The classic Pokémon TCG market (1999-2003) is really wild right now. Need help with yours? [Finally cooling down... for now]

[ZeroCDR]

Been working on this for a while! In an effort to catalog this beautiful mess of a binder, I pulled out every single card stack and got pictures.

All 251 Unpacked

I hope you folks enjoy checking these out, lots of Japanese cards too for those interested. My goal was to identify individual variants on hand. I may not be keenly aware of every card that's truly valuable, so if anything unusual stands out I'd appreciate any feedback!

I've greatly enjoyed this topic so far and all the cards that have been shared, brings back so many good memories. Gonna dive into my trainer card binder another time.

 

[RawNuts]

I sold my collection to a friend recently for $1,150. All cards are in great condition with the exception of the Chansey holos and the Venusaur is average. Next to nothing is 1st edition or shadowless. I didn't itemize common and uncommon pokemon, and charged very little for them, the energies, and trainer cards. I wanted the asking price to be a good bargain since I was selling to a friend.

1092 total

ENERGIES x227
5x Double Colorless
8x Potion
6x Full Heal
4x Fire
20x Fighting
41x Water
51x Grass
47x Electric
43x Physic
2x Rainbow

TRAINERS x184
8x Pokedex
1x Energy Flow
6x Gust of Wind
8x Switch
2x Imposter Oak's Revenge
7x Energy Removal
5x Challenge!
5x Defender
16x PlusPower
9x Bill
3x Pokeball
9x Potion
3x Super Potion
8x Scoop Up
5x Professor Oak
1x Gold Berry
1x Misty's Duel
3x Nightly Garbage Run
1x Nightly Garbage Run (1st Edition)
1x Berry
10x Sleep!
1x Super Scoop Up
4x The Boss's Way
1x Mr. Fuji
7x Goop Gas Attack
3x Mysterious Fossil
1x Recycle
3x Energy Retrieval
4x Revive
1x Good Manners
2x Pokemon Flute
1x Double Gust
1x Misty's Tears
1x Rocket's Minfield Gym
1x Narrow Gym
3x Digger
1x Sabrina's ESP
4x Maintenance
2x Minion of Team Rocket
2x Sprout Tower
3x Item Finder
1x Devolution Spray
5x Imposter Professor Oak
1x Lt Surge's Secret Plan
1x Here Comes Team Rocket (1st Edition)
1x Computer Error (Black star promo)
1x Brock (holo)
1x Lass
6x Rocket's Sneak Attack
2x Pokemon Trader
3x Computer Search
4x Super Energy Removal

POKEMON
563x Common & Uncommon

Rares:
1x Ancient Mew
1x Pichu (Black star promo 35)
1x Electabuzz (BSP 2)
2x Surfing Pikachu (BSP 28)
1x Pikachu (BSP 26)
1X Pikachu (BSP 4)
3x Hitmontop (BSP 37)
2x Dark Gyarados (Prerelease 8/82)
1x Dark Gyarados (8/82)
2x Misty's Seadra (Gym Heroes Prerelease 9/132)
2x Chansey (3/102, both scratched)
1x Chansey (3/130)
2x Hitmonlee (22/62)
2x Mew (BSP 9 holo)
1x Mew (BSP 8 non-holo)
1x Mewtwo (10/102 shadowless)
1x Mewtwo (10/102)
2x Dugtrio (19/102)
1x Dugtrio (23/130)
1x Machamp (1st edition 8/102)
1x Dark Charizard (21/82 non-holo)
1x Venusaur (15/102)
1x Gyarados (6/102)
3x Lapras (10/62)
1x Articuno (17/62)
4x Zapdos (16/102)
1x Scyther (17/130)
6x Electabuzz (20/102)
1x Electabuzz (24/130)
3x Raichu (14/102)
2x Hitmonchan (7/102)
1x Togetic (16/111)
1x Kabutops (9/62)
1x Meowth (56/64 gold border promo)
1x Meowth (BSP 10)
1x Magneton (9/102)
1x Dark Slowbro (12/82)
1x Dark Hypno (9/82 holo)
2x Dark Hypno (26/82 non-holo)
1x Blastoise (2/102)
1x Eevee (BSP 11)
1x Dark Raichu (83/82)
1x Electrode (2/64)
1x Dark Alakazam (1/82)
1x Dark Alakazam (18/82 1st edition non-holo)
1x Dark Arbok (2/82 year misprint)
1x Lt Surge's Magneton (8/132)
2x Magneton (26/62)
1x Dark Weezing (31/82)
6x Beedrill (17/102)
2x Beedrill (21/130)
2x Dragonite (19/62)
1x Dragonair (18/102)
3x Dragonair (22/130)
3x Dark Dragonite (22/82)
1x Dark Magneton (28/82)
2x Pidgeotto (22/102)
1x Pidgeotto (28/130)
1x Dark Machamp (27/82)
1x Brock's Zubat (24/132)
1x Aerodactyl (16/62)
1x Dark Golbat (24/82)
2x Dark Vileplume (30/82)
1x Misty's Cloyster (29/132)
1x Sabrina's Gengar (29/132)
4x Electrode (21/102)
1x Gyarados (6/102)
1x Kangaskhan (5/64)
1x Haunter (21/62)
1x Scizor (BSP 33)
2x Dark Dugtrio (23/82)
1x Sabrina's Venomoth (34/132)
1x Muk (13/62)
3x Muk (28/62)
1x Ditto (18/62)
1x Jumbo 6x8 Pikachu card

Was my asking price of $1,150 fair?

 

[perfectchaos007]

Logan Paul sucks but his recent obsession with base set pokemon cards is probably going to increase interest in the hobby due to adding a new audience. I'll admit, I watched portions of his shadowless booster box opening it was pretty hype.

 

[Smile]

I've gotten priced off of this hobby. It's impossible to find anything affordable <2004 and the recent sets featuring Charizard are so fucking inflated. It's so stupid

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Not a lot, but they're rebooting the card game this year so there's that.

Click to shrink...

Bummer :(

 

[Serebii]

Logan Paul sucks but his recent obsession with base set pokemon cards is probably going to increase interest in the hobby due to adding a new audience. I'll admit, I watched portions of his shadowless booster box opening it was pretty hype.

Click to shrink...

My only concern is people are now just looking it about money and investment. It's not Logan Paul's doing as this has been building so much for a while, but this will tip it over.

