This is mostly geared towards the tenured forum members; where do you guys see the future of Gold Star cards (primarily English ones) ranking up against WOTC cards? I think it’s safe to say that nothing is going to content with sealed + high-graded 1st Edition Base Set cards…but what about the rest of the WOTC releases?
I’m at a point where i’ve collected 26/27 Gold Star cards over the last few years, 21 of them in PSA 10, but i’ve kind of been on the edge about completing the PSA 10 set given the stratospheric prices of my remaining needs (Ray, Mew, Gyarados, Torchic, Latios, Latias in 10). The Gold Star cards were a target of mine for all the points smpratte mentioned in his video; incredible artwork, consistency throughout the set releases, Shiny Pokemon and that well-known “Gold Star” symbol that’s just as well known as the cards’ moniker…not to mention, the print run was some of the lowest in the history of Pokemon for the sets that contained these cards, coupled with insanely low pull rates.
Given the prices of Gold Stars, particularly the never-ending climb of PSA 9 and PSA 10 graded Gold Stars (even after the dog trio debacle the prices of those EX Unseen Forces cards are somehow rising), how would you guys view Gold Stars as investment piece and can they sustain this level of desirability? Will they eventually plateau while WOTC product keeps rising, or will the PSA 10s that find permanent homes ensure there’s a modicum of price hikes that keep them expensive? (As an aside, Neo Destiny Shinings are getting up there in price as well, pretty much inline with Gold Stars).
Every time I think I should pick up a Gold Star PSA 10 need I think the market has GOT to tank at some point, but all it does is keep rising (or when I offer $450 for a PSA 9 GS Torchic and get told i’m being unreasonable a month ago, I struggle to maintain composure with this set).
All one can do is guess.
Based on what I’ve seen, I believe there’s a big enough market for both to succeed. If I was starting today though, I would start with the earliest set but only if condition mattered to me and I had to spread out the purchases. Generally gold stars seem to have been kept in collectors shape so better chance to find them in nice shape later.
(not sure I qualify as a tenured forum member but I’ll answer anyway)
Next to 1st Ed. Base I rank English Gold Stars as one of the best investments out there. They’re incredibly iconic and have low print numbers compared to other eras. We’ve seen PSA 10 Gold Star Charizard hit $2650 which is more than most 1st edition Base holos in PSA 10. PSA 10 Ray is climbing to around 1.8-2k as well (not sure of exact recent sale prices). Can’t argue with those numbers.
The collecting market is a lot about demographics, but we aren’t seeing the natural 20-yearish jump we saw with 1st ed base with gold stars, which are still in between 10-12 years out of print. So I think the price rising now is fueled more by investors looking at the 1st ed. base market and hoping to pull off something similar. That being said, these people buying up gold stars aren’t exactly flipping them which keeps prices climbing steadily. I think the interest in the cards now is pretty genuine and won’t be decreasing anytime soon.
In general gold stars in PSA 10 and even PSA 9 are great investments, 1st Ed. base will always be the gold standard, maybe sealed WOTC product #2, but you cant ignore the prices that PSA 10 gold stars are earning right now and their upward trend. I’d take PSA 10 gold stars over most PSA 10 WOTC cards excluding 1st ed. base of course.
The gold star Charizard’s climb in value actually got me digging through boxes where I knew I had a couple. Turns out one should be a 10 so I’m excited now.
Would rather it was a 1st Base or shadowless but this is cool too and if it climbs in value as 4star expects well then…okay:)
To be able to just rummage through some boxes and end up with a probable PSA 10 Gold Star Charizard…oh man. That’s freaking awesome!
Appreciate you guys’ input in this thread…it’s making me feel much better about Gold Stars in general and I think i’ll continue pursuing the last few 10s i need.
I’m on mobile right now so I can’t really check if there was a best offer accepted and eBay is just not showing but from what I can see a 10 Rayquaza sold for $3200 not too long ago. This card has a population of only 20 something, and it’s one less because of the unicorn German one that got through ( @pottsinator ?). It’s been Rayquaza > Charizard as long as I can remember for Gold Stars.
All solid points already of why I also agree Gold Stars will only continue to go in value. I also think that a major factor is that I really haven’t seen people opening the Gold Star series boxes at all to try and get gold stars and much of these boxes are just staying sealed. If they continue to stay sealed that could play a big role in their rise of price as well. Whereas I’ve seen a lot more people opening WOTC boxes not only to try and attain high PSA grades of the cards but also just purely for nostalgic reason as well, whereas the EX series boxes people don’t open much for nostalgia so they stay sealed. I’m not sure how true that is that people just aren’t opening the boxes anymore, but that’s just what I’ve noticed over my few years here. All in all I think Gold Stars are an amazing investment right now as well.
Yeah I just saw that one too, looks like no best offer and a solid BIN. However it was up for awhile beforehand and did not sell. No feedback left for the transaction. Knowing the recent market trends I certainly could be wrong, I haven’t been following the sale prices of Rays as closely as Charizard, I was under the impression Charizard had surpassed Ray. I don’t know enough about the recent sales to say whether that sale is erroneous or not.
Assuming it’s not an outlier that’s just more evidence of gold stars power in the market right now.
A very good point, I’d also note an important difference between the gold stars and other ultra rares like shinings or crystals is their ridiculously low pull rates. IIRC it’s one per 2-3 boxes for most sets. You can open a box of Neo Destiny and get 3 shinings easy, you usually get a couple crystals per box in Skyridge and Aquapolis, can’t do that with gold stars. Nobody is cracking a $2500 box of Dragon Frontiers when Charizard stars are only in one out of every 4-6 boxes and the other cards you get out of there are really not worth much yet.
Gold stars are great investments although I’m afraid it is getting late for me to ever try to finish that set lol. Yet, as a fellow collector, my advice is to finish it. You are so close so don’t let a few cards stop you from finishing it. As an investment, you have all the right elements here; initial rarity, low population (except for the dogs), unique artwork, and good demand. I don’t have any sentimental attraction to them but as the market continues to grow, those who enter the hobby from that era that have the disposable income will have the sentimental attraction like some of us did towards the WOTC era.
I browsed through it, pretty neat. He chose all the ones where the name is identical in both German and English. Very neat. Maybe I should try to slip some through myself.
The English Gold Star Espeon and Umbreon seem to have their price maintained and propped up by the rest of the set. The lack of Holo and ugly yellow border doesn’t really justify the $2k+ price as standalone IMO. I’d be scared of boxes of sealed POP5 packs for English suddenly surfacing causing the population to increase greatly. I think the Japanese ones are probably safer bets, especially given the superior look of them and the more limited supply.
If I was actually into investing in Gold Stars I would be hesitant with those two in English, but to collect I would definitely get them ASAP. Unfortunately I just don’t have the budget for them currently.
