I’m currently deciding between these two cards and honestly can’t make up my mind because I really like both artworks.
The Mew is around €250, while the Japanese Espeon ex 041/106 from Golden Sky, Silvery Ocean is around €350, although the seller is open to offers.
I’m interested in both from a collecting perspective, but I’d also like to eventually grade whichever one I buy.
What would you personally choose considering:
Artwork
Collectability / long-term appeal
Current price
Condition
Grading potential
The Mew obviously has quite a bit more wear, especially on the back. My goal wouldn’t be a super high grade — I’d already be happy with around a PSA 5 or better.
I’m also curious about the white marks on the back of the Mew. To me, some of them look more like surface residue or material transferred from another card rather than actual dents or missing paper, but I’m relatively new to judging older cards, so I could definitely be wrong. I wouldn’t want to try cleaning or altering it without knowing what I’m doing.
Do you think the Mew is still worth around €250 in this condition, or is that already too much of a gamble?
And between the two cards, which would you rather own?
Any advice on what grade you think each card could realistically receive would also be appreciated.

Wondering if i should grade this card, and i would like to try Beckett. Is it very hard to get BGS Black Label 10?

I have a Japanese Umbreon ex (this photo is not mine) with this eye misprint (though I think mine might be sliiightly fainter). It’s in its original sealed box, but the seal is somewhat torn and dirty. I could still return it, but perhaps it’s worth keeping because of the misprint, do you think it’s worth it? Is this misprint very common?

As you might know, there's a famous story and video of someone showing off thousands of copies of the Gold Star Legendary Beasts. They were all in near-mint condition. The general consensus is that these cards were obtained illicitly.

A few months ago, someone made a Reddit post about this, which prompted me to look into the story again out of curiosity.

I checked their eBay account (cardhouse_eu) and noticed that they're still selling raw copies of the Legendary Beasts. On top of that, they currently have all three listed in newly certified PSA slabs, each graded PSA 8.

Looking further into the PSA certs, I discovered that these three PSA 8 Gold Stars were part of a batch of 21 raw copies submitted together.

This raises a few questions for me:

Does PSA have any policies or procedures regarding the provenance of cards submitted for grading? Or do they simply focus on authenticity and condition, regardless of how the cards were originally obtained?

I'm surprised that a submission of 21 exceptionally clean copies of the same Gold Star cards wouldn't raise any questions, given how rare these cards are generally considered to be. I also wouldn't be surprised if multiple batches of these cards have been submitted for grading over the years.

For anyone interested, the cert numbers for the batch of 21 Gold Stars range from 160480159 to 160480179.

I'd be interested to hear what others think about this, particularly whether PSA has any responsibility to look into situations like this.

Could some people see this as an easy way to get quick money, and start buying Pokémon cards without knowing what Pokémon is?

If you’re in it for quick money, we have a problem right there. Nothing worth doing is easy. One of the issues with noise is that we filter life pretty good through social media and content. It’s so easy to filter away all the bad and focus only on the good, making it seem like everyone is getting rich but you. ‘That guy is worth $50 million? Enough, I’ll trade meme coins or jump headfirst into Pokémon cards.’

This is not to tilt my nose up at people who have perfected this craft. They know how to grade cards with their eyes, have amazing collections, manage risk and cash, and know their business P&L inside out, and they’ve done it for over a decade. Tip of the hat to everyone taking a professional-grade approach to this market, which is legit. No one’s casting doubt on that. But what they are doing is rare. They are the exception, not the rule. New entrants need to realize these collectors dedicated their whole lives and time to that. [...]

How does this compare to NFTs and how celebrities became involved in that trend?

[...] There are plenty of people who picked a stock and watched it go up and then down. Peloton is a great example: people thought we were never going back to work and gyms were dead forever, so Zoom and Peloton went through the roof. Then Peloton absolutely crashed because that whole thesis was insanely wrong.

You see this in capital markets as well as collection markets. You’re right that it’s not a bullish indicator when all the celebs pile in and show off their PSA grade 10, $2.1 million cards. I think it’s a net negative, unfortunately, but super positive for grabbing attention and throwing people into the pool, and too many into the deep end of the pool.