The TCG is a fun game and people should really get into it :)

 

[Deleted member 49611]

i sold a charizard last year that i got straight from a booster pack in 2011. i put it straight into a protective sleeve. paid ~£6 for the booster pack and got £165 for the charizard itself. probably about £140 after fees.

i still have a complete (mint) original base set in a pokemon album. wouldn't sell it but would be interested to see how much it's worth. here are a select few photos:

EDIT: wow ok i just checked Ebay and there is a set with same folder going for £360 right now and it's in MUCH worse condition than mine lol. another set is going for £770 (different folder).

i knew it'd be worth something but wasn't expecting it to be that high lol. still not gonna sell it.

 

[ZeroCDR]

My only concern is people are now just looking it about money and investment. It's not Logan Paul's doing as this has been building so much for a while, but this will tip it over.

The TCG is a fun game and people should really get into it :)

Click to shrink...

I didn't just collect, I also loved actually playing the game. It really is excellent, I don't have much experience with the present day cards but it seems to keep the spirit intact.. numbers just seem much bigger. I replay the GBC game occasionally too.

Would love a sequel game on Switch, but I guess that's never happening. I'd play the mobile game if I had an iPad, but no way could I start buying boosters and stuff again.

 

[Radishhead]

I've got a sealed 2 player starter set from ~1999 — they weren't bought as a collectors item, I just never opened it! I'm not sure if it's worth much but it does have that Machamp in it.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

i knew it'd be worth something but wasn't expecting it to be that high lol. still not gonna sell it.

Click to shrink...

Its very valuable now yes. Your charizard is likely 350USD alone.

 

[SlyShinobi]

I have this. I'm not sure what makes it rare or not. It's never been played because I thought it was pretty garbage lol. I saw some high prices for it and got excited, but I don't know if mine is the "correct" rarity.

Any idea?

 

[SpaceKangaroo]

Some hard hitting nostalgia looking at all these pictures! Had to clear out my parent's house a year ago and found a treasure trove of Pokemon crap!

Here's a weird binder of cards of which I'm not entirely sure why I put together:

Click to shrink...

I think Shining Gyrados used to be worth a bit a while ago!

Then we have this binder in an extremely sorry state for itself :D

I have a thousand or so cards unorganised in those starter set boxes (the large box that had Zapdos if my memory serves me right).

BONUS NOSTALGIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

[Radishhead]

Crap, I just found out a Crystal Lugia I lost as a kid is worth like $1000, whoops.

 

[sam777]

i sold a charizard last year that i got straight from a booster pack in 2011. i put it straight into a protective sleeve. paid ~£6 for the booster pack and got £165 for the charizard itself. probably about £140 after fees.

i still have a complete (mint) original base set in a pokemon album. wouldn't sell it but would be interested to see how much it's worth. here are a select few photos:

EDIT: wow ok i just checked Ebay and there is a set with same folder going for £360 right now and it's in MUCH worse condition than mine lol. another set is going for £770 (different folder).

i knew it'd be worth something but wasn't expecting it to be that high lol. still not gonna sell it.

Click to shrink...

If you got all the Holo's PSA rated and some come back with 9 and 10's, the set value willl increase quite a bit

 

[Menome]

Crap, I just found out a Crystal Lugia I lost as a kid is worth like $1000, whoops.

Click to shrink...

I just saw this thread and found out I probably threw out enough to pay for a small house when I moved for university. 😭

 

[Magic]

Very cool thread, a lot of nostalgia in here. I was an avid collector back in the day, aided by the fact that my auntie worked in a shop that sold everything I could ever want!

Here's a few bits that's a bit more out of the ordinary, obviously I have a standard base set in a binder too but interested to see peoples thoughts on these/what they're worth.

[

 

[Radishhead]

Wow, I'd love to own the signed Pikachus Vacation poster.

 

[Magic]

Wow, I'd love to own the signed Pikachus Vacation poster.

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It's actually a comic!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Man, I don't think I have any Pokemon cards left (wish I did, lol) but reading through this topic is a blast. I just want to say, OP you've created a space for some really good vibes. You know what, maybe my old card folder is still in my parents attic after all 🤔

Click to shrink...

Thanks very much for the kind words about the topic. I don't want to overshare, but I've been having a really rough time lately and made this thread as sort of a last ditch attempt to feel good about something. I am very relieved and comforted that it's brought so many people together to talk about something I really love. It's brought me a lot of joy.

I just saw this thread and found out I probably threw out enough to pay for a small house when I moved for university. 😭

Click to shrink...

Fun Fact (or maybe not so fun): A big motivator for slimming down my collection in the mid-2010s was because if I sold off all my excess I could pay for my last year of college — which I did. :O


I'm just getting started for the day and will come back and reply to other folks who left posts overnight. So happy to see so many new posts!

 

[Dangerblade]

Let me do some research on these and ask one of my retailer friends. Between the two of us we might be able to figure it out. English documentation of Japanese stuff is so poor, so no promises. :(

Click to shrink...

Thank you very much, but tadaima has us covered :)

Cool. In that case, I'll finish up the database and put it out here for Resetera members first :) Thanks.

BTW, I checked my database and your Dugtrio card booklet is "すぐわかるポケモンカードの遊びかた 最新版ver.2" – "Easily Understand How to Play Pokémon Cards Latest Edition (version 2)" – which was released in 1998 on November 13.

The card inside of that is Level 40 Dugtrio, which was rereleased in 2001 in Pokémon Card Web. The card itself is pretty hard to come by compared to other promo cards. It is more valuable when left sealed inside of the booklet.

The Rayquaza book is called "ポケモンカードスクープ" – "Pokémon Card Scoop" – and includes (obviously) a CD and trading card. The card contained is this Deoxys. This promo card seems to be more common (or less sought after). As with Dugtrio, sealed inside the booklet it is worth slightly more as a set.

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That's about as comprehensive a response as I could have hoped for, thanks a bunch! Being able to further research on eBay with this info, looks like I'm best off keeping them sealed, for now at least.

I am very envious of you owning all three of these cards! Good job, their value has indeed increased substantially since you bought them originally. Definitely get these graded if you can.

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Thanks :) I had good foresight it seems. I'm not sure how much I spent on my collection, but probably not even £1,000+. Seeing as I have several cards that when graded would fetch several thousand on their own, I would say it was a decent investment. Super glad I focused on Pikachu and Mew cards especially, as they seem to fetch good prices these days.

Thanks very much for the kind words about the topic. I don't want to overshare, but I've been having a really rough time lately and made this thread as sort of a last ditch attempt to feel good about something. I am very relieved and comforted that it's brought so many people together to talk about something I really love. It's brought me a lot of joy.

Click to shrink...

