten years. 😉 > > Greetz, > Quuador What were the cards? ---
**Author:** ![ssjc](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/ssjc/32/756_2.png) [@ssjc](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/ssjc)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/33 "2017-09-27T19:04:40Z")
> [@Quuador](#): > > Well, I guess most already know my failure by now.. Buying a card for ~950 USD, and 1.5 months later it’s worth ‘just’ 200-300 USD. And I’ve also bought two other cards for 1,550 USD which are worth only 150-250 USD each halve a year later.. Ah well, I’ll hold on to the duplicated of the 1,550; and hopefully it’s worth at least that amount in ten years. 😉 > > Greetz, > Quuador Its got to be something newer. 2014 + ---
**Author:** ![Quuador](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/quuador/32/237215_2.png) [@Quuador](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Quuador)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/34 "2017-09-27T19:41:09Z")
@sandmantheenless@ssjc [2x Event Organizer stamped XY175 Pikachu](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/quuadors-collection-pikachu-around-the-world-autographs/14735/69) (and [one I graded PSA-10 myself](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/quuadors-collection-pikachu-around-the-world-autographs/14735/108)) and [Pokémon with YOU Wagon promo](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/worst-deal-ever-made-so-far/15907/6) (story included in a similar thread as this one). EDIT: scollTo functionality of link post seems to be broken 😖 (at least on my end right now). Anyone else has this issue? @smpratte Greetz, Quuador ---
**Author:** ![smpratte](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/smpratte/32/79511_2.png) [@smpratte](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/smpratte)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/35 "2017-09-27T19:46:13Z")
> [@Quuador](#): > > @sandmantheenless@ssjc > > [2x Event Organizer stamped XY175 Pikachu](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/quuadors-collection-pikachu-around-the-world-autographs/14735/69) (and [one I graded PSA-10 myself](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/quuadors-collection-pikachu-around-the-world-autographs/14735/108)) and [Pokémon with YOU Wagon promo](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/worst-deal-ever-made-so-far/15907/6) (story included in a similar thread as this one). > > EDIT: scollTo functionality of link post seems to be broken 😖 (at least on my end right now). Anyone else has this issue? @smpratte > > Greetz, > Quuador All of your links take me directly to the intended post. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Quuador](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/quuador/32/237215_2.png) [@Quuador](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/Quuador)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/36 "2017-09-27T19:48:56Z")
> [@smpratte](#): > > > [@Quuador](#): > > > > EDIT: scollTo functionality of link post seems to be broken 😖 (at least on my end right now). Anyone else has this issue? @smpratte > > All of your links take me directly to the intended post. 😊 Hmm weird. Tried closing and re-opening my browser, but I still have the same issue. But glad to know it’s only an issue on my side. Will see if it’s still not working later on. Thanks for the quick immediate response, Scott! 😊 Greetz, Quuador ---
**Author:** ![genosha](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/genosha/32/40439_2.png) [@genosha](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/genosha)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/37 "2017-09-27T20:20:33Z")
Not Pokémon related, but… I’ve been into collecting Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) games for over a decade. This is a real minor side hobby with maybe buying 2-3 games a year. But back in 2005 before the retro game hype I struck gold and bought 4 distributor cases for something like 15€ each. ![](http://www.illogical.nl/smd/84.JPG) ![](http://www.illogical.nl/smd/85.JPG) They were not top of the line titles, Cliffhanger and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. When I had some financial hardships in 2011-2013 I parted with many items in my collection. Including the sealed cases. Ripped 2 open to sell the games piece by piece for 2-4€ each and sold the sealed cases for 50€ ea. Made some profit, was able to pay my bills. Last summer I saw the same games floating on eBay for 20€ each and the cases going for 500-1000€ Now I have two empty cases (not really empty, filled controllers etc.) in my storage closest reminding me weekly about my mistake and that I really owned something very special at that time. ---
**Author:** ![skiwi](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/skiwi/32/556_2.png) [@skiwi](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/skiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/38 "2017-09-27T20:51:20Z")
Not really haven’t had any failures yet 😊 If I have to name some semi-failures then I’d name not pushing through on an eBay listing of a pretty interesting collection for I believe $250 and it had some prerelease WOTC cards including the Prerelease Clefable, I couldn’t see its quality, but what if it was actually a good quality? It was in toploader, so it’s something, but not everything of course. And I opened 36 loose Call of Legends over the last weeks, of which the flaps were damaged, and I’m still unsure whether it caused whitening on the cards or not… I’ll never know, they did have a lot of whitening though. In general the amount of factory issues has kind of put me of buying packs for a while now, but I think I’ll still break-even on that one. ---
**Author:** ![hypernova](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/hypernova/32/68957_2.png) [@hypernova](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/hypernova)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/39 "2017-09-27T22:12:25Z")
> [@Quuador](#): > > > [@smpratte](#): > > > > All of your links take me directly to the intended post. 😊 > > Hmm weird. Tried closing and re-opening my browser, but I still have the same issue. But glad to know it’s only an issue on my side. Will see if it’s still not working later on. > > Thanks for the quick immediate response, Scott! 😊 > > Greetz, > Quuador The jump-to-post feature hasn’t been working for me for the past week or so, either. Most recent Chrome version. ---
**Author:** ![xzini](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/xzini/32/404_2.png) [@xzini](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/xzini)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/40 "2017-09-28T10:19:45Z")
Selling English Charizard Gold Star years ago for like $70… I was an idiot and a poor student who needed money D: but it doesn’t hurt too bad anymore as I bought myself a Japanese unlimited one. But seeing for how much the English card is going and thinking that the copy I had would have been PSA 8 worthy at least hurts a bit. (back in the day I didn’t even know about grading though) And it’s not like it annoys me because I’d get more money from it now than I got back then, it annoys me I let it go… I could have graded it when I got into grading and have it in my collection now… Boo-hoo… ---
**Author:** ![EnlightenedBulbasaur](https://efour.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/www.elitefourum.com/enlightenedbulbasaur/32/536_2.png) [@EnlightenedBulbasaur](https://www.elitefourum.com/u/EnlightenedBulbasaur)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 3:50am UTC](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012/41 "2017-09-29T03:50:58Z")
- 2009: I _almost_ pulled the trigger on paying $5k for a complete PSA 10 1st edition holo set that Ed had posted on eBay… but I settled on paying Gary $1k for a PSA 9 set instead. (The regret has nothing to do with Gary 😛 ) - Early 2017: I had a big decision to make… Complete the PSA 10 1st edition Neo Revelations / Destiny Shining set or not? I had been sitting on the Charizard and the Mewtwo for about a decade but hadn’t yet gotten around to getting the others. I really didn’t need the money, but I decided to sell the Charizard and the Mewtwo because… I don’t even know. I think I was of the mindset that I’ll just sell off the only two cards I have now and if the prices don’t go up dramatically maybe I’ll buy a complete set at some point in the future. I sold the Charizard for the $900 and the Mewtwo for $650… but recently the Charizard sold for over $2500 and the Mewtwo sold for well over $1000… So yeah, bad decision. But mostly… not much. I’ve been really fortunate with the investments I’ve made in Pokemon cards. @namespace url([XHTML namespace](http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml)); [Previous page](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012.md?page=1) [Next page](https://www.elitefourum.com/t/your-biggest-collectible-failure-value-wise/18012.md?page=3)