This is true. By my estimations, Unlimited Base Set booster boxes’ expected value is 35% lower than 1st Edition Jungle’s expected value, yet it sold 86% more boxes these past 5 months. Unlimited Base Set’s expected value is 33% lower than 1st Edition Team Rocket’s expected value, yet it sold 35% more boxes these past 5 months. Despite having a much lower expected value and being much more common, Unlimited Base Set sells significantly higher than these 2 sets. However, it does have the advantage of having more valuable holo rares than these expansions. One can speculate that holo rares will better hold value and better appreciate than non-holo rares and bulk. You can see the full analysis at :
www.elitefourum.com/t/cost-of-some-wotc-boxes-appears-under-expected-value/32219/1
I carefully analyzed several forum threads, polls and comment section of YouTube videos to establish popularity of the sets and Base Set does come as a clear winner, followed by Team Rocket. However, I personally cannot justify such a high valuation in comparison to Jungle, Fossil and Team Rocket.
Regarding eBay item 284219943724 that is also discussed now, other than the excess seal on the corners, I would like to draw your attention to the bottom of the box. There are WOTC logos on the bottom of the box. I have looked at hundreds of boxes these past 2 months and this struck me. I verified 12 of the Unlimited Base Set boxes currently auctioned on eBay and confirmed that none had WOTC logos at the bottom. I don’t recall ever seeing that, but I may be wrong and that may not be a sure sign. Also notice that the logos are very crisp, whereas authentic logos will sometime show some fading due to friction with other items. Given how worn out the box is, you certainly should expect fading on the logos. The logos do appear to have the correct translucence. This does look like a counterfeit and honestly a surprisingly good one. It’s alarming.