I (and I'm sure everyone else!) can sense the passion that comes through with every post you make. You're super friendly and helpful and I'm glad it's helped you through a tough time :)

 

[Kass15]

My only concern is people are now just looking it about money and investment. It's not Logan Paul's doing as this has been building so much for a while, but this will tip it over.

The TCG is a fun game and people should really get into it :)

Click to shrink...

Played TCG when I was a kid and absolutely loved it. Wanted to get back into it last year but feel like I'm too old. Additionally, I bought one of those trainer boxes and all the packs were resealed. Definitely pushed me away.

 

[Croc Man]

Don't look I'll be retiring on these but they seem the sort of cards that may increase in value? To my eyes they're in perfect condition.

I'd like to apologise for my poor organisation of the bottom row, should have put them in evoloution order.

 

[Punished Dan]

I've got quite the mish mash of WOTC era Pokemon cards including a couple of sealed products, a lot of stuff opened but still in original wrappings and a few cards I pulled out of packs and got graded, PSA 10's.

I will get some photos of my stuff and share.

But I remember around 2013 buying some 1st Edition Team Rocket, Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge booster packs on eBay for around £20-25 a pack. Just checked now, £155 a go and bidding has not finished. It's crazy how much the prices of shot up.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Going to start going through posts now. Glad to have a bunch of replies. Some shorter ones first and I'll break out the bigger posts next.

I never understood why charizard was worth so much, the card sucked ass

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We joked about this earlier actually, but what it comes down to is that Pokémon had/has a very different collector's culture compared to something like Magic the Gathering. A lot of kids didn't know how to play the game at all, something I'm sure that influenced the creation of the Game Boy Color game. What cards did or how good they were in actual play format was almost meaningless to the popularity of a card itself. This is why cards like Hitmonchan, Scyther, and Electabuzz, three cards so good they were omitted from Legendary Collection, weren't really desired by collectors the same way Charizard was.

I have all first gen and second gen Japanese cards, the gym cards, team rocket cards and dark cards and quite alot of the promos, such amazing cards as the Japanese cards are better quality overall then other regions.

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That's an awesome span of cards. I'd love to see them if you ever felt like taking pictures, especially the promos.

So I decided to take a look and realized I have hundreds of cards if not over 1000. All throughout the years up until Sun and Moon. I decided to see if any are first edition stamped and only found Machamp. I've got no complete sets. Just random ones that have the leaf thing on, the number 2, and the team rocket R.

I've no idea where to even go from here. There's too many and so many variations. But it was fun to look at them, so appreciate that OP.

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From here, you could start separating out your rares and promos. That is, if you wanted to sell. But sometimes it's just great to look at them. If you need any more help just post! Having so many cards can be daunting but once you cut it down to just the rares it's much more manageable.

I've gotten priced off of this hobby. It's impossible to find anything affordable <2004 and the recent sets featuring Charizard are so fucking inflated. It's so stupid

Click to shrink...

This is what I was afraid of. Admittedly, it's also kind of where I am. I need 25 cards to finish my 1st Edition Gen II Neo sets and they are not cheap. There is a chance I will never be able to finish. It will be a few more years at the very least because the rate I can spend so much money on a card is very low. At least unlimited cards are easier to collect for people who might go that route.

Crap, I just found out a Crystal Lugia I lost as a kid is worth like $1000, whoops.

Click to shrink...

Almost everyone has cards they saw, lost, damaged, or passed up when they were kids that are worth a ton of money today. I used to have a really hard time with this. When I was a kid and everyone was bragging about their 1st Editions, I managed to pull one from a Jungle booster. It was a holographic Vileplume. I loved it because finally I had one of these rare special cards. But I traded it for a regular Base Set Chansey because Chansey was rarer than Vileplume. I had severe trader's remorse. I'd love to have that card again in PSA 10 just for personal posterity. But that's like a $1,500 card in that grade now, so that's not happening!

Thank you very much, but tadaima has us covered :)

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That's terrific, so glad they were able to help!

I've got quite the mish mash of WOTC era Pokemon cards including a couple of sealed products, a lot of stuff opened but still in original wrappings and a few cards I pulled out of packs and got graded, PSA 10's.

I will get some photos of my stuff and share.

But I remember around 2013 buying some 1st Edition Team Rocket, Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge booster packs on eBay for around £20-25 a pack. Just checked now, £155 a go and bidding has not finished. It's crazy how much the prices of shot up.

Click to shrink...

I remember your collection from another thread from a long time ago. You should definitely post pics again.

 

[QisTopTier]

We joked about this earlier actually, but what it comes down to is that Pokémon had/has a very different collector's culture compared to something like Magic the Gathering. A lot of kids didn't know how to play the game at all, something I'm sure that influenced the creation of the Game Boy Color game. What cards did or how good they were in actual play format was almost meaningless to the popularity of a card itself. This is why cards like Hitmonchan, Scyther, and Electabuzz, three cards so good they were omitted from Legendary Collection, weren't really desired by collectors the same way Charizard was.

Click to shrink...

Wrecking the other kids back in the day with a haymaker or raindance deck was so fun, I lovedthe little pokemon league toys R us used to run getting the badges was a fun motivator to go out early on saturdays

 

[Finale Fireworker]

i sold a charizard last year that i got straight from a booster pack in 2011. i put it straight into a protective sleeve. paid ~£6 for the booster pack and got £165 for the charizard itself. probably about £140 after fees.

i still have a complete (mint) original base set in a pokemon album. wouldn't sell it but would be interested to see how much it's worth. here are a select few photos:

EDIT: wow ok i just checked Ebay and there is a set with same folder going for £360 right now and it's in MUCH worse condition than mine lol. another set is going for £770 (different folder).

i knew it'd be worth something but wasn't expecting it to be that high lol. still not gonna sell it.

Click to shrink...

• Those look like they're in phenomenal condition from the picture. I don't want to over-assume but sometimes you can just tell by the color. Base Set cards are going to only go up and up and up in value and holding on to this for a bit will be beneficial to you. If these are really cards you took straight from packs and put straight in to storage, you could advertise them as "pack fresh" and you could charge a premium for them. This is very easily a $1,000 card set right now so you should be proud!

• Where the real money could come from is if you send the holos in for grading. Let's say you weren't that lucky and got PSA 9 back on everything. Even PSA 9s for the unlimited cards are worth thousands upon thousands of dollars. A lot of them sell for Best Offers to it's hard to say exactly what they're worth, but you're looking at $5,000+ for Charizard alone in that case. Base Set cards in this condition are very rare and easy to sell because there are not a lot on the market. Selling them as a set of 16 would be a dream for the kind of collector that just wants to get in on the set.

