Japanese Gold Star Tier List?

General
1

Hey guys. Getting into Japanese graded cards lately. There’s been a lot of talk about Japanese gold stars and their scarcity. I was wondering if anyone has a general (somewhat agreed upon) tier list for the Japanese gold stars. I understand the English gold stars pretty well kinda like how the dogs are not good thanks to our buddies in the Netherlands. I notice things like pikachu gold star in Japanese being significantly less rare. Can someone shed some light on the high end and low end Japanese gold stars? Thanks :blush:

2

I think the Eeveelution Japanese Play Promo gold star cards are the highest tier with Umbreon and Espeon being number 1 and number 2 respectively.
From a quick search, I think the next most expensive are PSA 10 gold star Charizard, followed by Rayquaza, latios, and latias. The Japanese Team Rocket Returns gold stars in PSA 10 might be next most expensive.

3

The Pikachu and Mewtwo gold stars were released in a promo box, they are certainly not easy to find but they do usually go for less because of that. While putting together an objective “tier list” is very hard, the 1st edition Clash of the Blue Sky gold stars (Rayquaza, Latios, Latias) will be the hardest to find I believe. The unlimited versions are much easier to come by. The dogs are very popular as well, and of course Charizard will be a heavy hitter just because it’s Charizard. Some gold stars like Gyarados and Metagross felt like they were easier to find a few years ago, but I think the supply has more or less dried out since then. No matter which one you pursue, having any in your collection is quite the achievement!

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4

I heard the umbreon is the top tier high end

5

clash of the blue sky is one of the hardest to get in 1st edition in japanese since they are getting rarer and rarer. the PLAY promo umbreon and espeon are also hard to get since they were only available for a small window and needed LOTS of points to get them

6

My Top 10 for hardest to get in mint or PSA 10

  1. Play Promo Umbreon
  2. Play Promo Espeon
  3. PSA 10 UED Gold Star Charizard
  4. PSA 10 UED Gold Star Mew
  5. PSA 10 1st Edition Gold Star Charizard
  6. PSA 10 1st Edition Gold Star Mew
  7. PSA 10 1st Edition Gold Star Suicune
  8. PSA 10 1st Edition Gold star Torchic
  9. PSA 10 1st Edition Gold Star Rayquaza
  10. Any of the other Gold Star Dogs or Hoenn Trio 1st Edition
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^ Good info @swolepoke, thanks for sharing.

8

I would add PSA 10 UED Vaporeon/Flareon/Jolteon to #4 as they are a PAIN. POP 1/2/4 respectively.
The same can be said for Regice UED - this card is a bitch to grade.

The Rest of the list is spot on :blush:
A.

9

Awesome feedback guys! I just picked up regirock who looks like he has the second lowest psa 10 1st Ed pop. Super excited to start picking these up. Looking for more besides the ones on eBay. If anyone can lead me in the right direction to someone who has them for a good price please let me know. Never could get the gold stars as a kid besides regice and Gyarados. It would be awesome to try getting an entire 1st Ed set!