Hey! Thanks for checking out my budding collection. I’ve been playing the trading card game on and off since 1999 but only recently started collecting. I guess after all these years I finally realized how many wonderful memories and friendships of mine are connected to these cards! October 2021 marks one year of collecting for me, so I thought it would be appropriate to start a collection thread and document my journey thus far.
With that said, on to the collection! These first photos represent my current goals. After putting together some binder sets and picking up a lot of random stuff, I’ve decided to focus on Shining, Crystal, and Gold Star cards. I’m also much pickier about condition, although I don’t have any immediate plans to grade anything. As you’ll see, some 1st Edition Neo Destiny holos snuck in there, but some things you just can’t pass on when they come up! Also there’s a holo Suicune from Aquapolis, which was an anniversary gift from my wife.
Most of my other cards are stored in binders. I’ll have to figure out a good way to document that part of my collection. Maybe a YouTube video? I also have a separate part of my collection strictly for building retro decks. We have a good group that gets together every few weeks or so to play old formats; right now we are doing Base-Team Rocket. Finally, I have a small sealed collection but nothing too crazy. Anyway, look forward to photos of all this and more in the coming weeks and months!
By the way, you can also follow my collection on Instagram. My handle is @inchy5000 .
This Skarmory is one of the few steals I’ve been able to find over the last year. I was just looking to pick up a cheap BGS 9.5 slab to see if I liked the look of it, particularly next to the silver labels (I actually prefer the look of BGS over PSA so if I ever decide to grade my personal collection it will probably be with BGS). This copy came up for auction and with only a few minutes left the price was still very low so I took a shot and ended up winning!
This is the only Charizard I’ve purchased since I started collecting. Back in October and November of 2020, the prices of Charizard cards, particularly Base Set, were absolutely nutty. Out of principal alone I refused to buy one, ha. They’ve come down a lot now, but I still haven’t picked up another. I do have my eye on the FRLG Charizard ex, though. Such a beautiful card. This LV.X is pretty okay too, ha.
Like probably a lot of collectors, I started with set cards and gradually started looking at promos and more esoteric stuff. Of course I went down the “trophy card” rabbit hole. Many of the cards I was familiar with from my playing days, but others I had never seen before like some of the Japanese exclusive cards. I really liked the cheaper trophy cards from the HGSS era so started picking up some of those. As more time went on I felt less attached to them and more like I was buying them because I’m “supposed to” have and enjoy trophy cards to be a serious collector. Many of them are beautiful, but I’ve realized they just aren’t a priority for me. In fact, they are the only cards I’ve purchased for my collection and later sold (I owned a set of the Pikachu Victory Medals which I graded and came back PSA 10s, so I sold them).
Thanks! The Magikarp is a recent addition and I actually got him for a pretty good price. A few print lines but will make a very nice binder copy one day if nothing else. I’ve started binders for Neo Genesis and Discovery, so Revelation just may be next! The BGS Gold Stars I picked up at the National Sports Card Convention in Chicago.
Thank you! I played with a few different ways to capture the individual cards so I’m glad at least someone is enjoying them, ha.
Thanks, although I would withhold judgment on my taste until you see my binder of randomness, ha. For several months I was just buying whatever caught my eye. And yeah I’ve become a lot pickier about condition. Most of these are solid 9s, I think, with several having a shot at a 10.
Beautiful initial start to a collection page! I’m super jealous of the regi Gold Stars, I love those ones in particular. Are you aiming for all shiny cards, or only the Gold Stars and classic Shining cards?
Here is some of my sealed collection. When I first started collecting I was enamored with the idea that sealed product will only be harder and harder to find over time, especially with all the YouTube openings. By purchasing these packs–and keeping them sealed–I felt like I was saving an endangered species. Also it’s such a cool feeling holding a pack or box that has remained sealed for years, and in some cases decades, the mystery of what lies inside preserved forever.
Over time, however, those feelings were counterbalanced by the inherent sketchiness of sealed product. Has the pack been weighed? Has the box been resealed? Is it a counterfeit? Things we never worried about as kids. All but one of the packs below came from random eBay sellers with solid ratings who affirmed the packs have not been weighed, but you can never know for sure and unfortunately must assume the worst. Only my Jungle booster I know with certainty has not been weighed because I pulled it myself from a sealed Starter Gift Box.