• As for the binder, I love that binder. Great showcase of the early Sugimori watercolor art. This is a memorable book and I'm finding that TCG-adjacent items are also starting to go up in popularity. This is a great set to have in this condition and the book is just a sweetener. If you do ever decide to sell, it will be very easy to sell it and you'll get a lot of money for it. I used to think of these little binders as "TCG-Adjacent" because they weren't cards but were obviously related to cards. I have a handful of deck boxes that I'm glad I have because the value of these seems to be increasing considerably.

 

[kirby_fox]

From here, you could start separating out your rares and promos. That is, if you wanted to sell. But sometimes it's just great to look at them. If you need any more help just post! Having so many cards can be daunting but once you cut it down to just the rares it's much more manageable.

Click to shrink...

I think my problem is that I don't think I have much actually rare. Nothing first edition stamped. The holo cards are the rare ones, right? Might take some pics later if that's the case.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I sold my collection to a friend recently for $1,150. All cards are in great condition with the exception of the Chansey holos and the Venusaur is average. Next to nothing is 1st edition or shadowless. I didn't itemize common and uncommon pokemon, and charged very little for them, the energies, and trainer cards. I wanted the asking price to be a good bargain since I was selling to a friend.

1092 total

ENERGIES x227
5x Double Colorless
8x Potion
6x Full Heal
4x Fire
20x Fighting
41x Water
51x Grass
47x Electric
43x Physic
2x Rainbow

TRAINERS x184
8x Pokedex
1x Energy Flow
6x Gust of Wind
8x Switch
2x Imposter Oak's Revenge
7x Energy Removal
5x Challenge!
5x Defender
16x PlusPower
9x Bill
3x Pokeball
9x Potion
3x Super Potion
8x Scoop Up
5x Professor Oak
1x Gold Berry
1x Misty's Duel
3x Nightly Garbage Run
1x Nightly Garbage Run (1st Edition)
1x Berry
10x Sleep!
1x Super Scoop Up
4x The Boss's Way
1x Mr. Fuji
7x Goop Gas Attack
3x Mysterious Fossil
1x Recycle
3x Energy Retrieval
4x Revive
1x Good Manners
2x Pokemon Flute
1x Double Gust
1x Misty's Tears
1x Rocket's Minfield Gym
1x Narrow Gym
3x Digger
1x Sabrina's ESP
4x Maintenance
2x Minion of Team Rocket
2x Sprout Tower
3x Item Finder
1x Devolution Spray
5x Imposter Professor Oak
1x Lt Surge's Secret Plan
1x Here Comes Team Rocket (1st Edition)
1x Computer Error (Black star promo)
1x Brock (holo)
1x Lass
6x Rocket's Sneak Attack
2x Pokemon Trader
3x Computer Search
4x Super Energy Removal

POKEMON
563x Common & Uncommon

Rares:
1x Ancient Mew
1x Pichu (Black star promo 35)
1x Electabuzz (BSP 2)
2x Surfing Pikachu (BSP 28)
1x Pikachu (BSP 26)
1X Pikachu (BSP 4)
3x Hitmontop (BSP 37)
2x Dark Gyarados (Prerelease 8/82)
1x Dark Gyarados (8/82)
2x Misty's Seadra (Gym Heroes Prerelease 9/132)
2x Chansey (3/102, both scratched)
1x Chansey (3/130)
2x Hitmonlee (22/62)
2x Mew (BSP 9 holo)
1x Mew (BSP 8 non-holo)
1x Mewtwo (10/102 shadowless)
1x Mewtwo (10/102)
2x Dugtrio (19/102)
1x Dugtrio (23/130)
1x Machamp (1st edition 8/102)
1x Dark Charizard (21/82 non-holo)
1x Venusaur (15/102)
1x Gyarados (6/102)
3x Lapras (10/62)
1x Articuno (17/62)
4x Zapdos (16/102)
1x Scyther (17/130)
6x Electabuzz (20/102)
1x Electabuzz (24/130)
3x Raichu (14/102)
2x Hitmonchan (7/102)
1x Togetic (16/111)
1x Kabutops (9/62)
1x Meowth (56/64 gold border promo)
1x Meowth (BSP 10)
1x Magneton (9/102)
1x Dark Slowbro (12/82)
1x Dark Hypno (9/82 holo)
2x Dark Hypno (26/82 non-holo)
1x Blastoise (2/102)
1x Eevee (BSP 11)
1x Dark Raichu (83/82)
1x Electrode (2/64)
1x Dark Alakazam (1/82)
1x Dark Alakazam (18/82 1st edition non-holo)
1x Dark Arbok (2/82 year misprint)
1x Lt Surge's Magneton (8/132)
2x Magneton (26/62)
1x Dark Weezing (31/82)
6x Beedrill (17/102)
2x Beedrill (21/130)
2x Dragonite (19/62)
1x Dragonair (18/102)
3x Dragonair (22/130)
3x Dark Dragonite (22/82)
1x Dark Magneton (28/82)
2x Pidgeotto (22/102)
1x Pidgeotto (28/130)
1x Dark Machamp (27/82)
1x Brock's Zubat (24/132)
1x Aerodactyl (16/62)
1x Dark Golbat (24/82)
2x Dark Vileplume (30/82)
1x Misty's Cloyster (29/132)
1x Sabrina's Gengar (29/132)
4x Electrode (21/102)
1x Gyarados (6/102)
1x Kangaskhan (5/64)
1x Haunter (21/62)
1x Scizor (BSP 33)
2x Dark Dugtrio (23/82)
1x Sabrina's Venomoth (34/132)
1x Muk (13/62)
3x Muk (28/62)
1x Ditto (18/62)
1x Jumbo 6x8 Pikachu card

Was my asking price of $1,150 fair?

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So I can't give you an exact value on this lot because it would take a very long time, but I did go through and value the rares for you. This is where the real value of the lot comes from, although the volume of uncommon and common cards you have here is significant. But if we base the value on the rare cards you had, I came out to $1,190. This is a quick and dirty estimate, rounding to the closest even number, based on recent sales from September-October. It's hard to say what the others would net. You'd definitely have to sell them as a mixed lot because nobody wants to waste their life making 500 eBay auctions for a bunch of $2-$3 cards. I think selling them the way you did made the most sense for you.

Could you have gotten more? Definitely. But considering you got to offload them all at once and it was a sale to a friend I think this was a good outcome. You can feel good about this.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I think my problem is that I don't think I have much actually rare. Nothing first edition stamped. The holo cards are the rare ones, right? Might take some pics later if that's the case.

