Just wondering how these were obtained?
according to reddit it seems people pulled these in booster packs (the actual staff ones)? it doesn’t make sense, a staff promo being in a booster pack?
Does anybody have an idea of how many of these there are in existence?
They were packaged in the pre-release kits that were sent to the locations that did the pre-release events. There was 1 in each kit. They were packed along with the box of energy cards they received for the event. Each kit contained a couple booster boxes and a bunch of the pre-release kits you see on eBay. Folks say regionally the card received in the kit was different. So some areas got Charizard, some got Machamp, Mewtwo or Gyarados. If one store got 4 pre-release kits they received 4 of the same card.
Think that’s about all the info I have on them at this point.
The staff cards came with every prerelease kit. Every comic shop or card store that ran a prerelease got a kit. Only 10 staff cards were included in a kit. Its estimated that only a few thousand of each staff card exist.
Remember these were distributed around the world not just US so very likely more than you would expect exist
The catch there is that they were printed in different languages, so the estimate of only a few thousand english copies still holds true.
Thanks everyone. So are there staff prerelease version of other pokemon likd machamp? Cheers guys.
Machamp, Gyarados, Mewtwo, and Charizard.
So only USA gets English copies? I would estimate that here in Australia there might be a few thousand of each distributed not to mention the maybe 10 or so other countries that receive English cards
Ok seems like the staff prerelease Zard is way overcooked in term of value atm
No one can say for sure exact amount printed like virtually every Pokemon card, only you can judge if it is worth it price wise but promos like this usually die down in price after a while. Will Staff Zard be worth around $1000 raw in a few years? Odds are no
Anyone that says they pulled a Staff Charizard from a standard booster pack is lying or confused. As has been expressed, they only came in limited quantities with Prerelease kits only available to professors registered to run formal Prerelease events.
As for value, I think the present price is fair. The distribution was random, not regional. The relative value of the other staff cards has been about what I’d expect it to be. I think these will mostly hold their price. They’re on the minor post-release dip at the moment so it’s a decent time to buy. These are JUST released in the grand scheme so it’s still a touch volatile as it settles into its price.
But as that’s not the point of this thread, I’ll hold off on further elaborating until there’s a price discussion thread that warrants it.
I seem to remember it being told(possibly confirmed) that Australia only received Gyarados Staff Promos. I don’t remember where it was said, but I recall it.
From what I’ve seen it also seems that most Staff Charizards were in Canada, as that’s where most of the eBay sales are coming from. Could be wrong tho.
When they were first released and being snatched up I definitely saw a lot of Machamp, Mewtwo and Charizard. I saw very few Gyarados though available (from US sellers). In the realm of 8 to 1 I’d say. I feel that Gyarados is actually the rarest of the bunch in terms of available production (but hearing that Australia wound up with a lot of Gyarados cards could lend some clout to the theory).
I’d like to hear more theorycrafting about future values. I’m still debating what I should do with my extras, probably just hold onto them for a while, perhaps send them off to grading.
Grading them is your best bet. The limited print run is going to make these cards hold there value in the future.
Watching these crazy prices makes me want to put together an explanation using widgets showing how a bubble bursts. In short, these are being obtained by fewer individuals than you’d expect. People with 5/10/20+ copies.
For arguments sake, let’s assume 1000 finite copies. Those who are true Charizard collectors regardless of price will likely obtain 1 copy and never sell. They can be removed from the pool and market equation (reduced supply). Eventually demand will shift and the numerous individuals who want a copy will find the next big thing. The problem with fewer sellers is less liquidity in price competition. Yes they can hold the market, although they’re more susceptible to a free fall.
To recap - more sellers equals a more stable market. Buyers will make purchases with higher confidence, etc.
Seeing the high priced PSA 10 listing had my head running with arguments, assumptions and circumstances. I’m not a fan of long posts, so we’ll cap this here.
I thought I answered this in a previous thread…
Thanks for everyones input it will be interesting seeing how the price goes over time. Sorry M i tried searching for a similar post before i created this thread but couldn’t see anything.
It’s cool, I just mentioned how they came loose inside a box of energies and that the distribution was regional.