Most folks in their late 20s have what we call “The Box”. It’s the box their parents made them take when they moved out. The box they haven’t really ever gone through, despite it following them through a couple of moves. The box that haunts them like a ghost, constantly on the verge of being exorcised via dumpster. Well, your pals at Back to the Past are here with a story that illustrates exactly why you shouldn’t be too hasty with that exorcism. This is the success story of the Hidden PokeGem!
How These Pokemon Cards Came to Us
We often get folks bringing in stuff that has accumulated in a closet over many years. Lots of folks have one or two things they think are worth money but aren’t really a “collection”. So, when a client came through the door with their toy collection and a handful of Pokemon cards, we weren’t really surprised. Our evaluator on duty judged that the cards were early specimens worthy of further inspection and got them in front of one of our Trading Card Game specialists.
When one of those specialists looked through the pile, their eyes dang neared popped out of their head. This small collection of cards was absolutely worth grading. The gem of the collection alone was worth several thousand dollars in mid to high grade. This was exactly the kind of Pokemon find every dealer wants to handle.
Why So Much?
When Wizards of the Coast first brought the Pokemon Trading Card Game to the U.S, they did so conservatively. It wasn’t a guaranteed hit, so the First Edition was small. Wizards followed it with a similarly small second edition, the success of which led to the mass printing of the unlimited edition. The primary difference between those first two editions and the unlimited is that the first two are “shadowless.” That means there’s no drop shadow effect around actual Pokemon image. Moreover, 1st edition cards have a little logo next to the creature’s vital stats denoting them as such.
The single most valuable card in that first edition set is Charizard. And this consignor had a Charizard card! Gem mint versions of the card, PSA 10s, can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars (there are only 121 known as of the time we wrote this). This specimen came back at a PSA 7, a more common grade but one still worth many thousands. We sold it, as well as a few other cards of similar vintage and pedigree, on the consignor’s behalf and everyone went home happy.
Making Consignors Happy
Those sales made that consignor’s whole year. Think about it: how much would a few thousand extra dollars help you out? It’s perhaps not “retirement money,” but it could certainly put a dent in a student loan or buy you one heckuva vacation. And it all came about because they had the vague idea that the cards were worth something, so they asked us about it. That’s why you shouldn’t wait – schedule an eval for yourself! While we certainly love handling larger collections, we’re always happy to look at smaller collections in our search for rare bits of treasure.
If you’re currently kicking yourself for pitching your Pokemon cards when you outgrew them, sound off below or hit us up on social media @b2pCollect to commiserate!