Click to shrink...

So when I say "rare" I mean cards denoted as rare in the bottom right. Pokémon cards have a three scale rarity system: a circle for common, a diamond for uncommon, and a star for rare. I just stole this from Google:

The reason we say to "separate your rares" is because these are the cards that actually net sales to be worth selling as an individual card. And as you can see from the summary I posted above for RawNuts, is where the bulk of your collection's value is going to come from. You might not have any extremely valuable rare cards, but if you have 40 of them and sell them for $10 each you just made enough for a nextgen console. Not bad, right?

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Wow I don't think I've thought my childhood pokemon card collection for probably 15 years; I think it's still at my folks home in the binders/sleeves. I don't remember having anything particularly interesting or rare off the top of my head but this thread is incredibly fascinating as I just love deep dives into subcultures no matter the topic. I'll definitely go pick it up and check it out as a fun COVID-lockdown activity, who knows, maybe childhood me has enough raw volume to reimburse adult me a decent amount haha. Thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I have this. I'm not sure what makes it rare or not. It's never been played because I thought it was pretty garbage lol. I saw some high prices for it and got excited, but I don't know if mine is the "correct" rarity.

Any idea?

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Hmmm.... This is a more "modern" card from the mid 00s, but I can help you figure it out. This is from "EX Dragon Frontiers." This is similar to "secret rares" seen in other TCG sets, specifically "Shining" Holos from Neo Destiny, which were probably its closest analog at the time. This is a special holo referred to as a "gold star". If I'm not mistaken, the only holofoil on the card is the art border, is that right?

This is definitely a valuable card. It's sort of a golden rule that all Charizards are valuable. It looks like lower end (but still good) condition sells for $400-$500. If you post clearer pictures of the front and back I can let you know if you should consider grading. Even a PSA 8 would net you almost $3,000.

These sets aren't my strongest territory so if someone else can speak even further I encourage them to.

 

[Feign]

I have a gen 1 branded coin box full of cards that I should go through. They haven't been touched or seen light in a long time so I wonder how their condition is. I remember having some Burger King branded cards, too, which were cute but probably not worth anything. I'll try and take a look and post what I find. Thanks for mentioning the rarity denoters. I had no idea that was a thing.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Been working on this for a while! In an effort to catalog this beautiful mess of a binder, I pulled out every single card stack and got pictures.

All 251 Unpacked

I hope you folks enjoy checking these out, lots of Japanese cards too for those interested. My goal was to identify individual variants on hand. I may not be keenly aware of every card that's truly valuable, so if anything unusual stands out I'd appreciate any feedback!

I've greatly enjoyed this topic so far and all the cards that have been shared, brings back so many good memories. Gonna dive into my trainer card binder another time.

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These are gorgeous - and so well organized! Thank you so much for posting so many pictures, this must have taken you a long time. Were you a deck builder? Sometimes when someone has lots of duplicates like this it usually meant they played competitively.

This is just a really solid mixed lot. There's plenty of money here. It's hard to pick where the specific cards are because the fact is you just have a super healthy collection with a lot of modestly valuable cards. I'll call some out in particular to sort of give you a sense, but there's a lot of great stuff here.

• You have a handful of early 1st Editions in here like Fossil Kabutops, Dark Alakazam, etc. These are around $40-$50 cards loose like this, but if they're in great condition you could get them graded and turn them in to $200 cards. This would probably only be worth the effort if you send in a bunch of cards at once, but are an easy lot-sweeetener if you're sending in a lot of holos at once to get appraised at PSA.

• Your Charizard picture is your most valuable group without a doubt. You have both the holo and non-holo Dark Charizards as 1st Editions. Holo goes for around $500. Non-Holo around $200. Base Set Charizard is a $500 card as well. The Japanese Dark Charizard is about $50. But as you can see, this image alone is like around ~$1,300 in four cards alone. That's impressive!

• You have a Pikachu World Collection - that's the yellow booklet with the Pikachus in all the different languages. These were sold in commemoration with the Australian Olympics. Even an open one goes for about $200.

• You also have a handful of 1st Edition Neo Holos which... I am jealous of. Togetic, Pichu, Lugia, and Feraligatr. These are cards I am actively collecting (slowly but surely) so the Lugia and Feraligatr made my eyes light up. These cards are having a moment right now so prices are sort of wide. Togetic and Pichu are a safe $150, maybe $200. But Feraligatr is $250+ and Lugia... Well, Lugia is probably your most valuable card. One sold today for $673.33. So it is awesome you have these. If they are in great condition, you should get them graded. You will make a ton of money. I wish I could make you an offer myself.

But these are just the highlights. You have a ton of great cards and there's a lot of money in here from the volume. Thanks so much for posting them.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Some hard hitting nostalgia looking at all these pictures! Had to clear out my parent's house a year ago and found a treasure trove of Pokemon crap!

Here's a weird binder of cards of which I'm not entirely sure why I put together:

I think Shining Gyrados used to be worth a bit a while ago!

Then we have this binder in an extremely sorry state for itself :D

I have a thousand or so cards unorganised in those starter set boxes (the large box that had Zapdos if my memory serves me right).

BONUS NOSTALGIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Click to shrink...

I love how many people are digging through their closets. Great find!!

• I've never seen this branded binder before. Looks like it's about $40 right now, which isn't a lot but it's nice to see what these sort of "TCG-Adjacent" stuff goes for. There's actually a lot of this stuff out there, including stuff I haven't seen, so this is cool.

• Calling out the big three right away: Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise. These are the standard unlimited prints but as we've gone over several times there is always money in these Bad Larrys. Charizard is an easy sell for $500 at the moment because it's the card all the returning collectors rush to get. Blastoise is around $75-$100. Venusaur goes for more, around $150-$200. So hold on to these ones - or sell them!

• You are correct that your "Shining" cards, in this case Gyarados and Steelix, are special rares. Gyarados is around $100. Steelix is around $100. There are other Gen II cards ("Neo") in there as well that sell for lest but a few dozen bucks. You'd make quite a lot of money if you went to sell these off, and your collection is maturing as we speak if you decide to hold on to it.

• It almost snuck by me, but I did notice your Neo Genesis Slowking is 1st Edition! That's another $80-$100 card. Neo cards are having their moment right now so if it's in great shape you might consider getting it graded along with the Shining cards.

Awesome stuff, thanks for digging them out!

 

[Punished Dan]

I remember your collection from another thread from a long time ago. You should definitely post pics again.

