2023 Collecting Highlights!

[triple]

Happy New Year E4!

What were your collecting highlights of the year?

I was able to add these 8 beautiful cards to my collection this year! Hoping for a great turnout for 2024 as well widepeepohappy

[inertgeometry]

i know its a cliche answer and everyone already has one, but this was pretty neat

[triple]

Best gold star

[Charizard1020]

Don’t have pics on my phone right now but…

Psa 8 of the following shadowless cards

Charizard
Chansey
Blastoise
Hitmonchan
Magneton
Gyarados
Mewtwo

[DragonClasher]

Karen FA Best of XY PSA9

Cynthia FA Ultra Shiny GX

Zinnia FA Dragon Storm

Rayquaza V Special Art Blue Sky Stream

Karen’s Umbreon from VS

then ofc completing multiple pages of thing but too much to list

[lookaclara]

I got 2 copies of the Leafeon VStar - one graded and one for my garden binder! I don’t know if I actually have a favourite card but this is maybe one of them lol.

I also got some nice autos this year, and worked on organizing my binder(s)

[hermit]

In 2023, I sold my full art trainers and started collecting pokemons instead. Bought these promo cards as their prices soften, but only some will be in my perm collection.

[jaws]

And many more! But keeping it on brand for me, these were some of my favorites.

[azulryu]

2023 was an incredible year and one that’s changed my perspective on my collection. Besides getting my favorite 2023 Gyarados related card etched by the talented Mr. Shadowbox on IG and outside of this year’s Secret Santa some of my highlights were the following:

• Pokémon Getto Da Ze! 2000 New Year Postcard: I’m amazed every time I find something I’ve never seen before after feeling like I’ve seen it all. For the 23 years this card existed, I never saw it until this past year.
• Legendary Treasures signed by Harada: incredible thanks to @iroh who generously helped me getting this card. This card to me highlights the kindness of folks and was one of the things pushing me to attend my own signing event.
• Getting an ARS 10 Triplet Beat Magikarp alongside it’s creator’s Shinji Kanda’s original 2018 Monlith piece: I love this card, easily one of my favorite Gyarados TCG related artworks, the Star Fish piece by the insanely talented Kanda was also a highlight as I was able to get it on pure luck while waiting on a multi-hour delay for a flight home.
• 2002 Pokemon Center Tokyo Postcard: my last big grail for postcards, I’m still missing a few but as far as postcards go, this is one of my top 3 arts and took me good number of years to finally grab.
• Pracoro DX Gyarados Dice D: the final of 4 dice pieces I needed to complete my Gyarados dice collection, I had been hunting these for the better part of 2 years and after tracking down 16 boxes, I was able to get part D with the sprue still in tact (so many of these came with broken sprues). Funny to think this is the only part of my collection technically “complete”. XD
• And most of all, the signed May Calendar and 25th Anniversary Gyarados by Himeno: this event meant so much - I never thought I would get the chance to get anything signed personally by her, nevermind in person. The fact that I got to share this with some incredible souls made that entire weekend an incredible and unforgettable experience. One of my all time favorite memories.

Honestly, 2023 has been such an incredible year. So much so that it’s allowed me to feel like my collection is at a good place and I’ve drastically slowed down my habits in lieu with other important aspects of my life.