Hello Everyone,
What do you think are the most undervalued vintage sets/cards (Base-Ex Series) that will soon see a spike in price?
I have recently bought some Team Rocket Holos for fairly cheap, and have picked up some Neo Rares for a dollar a piece. I believe these will rise in value soon. Any other sets you guys think are surprisingly cheap?
Thanks
Some sets are just less popular than others. It’s really hard to confidently say anything is that much undervalued right now. It’s true sets like Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket, Gym Heroes/Challenge are quite low but that’s what the market as a whole has decided.
In terms of cards though, any Charizard in PSA 10 you can find under $500 is probably a good investment. You can also try your luck on the cheaper cards you’re talking about, though it remains to be seen if they will rise in value as much as you think.
This is similar to other hobbies. You have 80 years old sports cards worth less than $5 and others earning 5-6 figures. Sometimes you’re better off putting your money where everyone else is.
PSA 10 unlimited Venusaur for < $250? Steal…
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I also think it doesn’t make sense. Blastoise as well… but maybe that’s what it’s really worth.
It’s going to be silly when packs are $100 and boxes $4000 or so and people are still able to get PSA 10 holos for $100-200. The thing is I wouldn’t even be surprised at all if that happens.
WotC sets pre-Neo Revelations are really common. I wouldn’t be buying anything outside a handful of cards like PSA 10 1st Dark/Blaine’s Charizard.
Don’t go into this era looking for cards people are sleeping on, it’s all in e-series and gen 3 product. I would rather buy BW secrets/full arts before touching most cards in Base Unlimited-Neo Revelations.
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My opinion has been gen 3 for a while. Gen 3 had some of the lowest/smallest print runs in Pokemon history as another efour member posted on the article/guides forum. Quantity is low, art quality is high, the era of kids who grew up with 3rd gen is finally becoming adults with disposable income. A factor I am not sure will have an impact or not, but I’ll mention anyways is that the 2006 Pokemon format was/is considered the best Pokemon TCG format in Pokemon’s history and as the competitive side of the game grows, some interest in retro/vintage formats also is a tangential result.
3rd Gen Booster Boxes are still pretty cheap as well, with all of them falling between 1k and 3k essentially (with the exception of EX Deoxys recently going for $6k) and most of the Raws/PSAs are also really cheap atm
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I would also keep an eye on non english sets. The german 1st Edition Base Set box for example had a price hike of 300-400% in a year, or 200-300% in the last 2-3 months.
I hate the term undervalued.
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Yeah the EX series sets with gold stars will be your safest bet considering the relative low value of boxes. Really, Diamond & Pearl and BW era will be something to look into for 5-year windows as many of those are below 500. Could be 1000 or more in a few years. After that, I am not sure since print run will be a big factor. If you look at MTG Fallen Empires set, a 1994 vintage set that can still be had for around 200 a box, that’s a cautionary tale! The print run for that set was way bigger than any before. That’s gonna be the XY and SM era probably. Skip this era…I think the full art will be worthwhile. These are very popular and one of the best things around. Their rates are low so helps to offset the large print runs.
PSA 9 and 10 for some wotc first ed cards are very cheap. I noticed that team rocket first ed psa 10 holos went stupid cheap in the last pwcc auction. It’s interesting that weighed first ed packs can sell for more than psa 10 holos
OP, buying some psa 9 or 10s or cheap rares isn’t a bad idea. But buying them to flip in a few months or even longer just isn’t worth it, market availability will limit the price rise for not extremely desirable cards
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Yes “our” set is low and affordable for now. I love the set and even Scott said its an affordable set for the era. Eventually it will go up but it is sad those weighed packs u mentioned go more then the holos, thats just nuts. I have a ton of dark charizard holo 1st editions. Even the 10 is going for under $1000.
I have a first ed dark zard 10, and it’s valued in my excel sheet at $450 
The Charizard will increase more in time though, in my opinion. BIN/MAO listings for it have already gone away from the $500 mark
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I think 1st Ed Wotc cards from Jungle and Fossil are slept on. Especially PSA 1st Ed. 9’s or 10s. They are relatively inexpensive in comparison to some other sets.
PSA 10 1st Ed. Dragonite for example has a pop of less than 160. Same with Hitmonlee, Kabutops, etc. I feel like the value of these cards have to go up in time. Especially being from the OG 150.
I’d disagree. These cards aren’t rare and relative to any other hobby the populations are huge.
20 years after release you can easily find raw copies of these cards and the 9 and 10 populations have seen huge growth in the last 12-24 months.
They’re really not undervalued.
I would agree that the population is huge for jungle and fossil. I was more referring to the holo’s, and yes 9s are growing, but I still believe that a holo first ed 10 is a hard grade to achieve for those 2 sets in particular.
@budget is hitting on a perspective I think most overlook. In general, Pokemon Set cards are scarce, not rare. I actually need to do a video about why the high end market continues to rise, which will touch on the topic(s) in this thread.
In short, “value” is primarily based on availability. Availability is generally greater for cards with larger releases. This is why Chairzard 1st psa 10 continues to climb, while some set cards with 2-3 times the availability from a year ago have settled. This is also why I always say, “where is the cheaper option”? With most set cards you have options. With genuinely rare cards, you don’t, hence the difference in value.
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smpratte dropping some valuable knowledge as usual. I’m always learning something new. A video on this topic would be much appreciated, and maybe a plug from Gary on this thread 
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Haha Gary loves plugging! One day he will be on his last breath, and say, “tell my family…they should check out smprattes channel”. 
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Lol I read that in Yoda’s voice from the Degobah system and just legitimately LOLed
Base set 1st edition.
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