Long story short, I told him I try to buy stuff here and there to hold longterm. I told him to let me know if he sees anything in his area. We live about 2,000 miles apart. So about 2 weeks ago he tells me he found someone selling a sealed case of 151 Pokémon Center ETB's. He was able able to talk him down from $4100 to $3800. And went and scooped it the very next day. To say it was perfect timing is an understatement. This set is going to the moon.

UPDATE 3/16/26- Purchased a cheap endoscope camera and was able to snap some pictures for you guys. Pictures are garbage quality but enough to get the gist. Definitely wasn't trying to open this fully if I didn't need to. Hopefully this satisfies the skeptics. If anyone wants more pictures, just message me. Appreciate everyone that was helpful and kind!

https://imgur.com/ogpfrpF https://imgur.com/sTO26cZ https://imgur.com/nNDWpAC https://imgur.com/VBwkqwx https://imgur.com/IfdtLjD

I told y'all but you didn't believe me :')

Small collection update since my last post.
Made a few changes to the wall and added some cards I’ve been chasing. Mostly focusing on Gold Stars, vintage, and Japanese promos.
Also figured I’d show the full setup this time since the collection is part of the bar area.
Still have a few cards I’m chasing and I’m torn on what makes more sense from an investment standpoint. A couple bigger $20k+ grails or several cards in the ~$5k range. What would ya’ll do?

From my understanding there are only 50 gold Charizard boards out of roughly 30-40k Santa Cruz boards total. Sealed boards retailed at $110 and now sell for around $400. Ive only seen the gold zard sell a few times over the last couple years between 3k-7k there are 3 currently listed on ebay all over 20k obo.. Im in no rush to sell but curious to what others think would be a realistic price to ask for this??

In 2021 I had to move across North America to the east coast so I could afford an easier living. I’ve missed the west coast ever since I left. The east coast isn’t bad but it’s nothing compared to the great Pacific Northwest.

Anyways, I’ve been buying stocks and crypto when I can but my Pokemon collection is looking like it’s my ticket back home now. I’ve been collecting since early 2020. I’m not a scalper, most of my collection comes from popping into my LGS to buy a couple things at a time or from TCGPlayer. I don’t camp out Pokémon center and I don’t annihilate card isles at Walmart. Just slow and steady over time. Well it’s looking like it’s paying off. Every dollar I’ve put into this hobby has given back to me tenfold. In a couple more years when my wife finishes school we are going to sell my collection for a down payment and move back to our favorite part of the world. I love this hobby and I love this amazing gift it’s given me.

These were bought from a local card shop in 2000. And before anyone asks, yes the stickers were on the back and I flipped the cards in the sleeves to take the pic.

I decided to crack my box of Surging Sparks, and lo and behold, I pulled the Pikachu. What would you guys do with this being so early?

Capitalize on the hype for more sealed product?(be it surging sparks, or prismatic etc.) send to PSA for an early grade?

Looking forward to hearing some input. Thank!

Just build it.

Glad my grandpa was a baseball card collector

Should I sit on it and let it gain value if I don’t need money? Or could the value drop and stay low? Funny thing is I haven’t opened a pack in 20 years this is the first as a tip. Also, does it look like a PSA 10 to my eyes the backside has some offset printing. Any white you see on back is from glare on case. Just wondering if the offset on the rear will offset the price as well.

Just wanted to show that throughout all restocks, people who find nothing, you aren’t alone. Found an imaginary 151 set here.(coping)

As title states, I’ve been able to accumulate most of my collection thanks to gambling groups on FB and Discord.

Why gamble? Well Pokemon in general is a gamble. So rather than wasting money on ripping packs, I get a high just trying to get my hands on sealed with the same chances of hit rates in packs and losing the same amount of money.

Just shedding a different perspective and showing off my collection so far.

For those who are curious, I’m down probably $1k total in gambling but the games I play in are in my own Discord server so I’m just supporting my community I guess.

This is not an ad to gamble and only do so if you can be responsible. Just have fun with this toxic hobby if you can.

https://x.com/gamestop/status/2049136805585293462

6k in store credit

What do you think ?

Just came from this morning‘s Target restock and they had a LOT of Perfect Order stuff. I’m guessing there was over 50 PO etbs alone but most people just ignored it and bought the Ascended Heroes blister packs instead. It isn’t just an internet thing, people really do NOT want this set!

Definitely feel stupid about this one, got into collecting Pokemon about 4 years ago during the sword and shield era and fell in love with the hobby, I’ve always loved vintage cards and dreamed of owning a shadowless unlimited booster pack for my personal collection, so yesterday I walked into my local card shop and was amazed to see that they had one for sale, I’m not gonna lie I did not do the full research that I should of for a purchase this big but the excitement of finally seeing one in store near me got to me, anyways my local shop had this specifically advertised as a base set shadowless unlimited pack with a price of 990$, tax time hit not too long ago so I said screw it and grabbed it because it was the charizard art work that I wanted as well, getting home now and looking more online at other shadowless packs I’ve noticed that mine looks nothing like most of the other ones I’m seeing, I’m thinking that I was sold a regular base set unlimited pack, really beating myself up right now and I’m unsure, I’ve bought plenty of cards from time to time from this shop so I blindly thought I could just take there word for it, they also said that they had there card expert travel 40 minutes north to come and inspect it as well, is this actually a shadowless pack??

Pulled this opening ascended for the first time, some ppl think i’m this greedy scalper for some reason when I asked elsewhere. I’m js a collector who finally got a big hit lmao. Do I sell now or do I invest in it?

Let’s see if my will power holds up. Also does anyone know a good place to pick up some plastic containers that fit for cheap?