What Did $2000.00 buy in 2005? An Amazing Vintage Deal

General
1

Found an email negotiation from a 2005 deal I made.
These were very common back then because Pokémon was struggling mightily. It was all doom and gloom which has always been the time I’d buy buy buy. This is how my collection locker got stuffed lol.
You’ll see what the going rate was back then. Apparently I bought a lot of other stuff in an earlier deal with him but don’t recall it.

If you want the story in order you’d have to read from the bottom up.

Let me know if you think it was a good deal or not;)

Hi Gary,

Here is the list of cards. I removed the ones I
already sold you and added on even more cards I found!

Everything with an asterisk is either newly added
cards (like most of the promos and all of the Skyridge
cards) or has one or two more extras added to it.

So, the following cards all to you for $2000, yes?

Let me know and I will mail them out to you tomorrow.

Thanks!

Mike

Base Set
2x Hitmonchan 1st Edition Hologram
2x Venusaur 1st Edition Hologram
4x Zapdos 1st Edition Hologram

Fossil
*3x Aerodactyl
1x Articuno 1st Edition Hologram
1x Dragonite 1st Edition Hologram
2x Moltres Unlimited Hologram

Team Rocket
*16x Full Heal Energy 1st edition

Base Set 2
2x Charizard Hologram
37x Computer Search

Gym Heroes
1x Brock’s Golem 1st Edition
5x Brock’s Rhydon Unlimited Hologram
15x Brock’s Zubat 1st Edition
5x Erika 1st Edition
1x Erika’s Dragonair 1st Edition Hologram
3x Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz Unlimited Hologram
1x Misty 1st Edition Hologram
7x Misty’s Poliwrath 1st Edition
2x Misty’s Seadra Unlimited Hologram
2x Rocket’s Moltres 1st Edition Hologram
4x The Rocket’s Training Gym

Gym Challenge
2x Blaine’s Arcanine 1st Edition Hologram
4x Erika’s Venusaur Unlimited Hologram
5x Koga’s Beedrill 1st Edition Hologram
5x Koga’s Ditto Unlimited Hologram
2x Lt. Surge’s Raichu Unlimited Hologram
1x Misty’s Gyarados 1st Edition Hologram
3x Rocket’s Mewtwo 1st Edition Hologram
9x Sabrina’s Abra (LV 18) 1st Edition
6x Sabrina’s Gengar 1st Edition

Legendary Collection
1x Charizard Hologram
*2x Charizard Reverse Holofoil
*6x Dark Dragonair Reverse Holofoil
*2x Exeggutor Reverse Holofoil
2x Pokemon Trader
2x Psyduck Reverse Holofoil
*2x Rapidash Reverse Holofoil
*1x Sandshrew reverse holofoil
*3x Venusaur Reverse Holofoil
1x Zapdos Reverse Holofoil

Neo Genesis
*1x Azumarill 1st edition hologram
1x Bellossom 1st Edition Hologram
3x Cleffa 1st Edition
*2x Feraligatr 1st edition hologram
4x Focus band 1st Edition
*6x Gold Berry 1st edition
*1x Heracross 1st edition hologram
*1x Jumpluff 1st edition hologram
1x Lugia 1st Edition Hologram
*1x Meganium 1st edition hologram
*1x Metal energy 1st edition hologram
11x Professor Elm 1st Edition
7x Recycle Energy 1st edition
*1x Slowking 1st edition hologram
*1x Skarmory 1st editopn hologram
2x Super Energy Retrieval
1x Typhlosion 1st Edition Hologram

Neo Discovery
1x Hitmontop 1st Edition Hologram
1x Houdoom 1st Edition Hologram
1x Scizor 1st Edition
*1x Smeargle 1st edition hologram
1x Umbreon 1st Edition
1x Ursaring 1st Edition Hologram
*1x Yanma 1st edition hologram
*24x Square Cut Hitmontop hologram
*11x Square cut various holograms

Neo Revelation
*1x Ampharos hologram
6x Entei (Lvl 38) 1st Edition Hologram
4x Ho-oh (lvl 45) Unlimited Hologram
1x Suicune (lvl 33) 1st Edition Hologram