Click to shrink...

I will because I've got a few more things since then.

 

[Ororo]

If you have cards you want help identifying please feel free to post them in the topic. A few posters have already discovered some really valuable items in their old collections. Making sense of your old cards can be confusing and I am happy to use this thread for that purpose. If you just want to share pics of your stuff, that's cool too!

Click to shrink...

Here are my cards some of the rarer promos of the WOTC era, first edition rocket's mewtwo/zapdos, no jungle expasion kanghaskhan, charizard..

Spoiler: my cards so they don't mess up the formatting

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Very cool thread, a lot of nostalgia in here. I was an avid collector back in the day, aided by the fact that my auntie worked in a shop that sold everything I could ever want!

Here's a few bits that's a bit more out of the ordinary, obviously I have a standard base set in a binder too but interested to see peoples thoughts on these/what they're worth.

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This stuff is awesome, and a unique post! Thanks for bringing it in.

• I have no clue what the autographed magazine could go for. Autographs are a totally unique niche. I did find a different Addie Blaustein autograph that sold for $60 this week, which isn't bad! It had a certificate but that might not be necessary since it's not a super high price.

• Like ZeroCDR, you have a Pikachu World Collection. These were sold in commemoration with the Australian Olympics. A sealed one like yours is $200+ at the moment, but it actually seems a bit less desirable than the opened version. People like seeing the cards and it's a viewable booklet, so people tend to buy the open one. That said, I don't advise opening yours. :)

• The other files are Japanese promo booklets that preceded the release of Neo sets, which are awesome. They look like they're about $40 each, but this strikes me as very low, so maybe someone who knows more about Japanese cards can weigh in on that. I would hold on to these because I anticipate Japanese cards having a surge in the market in the next few years as collectors realize they are a more affordable, and higher quality, option for a lot of their favorite cards.

This stuff in general was fun to see, thanks a lot for taking pictures!

 

[ZeroCDR]

These are gorgeous - and so well organized! Thank you so much for posting so many pictures, this must have taken you a long time. Were you a deck builder? Sometimes when someone has lots of duplicates like this it usually meant they played competitively.

This is just a really solid mixed lot. There's plenty of money here. It's hard to pick where the specific cards are because the fact is you just have a super healthy collection with a lot of modestly valuable cards. I'll call some out in particular to sort of give you a sense, but there's a lot of great stuff here.

• You have a handful of early 1st Editions in here like Fossil Kabutops, Dark Alakazam, etc. These are around $40-$50 cards loose like this, but if they're in great condition you could get them graded and turn them in to $200 cards. This would probably only be worth the effort if you send in a bunch of cards at once, but are an easy lot-sweeetener if you're sending in a lot of holos at once to get appraised at PSA.

• Your Charizard picture is your most valuable group without a doubt. You have both the holo and non-holo Dark Charizards as 1st Editions. Holo goes for around $500. Non-Holo around $200. Base Set Charizard is a $500 card as well. The Japanese Dark Charizard is about $50. But as you can see, this image alone is like around ~$1,300 in four cards alone. That's impressive!

• You have a Pikachu World Collection - that's the yellow booklet with the Pikachus in all the different languages. These were sold in commemoration with the Australian Olympics. Even an open one goes for about $200.

• You also have a handful of 1st Edition Neo Holos which... I am jealous of. Togetic, Pichu, Lugia, and Feraligatr. These are cards I am actively collecting (slowly but surely) so the Lugia and Feraligatr made my eyes light up. These cards are having a moment right now so prices are sort of wide. Togetic and Pichu are a safe $150, maybe $200. But Feraligatr is $250+ and Lugia... Well, Lugia is probably your most valuable card. One sold today for $673.33. So it is awesome you have these. If they are in great condition, you should get them graded. You will make a ton of money. I wish I could make you an offer myself.

But these are just the highlights. You have a ton of great cards and there's a lot of money in here from the volume. Thanks so much for posting them.

Click to shrink...

Firstly, THANK YOU so much for taking the time to go in depth with mine and everyone else's cards. Your knowledge is and expertise is invaluable and most appreciated!

This did take a few weeks, would do a few pages every night, but I think it is very important so I know exactly what I have on hand. So thank you again for inspiring me to do so!

Indeed I played the game as well! As QisTopTier mentioned, I also participated in the weeklies at Toys R Us. I kept decks I made in top loaders for protection, so any cards I used are generally still in fine to excellent shape.

You can see a lot of those top loaders in these pictures in fact, I just repurposed them when I stopped playing so I could further protect the rares. There are some scratches visible on most protected cards, but that's actually the outer protective layer. The card itself is generally clean. Some cards I took out briefly so they would photograph better.

I especially peeked in on the Charizards, Lugia, and various rare first editions, and most look fantastic. Trying not to handle them too much but I'm strongly considering sending them out for grading. I'm not intending to sell for the time being unless circumstances demand it, but I'd like to further protect these especially the ones you've highlighted.

The Pikachu World Collection I picked up years ago for $20 new, wish I didn't open it but I couldn't help myself lol. I mentioned it earlier in this topic but I used to have a lot of promo cards that got stolen, this set included, and checking up on it years later it was among the easiest to replace. Not anymore, should have bought two! Also previously had Rainbow Islands, with Jigglypuff and Butterfree being the only apparent survivors.

Thanks again for your time and insight, if I have a change of heart about selling I'll be happy to reach out to you first! I'll be back with expanded trainer cards in the near future.

 

[RawNuts]

So I can't give you an exact value on this lot because it would take a very long time, but I did go through and value the rares for you. This is where the real value of the lot comes from, although the volume of uncommon and common cards you have here is significant. But if we base the value on the rare cards you had, I came out to $1,190. This is a quick and dirty estimate, rounding to the closest even number, based on recent sales from September-October. It's hard to say what the others would net. You'd definitely have to sell them as a mixed lot because nobody wants to waste their life making 500 eBay auctions for a bunch of $2-$3 cards. I think selling them the way you did made the most sense for you.

Could you have gotten more? Definitely. But considering you got to offload them all at once and it was a sale to a friend I think this was a good outcome. You can feel good about this.

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Awesome! Exactly the kind of estimate I was hoping for. I mainly based my pricing on the rares and added about $200 for all of the common and uncommon pokemon together, and I don't believe I had any misprints or anything.
Very grateful for the response, thank you!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Here are my cards some of the rarer promos of the WOTC era, first edition rocket's mewtwo/zapdos, no jungle expasion kanghaskhan, charizard..

Spoiler: my cards so they don't mess up the formatting

Click to shrink...

