Was wanting to grab some more Japanese Base Set No Rarities for the collection , was hoping to get psa 9’s , and I see with how many graded by psa 9’s are also pretty low in population especially for the holos.
If anyone has some insight with why they don’t grade mints too gem mints as much at psa would love to know! I did read some where that a lot of no rarities have centering issues but could be more too that. Do they have surface flaws too ? Edges or known dents ?
Thank you I’m advance for any info as too why these are hard too grade 9 / 10 at psa
The two reasons that make most sense to me are centering and the fact it was a TCG meant for kids. Upon release, these cards (just like regular rarity cards) were treated the same way we treated pokemon cards in 1999. Just adds to the charm of collecting played cards
If you use Japanese Merukari you can easily find a plethora of no rarity available for cheap, but honestly the conditions are usually bad. These were the first Pokemon cards only released for a couple of months.
For PSA 9 no rarity your best bet would probably be trying to win a probstein auction on ebay at some point or asking someone in Japan to buy one for you on merukari
I believe @mika completed the set recently but as a binder collection. If I am not wrong, a lot of them were high grade cards which were cracked? They should be able to tell their experience on what it takes to finish the set, with recent info ofcourse.
Also as @chriscarp87 stated, you can find these cards on Mercari JP but the condition is a lot to be desired. I think it is for the fact that these are so old and are just stored amaturely, but most importantly played and enjoyed by many on release. The ones in good condition go for large sums of money, specially the holos.
I completed my full set in binder last year, and I have quite a few no rarity cards graded in PSA 9 & 10. No rarity is not rare in itself, but it becomes quite rare when you’re looking for an NM-Mint state, which makes it quite difficult to obtain PSA 10, and it can sometimes be easier to crack a strong PSA 9 to try for 10.
Another important point is that holographic cards are not the rarest to obtain, but for me, rare cards of the series are the hardest to get (Dragonair, Electrode, Electabuzz, ect…) especially in NM-Mint condition, which is very, very hard to get (as can be seen from the price of PSA 9 and 10 even more so).
Super impressive collection! I have about 20 no rarities myself but mostly PSA 8 and 9. Those PSA 10s are way too expensive.
There are a couple of PSA 8 electrodes on merukari right now. But you are right finding a quality Dragonair in particular is gonna be hard. Haven’t checked in a while but I believe there is only 1 PSA 10 Raichu and 7 PSA 10 Dragonair in the world. They are just extremely hard to come by and my guess is you have more experience finding them than I do.
Where have you been finding all of these no rarities if you don’t mind me asking?
I spend a lot of time on Mercari/Yahoo Japan and I’ve also coded my own bot that focuses on listings with NR keywords. It saves me time but even with that it’s still very rare to see listings with an NR card in NM-Mint
Yeah it’s definitely not easy. I used to check merukari a lot as well but honestly it’s too much work for a big risk.
Again I have to recommend Probstein. He auctions about 5 no rarities almost every weekend. I just type in no rarity psa and search by ending soon.
I managed to land a PSA 9 Arcanine for $100 and PSA 8 Poliwhirl for $50 (shipping included) a few months back. Still I don’t believe I have ever seen him auction a high quality electabuzz or Dragonair before
Thank you everyone for helping me understand this! I’m hoping too find a mewtwo and Gyarados psa 9 NR into the collection but FC doesn’t have any or eBay I recently acquired a pretty big NR psa 9 but will show you all soon
the 10s are very hard to get and packs that potentially have no rarity cards are absurdly expensive. 9s are probably gonna be the best value, besides the holos most are in the $100-200 range and some of the commons are even sub $100
There’s a Mewtwo No Rarity 9 on merukari right now but it’s super expensive. People are trying to bargain him down to $4,000 but he’s not having it. Personally I think $4000 is way too much for this card
Yes the seller is definitely located in Japan. I’ve actually tried to bargain with this person before and he is a tough seller. PSA penguin and 旧裏大好きクラブ are two sellers who I like better.
For prices I think it really depends. If you are looking for vintage 8s and even 9s it’s really not that expensive except for the usual suspects (Charizard, Mewtwo, Magneton, Venusaur, etc). The 10s are really pricy though.
By the way I saw a Electabuzz 8, Arcanine 8, and Dragonair 7 listed yesterday pretty reasonably. Seller is called 502
Thank you very much will check them out , yeah psa 9 no rarities for Blastoise , Venusaur and mewtwo seem to be the highest In price after Charizard of course from what I have seen.
I must say the holo pattern on the original Japanese base set with or with out rarity is stunning
I recently acquired a pretty big NR psa 9 but will show you all soon 