Neo Destiny
1x Dark Crobat 1st Edition Hologram
1x Dark Donphan 1st Edition Hologram
9x Dark Feraligatr 1st Edition Hologram
9x Dark Gengar 1st Edition Hologram
11x Dark Houndoom 1st Edition Hologram
1x Dark Porygon 2 1st Edition Hologram
1x Dark Scizor 1st Edition Hologram
11x Dark Typhlosion 1st Edition Hologram
7x Miracle Energy 1st Edition Hologram
1x Shining Celebi Unlimited Hologram
5x Shining Charizard 1st Edition Hologram
5x Shining Noctowl 1st Edition Hologram
*1x Shining Raichu 1st edition hologram
5x Shining Steelix 1st Edition Hologram
5x Shining Tyranitar 1st Edition Hologram
1x Shining Tyranitar Unlimited Hologram

Expedition
2x Charizard #039
2x Charizard #040
1x Chikorita #100 Full foil
3x Pichu #058
2x Tyranitar #029 Hologram

Aquapolis
*1x Bellossom full foil
*2x Blissey Number H6 Hologram
*1x Chansey full foil
*1x Crystal Lugia hologram
*1x Drowzee 74b full foil
*2x Entei Number H8 Hologram
*1x Entei full foil
*1x Forest Guardian full foil
*2x Furret Number 48 Full Foil
*2x Golduck Number 50b Full Foil
*1x Grimer full foil
*1x Horsea full foil
*2x Houndoom Number H11 Hologram
*1x Jumpluff full foil
*3x Kangaskhan Number 88 Full Foil
*1x Lanturn full foil
*1x Larvitar full foil
*2x Marill Number 53 Full Foil
*2x Memory Berry Number 128 Full Foil
*1x Muk full foil
*1x Nidoking full foil
*2x Nidoran (m) Number 96 Full Foil
*1x Onix full foil
*1x Pokemon Fan Club full foil
*1x Ponyta full foil
*1x Porygon 103a full foil
*2x Porygon Number 103b Full Foil
*2x Scizor Number 32 Full Foil
*3x Scyther Number 106 Full Foil
*2x Seadra Number 58
*1x Slowpoke full foil
*2x Steelix Number 35 Full Foil
*2x Suicune Number 37 Full Foil
*2x Tentacool Number 113 Full Foil
*2x Togepi Number 114 Full Foil
*1x Town Volunteers full foil
*1x Tyranitar hologram
*1x Umbreon hologram
*2x Victreebel Number 42 Full Foil
*2x Voltorb Number 115
*2x Vulpix Number 116 Full Foil
*1x Weakness Guard
*1x Wooper full foil
*1x Zapdos hologram

Skyridge
*2x Crystal Celebi Hologram
*2x Crystal Charizard hologram
*2x Crystal Charizard full foil
*2x Crystal Crobat Hologram
*2x Crystal Ho-oh hologram
*2x Crystal Kabutops hologram
*2x Crystal Celebi full foil
*2x Gastly full foil
*2x Crystal Golem full foil
*2x Jolteon full foil
*2x Kabutops full foil
*2x Meowth full foil
*2x Nidoran female full foil
*2x Snorlax full foil
*2x Stantler full foil
*2x Wigglytuff full foil
*4x Zubat full foil
*2x Cyclone energy full foil
*2x Miracle Sphere Beta full foil
*2x Miracle Sphere Delta full foil
*2x Mystery Plate Delta full foil
*2x Mystery Play beta full foil
*2x Raiku hologram
*2x Retro Energy full foil
*2x Umbreon full foil
*2x Underground Expedition full foil

Promo Cards
*23x German Aerodactyl 1st edition holograms
*26x Butterfree Southern Islands
196x Clefable Prerelease
*21 Exeggutor southern islands
1x Groudon Ex Hologram
1 Groudon Ex non-hologram
*18x Ivysaur southern islands
*17x Jigglypuff Southern Islands
1x Kyogre EX non-hologram
*13x Lapras Southern Islands
*11x Ledyba southern islands full foils
*10x Lickitung southern islands
*8x Marill southern islands full foils
*8x Mew southern islands full foils
*10x Onix southern islands
*10x Pidgeot southern islands
*10x Primeape southern islands
*8x Raticate southern islands
*6x Slowking southern island full foils
*14x Tentacruel southern islands
11x Togepi Southern Islands Hologram
69x Unown J
*5x Vileplume southern islands full foils
*10x Wartortle Southern Islands
*36x Electabuzz Winner! Full foil
*16x Pokemon Center #40
*11x Hitmontop #37
*3x Celebi Pokemon 4ever

— Garyis2000@aol.com wrote:

That’s a deal Mike. You know, you’re pretty good at
this…
I’ll watch for your list and make a decision then.
For sure we’ll do
something (ie: either take it all or just the
clefables and 1st editions.)
I’ll get right back to after you send the list. In
the meantime, have a
GREAT weekend, Gary.