Today I would only buy a vintage pack from a live, in person box opening or a live, online box opening where the seller seals the pack in a bag with a tamper proof sticker on camera (which unfortunately is not the norm even in 2021). So I’ve eased up considerably buying sealed product. That said, I still love the small collection I’ve amassed. None of the boosters appear resealed and although some of them may (read: probably) have been weighed light by someone at some point in time before reaching my hands, I can’t say that for certain. So in some small respect the mystery is still alive and well for me, ha!
As far as sealed collection goals, I would love to own some Base Set, Neo Destiny, Skyridge, and EX Team Rocket Returns boosters. I also would like to pick up some blister packs, as those look very cool with the additional art and packaging and have a much smaller chance of being weighed and resealed.
I felt the same way with buying vintage boosters! “Saving an endangered species”
Vintage pack opening are cool and all but I feel bad for all that sealed vintage which just gets turned into mostly bulk and holos worth a few dollars. I also felt the same way about being super sketch about my packs being resealed or something which is what stopped me from buying more before.
I’d recommend getting some vintage blisters. They’re another level of cool above just a loose booster. The thought that this blister was hanging on a shelf at toys r us 1 or 2 decades ago is awesome.
Thank you! Yeah the Regi Gold Stars are underrated, IMO. Really beautiful. My current goal is all the Shining cards from Neo Revelation and Destiny, all the Crystal cards from Aquapolis and Skyridge, and all the Gold Stars. At today’s prices that should keep me busy for a few years, ha.
Thanks! Although I try to stick to my main goals I’ve recently been on the lookout for BW/XY era full arts. This one looked like it was in great condition and the price was right so I said what the heck.
Yeah I would feel a lot more comfortable with vintage blisters over loose packs. I agree they are awesome, I actually have a bunch of blisters from the old Dragon Ball Z CCG and I love them. I’ve sold a couple over the last 12 months but I plan to hang on to at least a few.
Here’s more of my sealed collection, all from the BW era which IMO is a bit underrated. BW introduced full arts which for a decade now have been THE chase cards. At this point it’s hard to imagine Pokemon going back to the relative simplicity of Gold Stars or Crystals. The full arts from the BW sets also were much harder to pull and the print quality was terrible, making them extremely difficult to find in mint condition.
The Next Destinies box is the oldest sealed booster box I own. I wasn’t really looking to pick one up but this box came up for auction during a random Whatnot stream and I got it for an insane steal. I may sell it down the road but for now it’s a cool collection piece.
Okay, turning to the binders. I’ve put together (or at least started to put together) binders for Base, Jungle, Neo Genesis, Neo Discovery, Aquapolis, Skyridge, Ruby Sapphire, and Team Rocket Returns. I’ll get to those eventually. These are some cards from my binder of random stuff, which holds my collection of cards that have for one reason or another caught my eye.
One subset of cards I’ve loved collecting are ex cards from the early Nintendo days. I stopped playing when Expedition was released and didn’t get back into the game until September 2006 at which time the most recent set was Crystal Guardians. So a lot of these cards I missed out on, but many of them remind me of getting back into Pokemon for the first time as an adult.
Obviously I pulled these out of the binder to photograph. My attempts to photograph the cards while in the binder were not great, ha. I’m not going to photograph every single card in my binders, but I’ll photograph enough to give you all a flavor for what’s in them and what has interested me over the last year. Eventually I may shoot and post a video flipping through the binders so you can see everything.
More from the binder of random stuff! Here are the rest of my early EX cards, as well as the handful of LV.X and Prime cards I own. I actually have many more LV.X cards but they are stored separately and strictly for deckbuilding (also the condition is not very good, I don’t think many people care to see my moderately played Palkia LV.X, ha). The condition of these ranges from PSA 8 to 9 if I had to guess. I probably won’t ever grade them, it’s just nice to have them at the ready whenever I start putting together more binder sets.
This is my collection of Aquapolis and Skyridge holos. I’ve managed to make much more progress on Aquapolis, ha. When I started collecting last year the e-series sets really stood out to me. Like many others, I absolutely love the art. But I also love the overall design. The larger boarder and smaller, rounded picture box make these sets feel very unique (and even kind of quirky!).
Quick update! Last month I dropped some cards off with BGS at a local show. Less than two weeks later they are back in my hands! Here are the results. Overall I’m happy with the grades, but for me it’s more about the cards being protected and showcased. As I picked these up over the last year I found myself fretting over something happening to them before I decided whether or not to ever grade. So I just went for it and I’m glad I did!
NB: Unfortunately it looks like Shining Tyranitar’s case was damaged during shipping. I’ll have to consider sending it back in to be re-cased.
Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate, and happy holidays to all the rest!