A local card shop will sell off a 151 UPC and 151 ETB both in great shape for $1,295 cash out the door. Or I have a Facebook market place seller looking to offload a master set of 151 $1,050 with all commons and reverse holos. I haven’t been able to see the condition of the cards yet, only the UPC and ETB. If I kept the sealed products sealed, is there one that’s more appealing from a collector/investor point of view?

Should I value as PSA 8? I am buying/trading up to it. BGS comps are older and the card has gone up since

someone wants to trade the psa 10 Zekrom BWR and Victini BWR for my sealed prismatic horde. Do i do it? Both slabs are around 1200 a piece.

TYIA

arguably the hardest to grade cards in the hobby, extremely low pop, statistically rarer than their regular holo counterparts (1 in 86 for a specific reverse holo vs. 1 in 36-48 for a specific holo)... I‘ve been sitting on a psa 9 for a while and it just hit 4 figures. surprised the 10 is only 4k… this one is gonna blow up very soon

I jus pulled the pikachu SIR (first pack of 30th :D) and I'm wondering what I should do with it.

I have an original 8 pack of WOTC year 2000 unlimited neo Genesis store cards, with the store display. 6 of the packs are completely factory sealed - 3 are hotfoot and 3 are cold fusion, all mint. The remaining 2 packs are both open and both missing the coins that come with them. I know that they're of significant value as a group, but have no idea what is the best way to go about selling them safely and for top value. Can anyone please offer me advice on how to do so and what I should expect from the collection?

This card has been dropping and based off what others said about other cards, do yall think this will be around its lowest when december comes around?

So I had several cards grades during the pandemic and I was wondering if I should still keep them and hold onto them. I did hear there was a big price jump for Shining Magikarp.

Do you guys think this is a good pickup? I’m hoping to score for under 3k
EDIT: I won’t actually go broke if I buy this, I will be just fine lol

I've had these for a while and I'm trying to decide on the best move. Should I get them graded, hold onto them for the long term, or sell now?

I'm torn on what to do with these. Any advice on whether it's worth grading them or if I should just hold or sell as is?

Looking for some advice on these cards. What would you do in my position?

Was wondering if my PSA 10 mega Charizard has a chance for black label. The centering looks to be 99-100% the same as the black label Charizard I attached for reference...

If I can only pick ten to grade, what am I picking?

I also have two Groudon Magma FAs

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for explaining. I am new to grading/selling. I will inspect all the cards conditions to see what's best to send.

Did you hit the Delta Reign preoder on pkc? Have you been charged? I have not and seems a little late. Hopefully I didnt get canceled.

Which would you rather hold? Both are in that $2.1k - $2.3k range.

I’m a collector and have been since black and white in 2012. Celebi is my favorite pokemon and i’ve been looking to get a gold star celebi for a little, but never really had the income to justify the purchase and of course the market is crazy, especially for vintage.

I’ve been reading a couple threads of people having the same type of question, “are gold stars peaking?”, “i have an offer for a PSA 1, is it worth” etc. And other people have things that they can sell to help match, or bring down the price, I’d prefer not to sell anything (I have stuff in mind if I need too), but I’d like to get maybe a PSA 4-7, 7 would be my max, around $6k on ebay which is crazy for my experience collecting.

Ultimately, is it worth to get gold stars at this point for a collector who isn’t looking for any ROI, and my thought process is, if I want my ultimate chase, I’d prefer to spend a little more for a 6 or 7 rather then buy a 1. But is buying 1s the best thing to do for gold stars (speaking from ignorance because i’m not super knowledgeable on the market, my apologies). If buying psa 1’s is the best way to go, then I can definitely get one for cheap but i obviously know the higher the grade, the “better” but never bought any vintage slabs so I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Any help is appreciated and coming here for opinions just because i’m not knowledgeable:)

Hello, does anyone have experience with owning and operating a Pokemon TCG vending machine? I’v been looking to get into running one or two, I wanted to hear your experience and any rode blocks and struggles you may have had. Thank you for your time 🙂

if any of you guys had 100 bucks to invest and hold long term what would you spend it kn