I’m looking to pick up a couple of packs which are going to be in a foreign language, and possibly I’m looking to grade some of the cards. Right now I’m most interested in obtaining more knowledge about the non-holos as the holos are a whole different beast.
I’ve had a hard time finding the rough odds of getting a Gem Mint card out of those packs, can anyone help me shed some light on it? Not surprisingly I’m aiming for Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charmeleon, Wartortle and Ivysaur.
I have opened just about every language base set 1st edition in the past couple years and honestly I had better luck with the foreign sets than English. (English I opened only a few loose packs so that could explain some of it from handling/age wear that a sealed box pack wouldn’t see). Very small sample size, but I would say most of it was in the more consistent centering of foreign stuff from what I saw.
I have had a pretty high 10 rate in my foreign sets for the c/u starters and I had a pretty poor 10 rate for all the English stuff. I did still have some pack fresh foreign stuff that had no shot at a 10’s but it worked well for my binder sets.