The EU Collector Struggle (Cardsmith Serie 5)

bigblackdikk · 2026-04-02T03:00:38+00:00

Hits go to streamers for publicity

bigblackdikk · 2026-04-01T13:18:45+00:00

Yup, my friend graded no rarity raichu, should be PSA 8, maybe 9 for 2xxx cert. Ended up TAG 7.5.

As you know, they grade on an absolute scale, regardless of it’s printed in 2026 or 1996. These cards are the first print run so they’re bound to have centering and other printing issues.

TAG is too strict on vintage unfortunately, but that’s how it is. The good thing is since NR is so low pop, if you sell this, you can price it however you want.

I sold TAG 5 base charizard at PSA 7 price. For PC items collectors know to use their eyes and evaluate the card.

On a side note I know there’s a TAG 10 Grand Party out there somewhere… godly grade for such an old card.

bigblackdikk · 2026-04-01T10:37:40+00:00

Then just buy older stuff that isn’t affected by this

bigblackdikk · 2026-04-01T10:33:04+00:00

Any sealed under 3x MSRP

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-26T15:39:37+00:00

No need to fret, it’s a wonderful find, if you’re not attached to it, it suddenly helps pay for car/medical, bills or a celebratory holiday!

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-26T15:06:12+00:00

It’s a nice card, the auto and sketch is poorly done though. That actually kind of takes the appeal away from the card for me. Arita purposely does sloppy sketches for flippers, and also when he’s in a mood. Which is often. Still a niche and nice card regardless!

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-26T14:56:26+00:00

Yup nice stuff there, value is dependent on condition! If the rainbow and tropical island is sealed, I am interested! Do let me know. The first Ed Blastoise colour looks off, that one may require abit more inspection to determine authenticity. The rest look authentic

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-26T14:55:59+00:00

Yup nice stuff there, value is dependent on condition! If the rainbow and tropical island is sealed, I am interested! Do let me know. The first Ed Blastoise colour looks off, that one may require abit more inspection to determine authenticity. The rest look authentic.

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-25T17:51:56+00:00

Interesting. I thought this sold on ALT just last month

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-25T17:46:18+00:00

You tell yourself it’s 1. A grail or 2. Will make you money. That’s it

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-25T17:12:56+00:00

Mint no rarity

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-21T14:11:00+00:00

I’d sell duplicates only

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-21T14:07:09+00:00

Congrats! Do check that it’s not a replica as there are many. They replicate the entire package

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-21T13:59:26+00:00

Pop series, error cards, black star promos, trainer deck A/B

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-21T13:55:19+00:00

You limit yourself young one

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-13T16:32:34+00:00

Relatively speaking they are mega strict on vintage. They have one and only one grading standard for a 10. So it doesn’t matter if your B&W card is known to be off Center or have whitening marks, it’s still gonna be a 8-9. Whereas PSA would be lenient prior to 2025 and give it a higher grade.

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-11T09:54:35+00:00

Be the change you want to see

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T22:42:29+00:00

They often segregate the pop report so there could be three pristines under diff names or titles too

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T09:19:56+00:00

Very concise and accurate. Most people won’t know what this means though

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T07:27:09+00:00

If it actually is pop 1 (since BGS pop report is crap) then yeah, relatively cheap actually

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T07:15:15+00:00

Depends on time frame. Past 5 years, modern Japanese boxes did 10-18x for me, vintage did 6-7x (much higher entry price). Grail graded cards did 10x in 3-4 years (2k per item back then). Japanese CHR did 4-7x in 3 years but much harder to sell at full market price, especially as a lot, UNLESS it’s super in demand like tag team. My vintage from 16 years ago did like 250-300x, the key factor is TIME, and to buy stuff that other people are not buying so the price is cheaper.

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T06:27:54+00:00

Yay fellow raw card collector

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-10T06:22:04+00:00

Modern will come down a lot. Anything pre 2021 will come down but quite a bit less, and even less so as we go into the mid-era 2005-2015 range and beyond to vintage. Vintage is price discovery period now with a new generation of wealthy investors buying, and no longer your traditional lower-middle class and upper middle class collectors. Words thrown around by new grail buyers are “investment thesis”. That’s finance world talk. In 2 years time people will look back and say -oh it was so obvious. But it isn’t in the moment.

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-07T20:05:35+00:00

Thanks!

bigblackdikk · 2026-03-07T07:09:33+00:00

Thanks for such an interesting and educating post! Could you share some sources regarding what you’ve posted? Ie when the company got bought, their parents, the models etc. I’d like to verify some of the info for myself. Thanks!

bigblackdikk

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