As I’ve been interested in this card for awhile I’ve been watching the market pretty closely and noticed a ridiculously quick increase in prices for this card.
I’ve graphed the price trends of sold listings of English PSA 9 Charizard Gold Stars here, confirmed by watchcount.com:
Just over the last few months this card has gone from $375 in April to $675 in July in PSA 9. And that $675 sale wasn’t an outlier, this card has been consistently climbing over the past few months. Most of these card have been at BIN or Best Offer, but even so there is a consistent amount of people lining up to buy them at higher prices.
PSA 10s have also been increasing ridiculously fast. The last three sales iirc have been 1.5k, 1.8k, and 2.2k all in the space of a few months.
So my question is, are we seeing another gold star bubble or should we all hoard our Charizard stars ASAP?
I actually don’t think it’s a bubble…PSA 9 prices for certain Gold Star cards have been climbing in general in the past year or so, and a lot of it just has to do with scarcity/availability…GS Charizards, those from the EX Deoxys set, EX Team Rocket Returns sets, etc…those in PSA 9-10 make an appearance on eBay/the open market only a handful of times a year and the frequency is decreasing with each passing month as more and more (new) collectors snatch up whatever is made available quickly…
I bought a PSA 9 Gold Star Pikachu for $150 9-10 months ago and I wouldn’t have a problem selling it for like $400 now…it’s crazy!
I’ve noticed the steady yet rapid increase in gold star prices across the board and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Charizard is challenging Rayquaza for the most expensive gold star. Gold stars have always been some of the best designed, most collectible cards in the hobby and they come from a period where not a lot of product was being printed and Pokemon was in a down period.
What concerns me is the almost overnight rise these cards are seeing. Usually a steady market trend is exemplified by slow yet consistent growth. This growth has been consistent over the past few months as illustrated by the graph, but it’s certainly not slow. To see growth like this is usually what’s seen in a bubble.
I was expecting prices on these cards to rise significantly but not the way they have recently.
I’d be interested to see the trend with non charizard gold stars to make a more informed decision. If there’s a more steady increase with non charizards I’d be inclind to say it’s most likely not a bubble, if they are hitting big spikes as well I would say it most likely is a bubble.
Charizards cards have been spiking accross the board. I’m not sure if that’s a bubble or just people realizing that it’s the best investment card.
I think that we’re in a bubble in general… Many people (including myself, I must admit) have come back to the hobby after last year’s Pokemon (impressing) marketing. They have managed the 20th anniversary REALLY well, so I guess that there are many new people around now.
Being one of the new ones, I can tell that I’ve actually been very tempted to go buy goldstars (or any older product, actually) like crazy because I know that they’re the most difficult products to get and they’re amongst the most popular “cool” cards.
But I’m guessing that not everyone that has come back to the hobby recently will actually stay for long. Sometimes I even doubt that I will stay for too long myself because Pokemon is actually a quite expensive hobby. So I don’t know… My overall impression is that the market now is saturated with many new people that won’t probably stick around. After these people get tired and leave, the market will be more stable, I guess (although, of course, some of the growth experienced in the market won’t just disappear. The market will become more stable, but the prices will have gone up, although not as much as today).
That’s my super prediction of future! I’ll most probably be wrong but, hey, it will be cool to see in one year or so if I got anything right hahah Let’s hope that I’ll be one of the new ones that have stayed in the hobby by next year!
Even if they dropped back down to just under 2k in the next year they’ll definitely be more than 3k in 4 years time.
Base 1st, Shadowless, PSA 10 1st Dark and Blaine’s Zard, PSA 9/10 1st Shining Zard and the Gold Star Zard will always be incredibly sought after cards. Unless a meteor hits the planet or we start WW3 in the long term they’ll always appreciate.
Here’s what i think, a lot of people probably witnessed how PSA 10 1st ed Zard skyrocketed and they want to invest in things they can afford. Thanks to the hype from the 20th anniversary a lot of investors are seeing the value in Pkmn and they’re making the prices rise on a lot of well known cards. Now I wonder whether collectors who aren’t in it to invest will buy into the hype and push the prices even further or will they just wait till investors lose faith in their investments and sell for cheaper prices?
I don’t think it’s possible to tell whether it’s a bubble or not. Since prices rising like this for so many cards in such a short period has never been seen till now. It’s going to be interesting to see the prices of everything next year.
Yeah I have also noticed the very recent up trend in gold stars especially Pikachu. Another one that picked up a lot of heat is the Skyridge crystals especially Charizard
It depends on what part of it we’re talking about haha My evolutions and generations sets and boxes have definitely gone down, I think. But I’ve also collected some Japanese exclusive items and some WOTC cards. Those have gone up.
What I’m saying is that I think that in a year or two, those Japanese exclusive items and especially the WOTC cards will have gone up, but not as much as today. So they will have gone up compared to the time before 20th anniversary, but they will get a bit down compared to today’s prices.
But that’s just a guessing of mine. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to base their collecting / investing strategies on my thoughts
