Hyper Rare Zekrom GX's thunderous popularity

[hayo]

Hi everyone,

This is the Hyper Rare Zekrom GX, of which only 100 copies exist (most of them never leaving Japan) and which was awarded to winners of a few select sealed-format tournaments this summer in Japan.
All copies that sold on Yahoo Auctions so far went for over 4000$, with the exception of the first listing that went as a ‘cheap’ 3000$ buy-it-now.
With such a price and with the current PTCG boom in Japan (part of which some attribute to this ridiculous card itself), it won’t surprise you to hear that people here in Japan are going crazy about Zekrom GX. I tried to participate in the sealed event at Nagoya’s pokémon center today, but the number of people who wanted in being over five times the number of allowed participants (170/32), like many others whose number wasn’t picked I didn’t even get a shot.
A friend of mine however did manage to get in, get good cards out of his sealed packs, get lucky throughout the tournament, and ended up climbing all the way up to the top of the event and scoring the much wanted Zekrom GX card pictured above.
He told me he was considering selling it, but was curious as to whether it would fetch an even better price outside of Japan. So I said to him “You know what, let me ask the experts”.

So I turn to you top collectors: do you know if there’s a market for our infamous thunder dragon friend outside of Japan, or is the hype we’re experiencing here an insular craze?I have checked eBay and it looked like the one copy that sold there (maybe the only one to have left Japan so far) went for over 7000$, which if true is even more mind-boggling than the already scandalous price it fetches in Japan.
If anyone is in the know about this card’s actual position in the western market, I’d love it if you could share it here!
As a side note, there’s a Super Rare (non-rainbow full art) version of Zekrom GX that was distributed much more widely (I believe 1000 copies) and still fetches around 350$. Stakes are high in Japanese sealed tournaments!Last time we had a similar situation was with the Masked Royal full art supporter, also limited to 100 copies distributed in sealed events. This one too fetched impressive prices on the Japanese collector market, though not quite as high as Zekrom. I guess Legendary Thunder Dragons have more appeal than Masked Topless Professors.

[god]

Interesting. Someone just posted this card on Instagram in a shop asking close to $3400 USD; asking / saying they thought it was absurd. I didnt Even know of this card until about 12 hours ago when I saw it. I’m looking for it now, but can’t find it. I’ll be tracking this topic as well, but if I was to put my two-cents in; I’d say it seems like a pretty crazy price tag for something so new; but again, supply and demand runs everything in the world. Not much supply and a lot of demand.

I’ll definitely be tracking this to see what the true experts think . Awesome post man!

[mthursty]

Wasn’t there some misinformation with the full art release? I think currently there are a lot less full arts out there than the 1000 predicted.
And as for the price, at least from my point of view, I dont like rainbow rare cards in general so I’m not a fan. Also this card could always get an English printing, which would lower the value of the Japanese version since it won’t be unique art (though I am thankful masked royal full art has not been reprinted thus far).

[pfm]

Bigger market = more potential buyers = higher salesThere’s no reason not to seek offers outside of Japan if you’re looking to make money.
Personally, I think the price of the card is excessive. There are plenty of other cards with comparably limited releases that go for much cheaper (art academy, lottery cards, etc.) I too would probably sell while the hype is here if I had a copy.