"1999 Pokémon trading card could rake in $500K at auction"

[notfast]

A PSA 10 just sold for close to $300k last week. Not sure there is THAT much of a premium for SGC gold label and the MBA blah blah blah sticker but who knows.

[Jobu]

There are 120 PSA 10s too.

Originally Posted by notfast

A PSA 10 just sold for close to $300k last week. Not sure there is THAT much of a premium for SGC gold label and the MBA blah blah blah sticker but who knows.

[Mike D.]

It's crazy that someone is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a piece of cardboard with a picture on it, instead of on that other piece of cardboard with a picture on it!

[Orioles1954]

Pokémon’s worldwide fan base dwarfs the sports card marketplace by a wide, wide margin.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Jobu

There are 120 PSA 10s too.

thats a lot! There arent any bb cards of that known graded qty selling for that kinda money!!!!

[arcadekrazy]

Magic the gathering cards too, from the early sets.

[Rhotchkiss]

I bet a Charizard could beat up Honus Wagner in a fight.....

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I bet a Charizard could beat up Honus Wagner in a fight.....

Probably. I believe Honus is flammable...

[sportscardpete]

I was 11 in 2000 and was obsessed with Pokémon. When I heard it got popular again I dug some of my cards out in anticipation of selling and then decided to add more. Holy cow they’re so nostalgic. I don’t think they should be this valuable. But I also thought auto/jersey modern cards were worthless and that was wrong

[sportscardpete]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I bet a Charizard could beat up Honus Wagner in a fight.....

Charizard burnt a stack of t206 Wagner’s decades ago and the rest is history...

[GoCubsGo32]

Still have all my original Pokemon cards, including many holos 1st edition Base Set, Jungle,Fossil.I started collecting Pokemon cards at age 13 when it was first released in 1999. Lots of fun playing/trading with my brothers and friends at school. Not afraid to admit that, great childhood memories! No surprise of the hot market in early sets. Those are primarily what my age group played up too...

Trust me, ol' Honus or '52 Mantle any day over 1st edition Charizard.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I bet a Charizard could beat up Honus Wagner in a fight.....

Honus had a bat in his hands!

[peanuts]

Couple things:
- This is from the initial print run of the first edition of cards. The distinguishing visual feature is that there isn't a drop shadow to help accentuate the character portraits (Hence "shadowless"). The short print run was due to questions around how strong the Pokemon brand was in the US and whether the hype would carry over to the TCG. Shadowless only represents about 15% of the total population for the First Edition set.
- Charizard is functionally the Mantle of the entire Pokemon hobby – just an iconic card, the chase that everyone was looking for. It also took on a bit of meme status in a positive way around the early 2010s.
- Demographics. Huge interest from the tech crowd. For us dorks, Pokemon TCG was what we cared about and collected. Tons of disposable income, and folks are just getting into the more formal collecting hobby.
- The Pokemon scene is still going through a price discovery phase. Since corona, values have gone parabolic. People are starting to grade more, so expect values to come down, but it's still WILD out there right now. Lots of FOMO, lots of people looking to stunt, etc.

Basically the perfect storm converging for a wild valuation.

I think there is real long term value on the Pokemon front. These are icons of the millenial/Gen-Z childhood and there is a SERIOUS sentimental attachment to the cards and the characters on them. That said... I would not want to move large sums of cash right now to get into this market. Far too many question marks.