Good morning! Sorry for taking a bit to reply. Thanks so much for posting pictures.

• It seems like somebody's favorite gym leader was Misty! Nice array of Misty cards here. I really love the gym leader depictions in the TCG because we got a lot of art for these human personalities that were independent from the anime. Nowadays the games and the anime are much more standardized and characters look the same across every medium, including the TCG. So every Kukui looks the same, every Marnie looks the same, etc. But this wasn't always true. Since you have so many Misty cards together, you get a great spread of all the different ways Misty was depicted in the TCG. Lots of different outfits, bathing suits, and attitudes. I really love that because the Gym Sets proved to be a very varied and dynamic depiction of these trainers. I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out the Japanese art for Misty's Tears which was replaced for the English release. I have always preferred the western art for this card. I can't even tell what exactly is supposed to be happening in the Japanese art. Something, I'm sure.

• I notice your autographed Dratini, what's that? Tell me more about it!

• Also, keen eye on the Kangaskhan missing the Jungle expansion. This is a very odd error set indeed. They seem to not be especially valuable (errors are super hit or miss) but they are a cool thing to call out.

• You have two rare first editions in these pictures, Rocket's Zapdos and Rocket's Mewtwo. These are cool cards. Both of them usually sell for $100 - which is pretty slick! In high enough condition quality you might even get more. But Rocket cards are always popular and so is Mewtwo. I'd link to some auctions but they're sort of spread out, with some as low as $70 and some as high as $200. Calling it $100 a card seems realistic here.

• Base Set Charizard probably speaks for itself at this point, but that's a $500 card right now. Base Set Charizard is hot because this is the first card new collectors want to get when they pick up the hobby again from when they were kids. Condition matters as always but I am finding they pretty much always sell no matter what.

• Your Ho-oh and Rapidash Promos, which are separated in the pics, are actually a set of two. There are two versions of this little duo - one from Nintendo Power and one from the Pokémon Center in NYC. Yours are from Nintendo Power.

Cool stuff! Quite a lot of money from a small collection, no? You can always count on Charizard for that.

 

[Astandahl]

The overall Pokemon market is wild right now.

Pokemon XY Evolutions which was a "tribute" to the base set was available and easy to find at retail price till 1 month ago. Now is impossible to find under 500 us dollars.

Anyway very useful topic.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

The overall Pokemon market is wild right now.

Pokemon XY Evolutions which was a "tribute" to the base set was available and easy to find at retail price till 1 month ago. Now is impossible to find under 500 us dollars.

Anyway very useful topic.

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I was just looking in to XY Evolutions for somebody else. It's not a set I'm after but I certainly take an interest in it because of the type of cards printed in it. I don't have a strong sense of modern card values, so I didn't know if these were high prices for a contemporary set. But it did get me curious what Legendary Collection is going for right now. Legendary Collection was another celebration set printed after all the Neo sets that featured cards from the whole first generation of cards, not unlike Evolutions.

Legendary Collection was the first set to introduce reverse holos, in what I consider to be the ugliest pattern imaginable. I hate these cards, frankly. But I was stunned to see that a complete set of the reverse holos is $7,000 dollars right now. 😵 This person, who has the complete set proper and the complete reverse-holo set, is asking $20,000. I'm confident they'll never get that price but damn. That's a lot for a reprint set. I couldn't believe it.

 

[Astandahl]

I was just looking in to XY Evolutions for somebody else. It's not a set I'm after but I certainly take an interest in it because of the type of cards printed in it. I don't have a strong sense of modern card values, so I didn't know if these were high prices for a contemporary set. But it did get me curious what Legendary Collection is going for right now. Legendary Collection was another celebration set printed after all the Neo sets that featured cards from the whole first generation of cards, not unlike Evolutions.

Legendary Collection was the first set to introduce reverse holos, in what I consider to be the ugliest pattern imaginable. I hate these cards, frankly. But I was stunned to see that a complete set of the reverse holos is $7,000 dollars right now. 😵 This person, who has the complete set proper and the complete reverse-holo set, is asking $20,000. I'm confident they'll never get that price but damn. That's a lot for a reprint set. I couldn't believe it.

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The situation is completely out of control. I bought two evolutions booster boxes for 90 us dollars in August and now they are going for 500 us dollars. It's crazy... It's true that Pokemon Company has been printing this set non stop since release and maybe not they have stopped but is still insane.

The price you saw doesn't surprise me at all. P.S. A friend of mine bought a PSA 8 Unlimited base Charizard for 550 around 1 month ago and now is going for 2.500 us dollars. Unreal.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Just had a quick back and forth with one of my acquaintances who has had an eBay store for the last 10+ years. I asked him if he had some extras of some cards I used to take for granted and he said he sells the set of 4 for $100 now. I couldn't believe it. There was a time where I bought a lot of 400 of these cards in a futile search for misprints because they were so cheap. Now a set of 4 is $100.

He also says his inventory is the lowest it has ever been. I believe it.

 

[HandsomeCharles]

Alright, so I had a look at the binder I have in a box which has my most "interesting" cards (from a 13-year old's perspective) to see if there was anything of note. Somewhere back at my parent's house there will be a box with a lot more cards in it, though they'll mostly just be uncommon and common base, jungle and fossil set ones. I'm pretty sure I took anything of note and put it in this binder years ago.

Looks like I have a couple of things that might be of interest.

1) Quite a few Rocket 1st edition cards, though nothing holo. A couple of rares though
2) Dark Dragonite Holo. Slight imperfections on the card and not a first edition.
3) A misprinted holo "Blaine's Charizard". Unfortunately whoever I got this from hadn't taken great care with it so the condition isn't the best. Fraying at the edges etc. Any idea what that might be worth?
4) Notable for nostalgia but probably not for $$$, My Ancient mew also has the info card that came with it, where you were supposed to write the details of the HP/Attack etc. My 9-year old ass thought he could get away with scribbling some crazy numbers on there. 120 damage attack indeed... 🙄

 

[Punished Dan]

I've found the photos I posted in an old thread. I will use those and a few new photos I took today (in bad light) to show what I've got since.

 

[TheRizza7]

What's everyone's preferred way to sleeve? Double-sleeve and then top loader? I have some cards in binders, but I want to preserve some of them better. What kind of sleeves are seen as the best? I've been looking at the Ultra Pro, Katanas, and Ultimate Guard sleeves. Appreciate the recommendations!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Alright, so I had a look at the binder I have in a box which has my most "interesting" cards (from a 13-year old's perspective) to see if there was anything of note. Somewhere back at my parent's house there will be a box with a lot more cards in it, though they'll mostly just be uncommon and common base, jungle and fossil set ones. I'm pretty sure I took anything of note and put it in this binder years ago.