Hi Gary,

Ahhh the fun of negotiating :blush:

The total sales value of all the cards we have been
talking about (Pre-release, 1st edition, and newer
cards) was $4300 (according to Cardhaus’s online buy
list rates).

Obviously with the volume I would be offering them,
I
would expect to discount this.

I would be willing to send you the entire lot of
Pokemon cards for $2000 total (over a 50% discount).

Otherwise, I can start selling them slowly on ebay
and
probably make $3000 or so myself.

I’ll dig up the complete list of what I was offering
at home and send it out to you this weekend so you
can
see if you want it all or not.

Thanks!

Mike

— Garyis2000@aol.com wrote:

Hi Mike. Would you throw in all those other
newer
set pokemon cards you
mentioned before too? If so, I’ll go for the
deal.
Let me know what the cards were again or any
others
and we’ll get this done.
Many thanks again and take care, Gary.

Hi Gary,

Thank you for your offer.

I would consider giving you a %25 discount and
selling
all of the pre-release clefables to you for
$1500.

I’ll look again and see what 1st edition basics I
have
left too and through them in as well if you are
interested.

Mike

12 Likes
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196 Prerelease Clefables??? Why is it they are so hard to find today when cards like Prerelease Aerodactyl and Mistys Seadra still are dirt cheap. I know the clefable is hard to grade, but even ungraded cards are very expensive.

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All I can tell you is there were no 10s out of the 192 lol.

5 Likes
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Wow that’s insane! I feel like just the skyridge section would cost you $2k today. If only we knew what was going to happen. But, I suppose if everyone knew how it was going to go, it wouldn’t have gone the way that it did.

I was only 11 at the time those emails were going on so I had no business buying thousands in cards anyway. But, I definitely don’t want to look back 20 years from now and regret not buying into certain things! Seems like everything follows a trend and I’ve had my eye on early nintendo era product.

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AOL was still in business :grin:, thanks for sharing! Always like reading your stories and past experiences: @garyis2000,

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Just another prime example of how foresight is arguably the most important pillar of a great business.

Awesome stuff, Gary.

7

Thanks for the share Gary. Some people say hindsight is 20/20, but we all know Gary is 20/20.

"What cost $2000 in 2005 would cost $25777.70 in 2019. In other words, $2,000 in 2005 is equivalent in purchasing power to $2,577.70 in 2019, a difference of $577.70 over 14 years.

The 2005 inflation rate was 3.39%. The current inflation rate (2018 to 2019) is now 1.55%. If this number holds, $2,000 today will be equivalent to $2,031.02 next year."

3 Likes
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I feel like you shared this email once before Gary. I just saw this post hence why it is a a week late, but I’ll give the same reaction for the last time you mentioned it… WOW.

So many prerelease Clefables and I thought I hit Jackpot when I bought 3 for 20 bucks… I with I could grab 200 of them…

For curiosity sake, what percent of ALL the clefables were a PSA 9 quality?

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Most were 9s.
I never posted this whole deal. Just a small part with those clefables.

3 Likes
10

That’s incredible and I only got a psa 7 on my best one… Well done Gary.

11

Wish I had a time machine…

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12

If you use a time machine just to buy pokemon cards I pitty you.

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13

Most were 9’s but never graded? I wonder what became of them as there is currently only 9 psa 9’s graded…

14

Buying Pokémon cards would be one of many things I would actually do with a time machine. I was just using it as an expression…

15

haha, mine wasn’t meant to be taken seriously either bud.

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If there was a time machine, how many of us would go back and kill the baby who grew up to be the leader of the design team that gave us full art cards? :rofl:

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17

Expand that to all modern product…

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18

I remember Base set booster boxes going for only 200 LOL

3 Likes
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I do too! That’s how much they cost when I started seriously collecting. I wish I were interested in sealed product back then!