Just wanted to say hi to the fourum after lurking for a few weeks:
I started collecting in 1998-1999. I remember some friends playing the game at school on the concrete sidewalk, taking my binder (that I kept locked up) in my roller skate case to the skating rink every Friday night to perhaps trade, and my sweet mom who bought booster packs for me occasionally (and then stored and protected them for 20 years without me even considering them!) – bless her.
A few of thoughts:
I’m so amazed at my own ability as a ten year old to penny sleeve and top load my cards when I was 9 years old – I really just think this was luck, but I love the idea of my young self truly cherishing the cards.
From my collection, it looks as though somehow my mom was able to find (2) German Base Set Booster Packs and a handful more of Japanese Boosters. We’re from a small Southern US state, which makes that idea just seem so wild to me. They truly were very foreign and very cool to me. I’m still impressed by how the German cards just feel quality wise (as I was recently reholdering them), and the how much more drawn I am to the Japanese quality of the holos.
Also, I think they were Toy’s R Us, but my mom must have stumbled upon a 1st edition box of the fossil set. I certainly don’t think she bought a whole box (I definitely never saw it), but somehow I do think she may have known they were 1st edition, because she never bought more than a pack or two. I’ve had my collection back in my possession since 2020, but just a few days ago while I was visiting my family, I just told her how cool and awesome it was that she did all of this for me, from buying them to preserving them as well as she did. I’m truly so grateful.
I’m glad now, having gone through graduate school for art (many years ago now), I can look back at all the simple cards I overlooked because they weren’t shiny, say these are awesome for so many reasons.
My prized possession, for sake of monetary value, is the German 1st Edition Glurak. It feels like one of the last cards I pulled too. And another special one that comes to mind is the Flareon – It was the night of Y2K, New Years, after my mom picked me up from the late night special skate at the rink and she gave me one Jungle Booster Pack.
All this to say, I found this foroum recently, and love how y’all talk about this hobby. The Secret Santa thread is a blessing from the internet. The insights into grading and specific ways in which some of you collect is so cool. At the age of 34, I’m just now realizing that their are different illustrators, lol, some of which I’m more drawn to than others.
An amazing collection and some great memories by the sound of it. Your younger self took good care of your cards which is great to see. Thank you for sharing.
Warm welcome to the forums @koozie. So very lovely to have you here. Your story really brought a smile to my face for the fact that you have such find memories of collecting as a child and also the fact that you had a collector mindset to actually take really good care of your cards.
Your collection looks fantastic. The cards you have collected look beautiful for how old they are. What are your current collection goals? Do you plan to build on your older collection or start with something more modern?
Again, welcome and thanks for sharing your story. Looking forward to getting to know you more. Have a great time here.
Very much looking forward to your collecting journey going forward. Discovering artists’ styles has been the most interesting aspect getting back into the hobby for me. I Love the background story too. Not sure how this happened, but of the 100 or so bulk cards that survived my childhood purge I also had first edition German cards, though I don’t remember getting them as a kid…
You know, as I get older, it just feels special knowing that something I was very close to from 25 years ago still exists in this weird little way (while also, it was still growing with me.)
I’m not quite sure honestly – I don’t have too much extra to spare when it comes to collecting, so that’s one aspect of uncertainty. The other is the somewhat daunting task of understanding what all has taken place and been produced since I last really felt like I understood the cards lol. There’s so much information now that I didn’t have when I was younger lol: new expansion release dates, buying direct from the internet, market value apps, etc.
A few things though:
I am interested in getting some of the graded. I just got to see several slabs at a local LGS and they honestly looked beautiful. Slabs also just feel more protective (?) and make for a nice way to display them. We’ll see.
I have opened like 4 random booster packs from various places over the past few weeks for fun. The new cards don’t feel as familiar and nice as the WotC have always felt and I don’t think they hold as much of my attention, but I do enjoy the new art that’s been introduced with the SARs.
Another curious thought I’m intrigued by, and I know there are plenty of Japanese / other non-English collectors on the forum, is what seems to be the premium you pay for English cards in relation to other sets. And like I mentioned in my original post, I am a bit drawn to the “vintage holos”.
Mostly though, I imagine I’ll keep lurking lol, and attempt to be slow and patient with it all .
Welcome to the forum @koozie . I love your thoughts and collection. I love you thanked your Mom! When a part of your collection follows you most of your life it’s pretty special.
What a great introductory post! As someone who’s also fortunate to have a chunk of their childhood collection (largely due to a mom who loves Pokemon as much as me) I definitely understand how those cards feel extra special! We’re happy to have you here and I look forward to hearing how you progress as you get back into the world of Pokemon, however that looks!
Just a small update here to share that I sent my first cards in for grading - the PSA turnaround was exactly three weeks. It’s a curious feeling, perhaps from the unknown grade to outcome, but I’ll be glad to hold the slab when it arrives. A handful of my 1st edition fossils have yet to pop, but are currently in grading as well.
And a funny anecdote: I was recently at my friend’s birthday dinner party – she let me yap on and off about Pokemon for a couple hours, before ever mentioning that “I have a Charizard upstairs.” She pulled out her only holo from 1999, a base set unlimited Charizard that she had stored in a crayon box. It was awesome, lol.
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