Looks like I have a couple of things that might be of interest.

1) Quite a few Rocket 1st edition cards, though nothing holo. A couple of rares though
2) Dark Dragonite Holo. Slight imperfections on the card and not a first edition.
3) A misprinted holo "Blaine's Charizard". Unfortunately whoever I got this from hadn't taken great care with it so the condition isn't the best. Fraying at the edges etc. Any idea what that might be worth?
4) Notable for nostalgia but probably not for $$$, My Ancient mew also has the info card that came with it, where you were supposed to write the details of the HP/Attack etc. My 9-year old ass thought he could get away with scribbling some crazy numbers on there. 120 damage attack indeed... 🙄

Click to shrink...

So funny thing about that Blaine's Charizard error!

As we've talked about in this thread before, Wizards of the Coast made a lot of errors. Some were temporary and only affected a small amount of cards (Jungle cards with no set symbol), some were fixed in between 1st and Unlimited printings (many Base Set errors), and some were only corrected in very late print runs, like Base Set Vulpix and Blaine's Charizard.

Both the 1st Edition and Unlimited prints of Blaine's Charizard are printed with a Fighting Energy in its power description and this error affected the majority of the cards. However, very late in the print run, WotC did finally print a corrected version with the correct energy symbol. As a result, it's the corrected card that's rare and valuable whereas the error card is commonplace. You can thank WotC for that.

That said, the market for error cards is already pretty narrow. So the market for "corrected" cards is even more niche.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

What's everyone's preferred way to sleeve? Double-sleeve and then top loader? I have some cards in binders, but I want to preserve some of them better. What kind of sleeves are seen as the best? I've been looking at the Ultra Pro, Katanas, and Ultimate Guard sleeves. Appreciate the recommendations!

Click to shrink...

This is a good question and I'll threadmark the response. My taste revolves entirely around binder storage. Some people prefer boxes but for spacial and viewability reasons I am heavily binder oriented. Someone who keeps their cards boxes might have a different opinion though.

• I keep all of my cards in an "inner sleeve", which is a special cut of soft sleeve that fits the card very, very precisely. But you need to be careful with this size sleeve. Ultra Pro and BCW make inner sleeves - UItra Pro's is called "Pro-Fit" - but their cuts are very inconsistent. You will get some sleeves that are unusable because they are cut too small. But even ones where the cards fit are problematic: they are still too small and slightly bow the card. This, as you can imagine, is bad. So I highly, highly recommend a brand called KMC and their "Perfect Fit" line of sleeves. Amazon sells them, usually in bulk, because they are imported from Japan. These are, hands down, the best and safest inner sleeve. They are perfect. I put all my cards in them with the opening towards the bottom of the card.

• The reason you put the card in with the opening at the bottom (or "upside down") is so you can double-sleeve your card. This is depicted on the back of the KMC packaging. I stole this picture from Google:

  

  Click to shrink...

• The trick is to have an inner sleeve opening downward and an outer sleeve opening upward. This completely encapsulates the card. This is especially ideal for people who play with their cards, but I think this is a little overkill for binder storage. So I simply use an inner sleeve and then put that sleeve in a binder pocket, achieving the same "encapsulation" effect with the binder page itself. Since binder pockets open towards the top (usually), I just insert the cards like normal and am confident the card is protected. There do exist side-loading binder pages, and I've experimented with them, but decided they are not ideal. They create a larger opening for debris to enter and for the card to fall out.

• Binder pages are not quite so demanding and there are plenty of good options. I find that Ultra Pro Platinum are the clearest and strongest pages. But I have also used Ultra Pro Silver and BCW 9 Pocket Pages. My recommendation is Ultra Pro Platinum, but they're all safe to use and that's what matters most. I do caution however to only buy retail packaging like the link above. Some sellers sell some sort of bagged bulk stacks that are almost always dirty and cloudy. I don't recommend buying them on eBay for this reason. I don't know what the deal is with those. I almost wonder if they're second quality. But the kind boxed for hobby shops is always going to be perfect.

• Binders themselves are my favorite part of this question. I love these binders. Prepare yourself because I am going to proselytize over an office supply. The best binders in the entire world, in my tested and tenured opinion, are Bindertek 2" and 3" spines. They come with a slip cover (although you can buy them separately) for maximum protection. These things are freaking beautiful. They have a reinforced metal frame, they have a linen textured surface, they have ultra-sturdy but easy-opening D-shaped rings, and they come in a wide variety of colors. If there's a problem with your binder, like the rings don't line up perfectly, they will replace it no questions asked. These things are an absolute marvel. I will not use anything else. If you want to feel like a professional grown up barrister professor person every time you look at your Pokémon cards you need to get one of these suckers. They cannot be beat. You simply will not find a better binder. It does not exist.

So, in summary, I keep my cards in KMC Perfect Fits, inside Ultra Pro Platinums, inside a Bindertek with a slip cover.

The only problem I have not found a simple solution to are dividers. You often cannot use regular office supply dividers because they are size for regular office paper, meaning they barely poke beyond a 9 pocket page. I have taken to ordering acid free archival cardstock and having my local FedEx office hole punch the whole stack. I also use 2"x3" black stock I ordered from Etsy to fill in the pockets when I have an incomplete page. For example, if the final page of a set only takes up three pockets on the page, I fill the rest with black card stock. This part is entirely unnecessary and you'd have to be a total nerd like me to go this far. But the above information on pocket and page storage is good advice, I promise.

 

[HandsomeCharles]

So funny thing about that Blaine's Charizard error!

As we've talked about in this thread before, Wizards of the Coast made a lot of errors. Some were temporary and only affected a small amount of cards (Jungle cards with no set symbol), some were fixed in between 1st and Unlimited printings (many Base Set errors), and some were only corrected in very late print runs, like Base Set Vulpix and Blaine's Charizard.

Both the 1st Edition and Unlimited prints of Blaine's Charizard are printed with a Fighting Energy in its power description and this error affected the majority of the cards. However, very late in the print run, WotC did finally print a corrected version with the correct energy symbol. As a result, it's the corrected card that's rare and valuable whereas the error card is commonplace. You can thank WotC for that.

That said, the market for error cards is already pretty narrow. So the market for "corrected" cards is even more niche.

Click to shrink...

Ah, just my luck, haha!

I wouldn't be selling anyway, too much sentimental value in these things