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Japanese Pokémon Base Set
Jwillhunter
Posts: 5 ✭
Hey all, I found a Japanese Pokémon Base Set my parents bought 20+ years ago. Unfortunately I opened all the packs, but after looking at the cards I put them back in their packs and the set was put in a safe. Now I have found them safe and in “fresh out of the pack” condition. This is a set of my holos but I have 330+ Pokémon cards. I’m trying to get opinions from people with more expertise to see how I should handle grading, if they should be graded, and what other cards from the base set are worth it.
Also, I’m having a hard time telling the difference in high grades. I feel like these cards are perfect, but in pictures online I have a hard time distinguishing 8/9/10s, so any feedback on that would be appreciated.
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Hi and welcome.
Pokemon is far from my expertise as well as how PSA might grade them.
For value, you can click on my link to view eBay completed auctions.
Perimeter is set to PSA 8 for NM-Mint condition.
Change the search to PSA 9 for mint values.
I think PSA is tough on Pokemon cards.
Thanks, I’ve done good base level research and have documented all my cards and ranges of their worth.
Please don’t link me to psa auction data or eBay, I’m looking for conversation from someone who collects or has experience selling like items.
I have dabbled in Pokemon and just submitted my first sub, so I can't verify my eye for grading them yet, but the way I look at it, it's pretty much surface quality that comes into play, and edges, which are really part of the surface. There is also centering, but that is easier to tell. Corners aren't really a thing as issues with them will show on the surface by them.
For the surface you have to look for scratches, dimples, marks, or press/mfg indentation lines front and back, and especially the quality of the Holo's as far as scratching/rubbing against other cards goes. Then what is most important to me and I think the easiest to see when looking at pics of other cards and graded versions is the back of the card. When there is surface issues/wear by the edges you get white showing. So for me, no white has PSA 10 potential, a itty bit on one corner or edge a 9 or 8. But once you start getting white in more numbers or larger sizes, the grades drop.
I think the best thing to do is look at the realized auctions on the PSA site and look at cards in each grade and study the backs and corners. You need to look at sales in the last 90 days so that you get an ebay link and can look at the original/ larger pics. Keep in mind that not every seller will show the back of the card, some only show fronts. I like to find sales from PWCC where I know that they show both sides and take good quality, high-res pics.
Once you have kinda of figured out the condition of your cards, and know what they will sell historically at each grade, you can decide if it is worth it to get them graded. It is now $20 a pop to get them graded if you do value subbing and will take up to a year. Of course, if you decide that a card is really good, like a Charizard and you are certain that it will be at least a 9, you could sub it at $100. The main thing is that if you decide to sub a card, you have to be certain that it won't come back so low you can't make $20 selling it, or really $30-50 to be worth the effort. Cards I don't think can guarantee a return, I'll just sell them raw on on ebay. Cards I'm not really sure of, I sell raw.
Hope this helps you.
Scratches on the front of the holos and any chipping of the blue on the reverse is what you are looking for, along with the aforementioned centering Any white showing on the reverse is a chip.
Subtract one point from the grade for each tiny imperfection you see. Don't bother grading anything with more than two imperfections.
Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur should be sent in on a $50 per card level, the rest can go at the cheapest level. Good luck.
Bosox1976
You mean $100 per card, $50 level is suspended.....
Ha - am dating myself! Seems like only yesterday...
Bosox1976
Thank you all for the info! As far as edges, corners, and scratches most of the collection is pristine, with a few having dings on the edge. My main concern is the centering with some of them, but I guess I'll just have to send some in and see what the professionals think. I plan on keeping most of them for at least a few years, so I'm not in a hurry to flip them.
I think I'll send in a Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venasaur-Holo (since I have two full sets) or Pikachu/Raichu-Holo to get a general feel of what I can expect. Might even send one with crap centering just to see how bad they wreck the grade to set a baseline.
Since I'm new to the sphere (grading, not cards), was grading cheaper and faster pre-covid? I don't mind dropping a few hundred dollars, but dang do they ever run bulk discounts or places you can go in person instead of shipping?
You have to send in Charizard on principle! It was cheaper and faster before the pandemic. You could drop them off in person at Card Shows PSA had a booth at. As for bulk discount, $20 is the bulk discount per se.... If you wait 2 to 3 years for them to get through the backlog and depending on demand, you might see lower grading prices, but it is all a theoretical. If you aren't planning on selling them, then you could just wait. Get some card saver 1's or equivalents and penny savers and store them properly.
Yes. Demand has skyrocketed and PSAs efforts to control this by increasing costs has had very limited success. There is a sticky at the top of this forum listing quarterly specials. In the past PSA would pick up (and possibly grade at high rates?) submissions at large shows, but of course that isn't happening now and no one is sure if they will again.
Don't worry the Charizard will go in after I test run, don't want to send off the gem of the set and some how mess up on my first go. I'll probably wait around to see if they start doing shows again for the majority of the cards. I got these at age 5 and somehow they made it to now in great condition, I still like Pokemon, so I don't mind holding.
I was wondering about saving the ones I want to grade since you mentioned the card saver 1's. I see that PSA wants you to submit with these, but is my current double sleeve sufficient for storage (brand new flexible sleeve inside a top loader)?
Keep in mind with regards to the Charizard... As the value goes up, the cost to grade it goes up. If you graded a PSA 10 jordan a year ago, it would've been $1000 to grade it... If you submitted a PSA 10 jordan today, it would cost you $10k to grade it....
The things you have the cards in now are called top loaders. Those are probably fine, just don't turn them upside down or drop them where the card will shoot out.
I'd still send in the charizard. Not sure how you can screw it up. The only thing you can do is mis-judge the condition of a card and pay to get a crappy grade back. But even a crappy graded Charizard has value.
That's a good point, I'll take note of that when I decide to submit them.
Ya, I have them in a flexible clear sleeve then inside a toploader, but I'm not the type to move them often.
Thank you all for the advice!