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How To Look Up Pokemon Card Values

Pokmon Jungle 1st Edition Holo Snorlax #11

Pokemon Card Values

The 1999 Complete 1st Edition only covered about a third of the original Pokédex, with a number of heavy-hitters left out.

One such Pokémon was Snorlax, who played a large role in the first Game Boy games.

64 cards were released in the series, which added a number of interesting holo shinies to the original collection.

These cards featured different illustrators who brought their own ideas to the fore when designing the images.


Snorlax is found in the jungle expansion, as the eleventh card in the 99 release.

Only 71 copies have earned gem mint status so far, and the lazy Pokémon features on a difficult card to seek out.

How To Get A Pokemon Card Appraisal

If you would like a Pokemon card appraisal to determine the true valuation of your Pokemon cards, feel free to get in touch with us by email enquiriesthecardbazaar.com.au or by our contact form.

Please provide more details about the Pokemon cards you would like to appraise, what country you are located, and any questions you might have about selling your Pokemon cards.

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Signs Of Wear To Watch For

Collectors are extremely detail-oriented. Cards that exhibit creases, scratches on the holographic image, or any visible whitening on the corners are generally not highly valued.


Cards that display signs of any mishandling or improper storage will not be very valuable. Even minor damage can bring down a card’s value to just a fraction of the “market values” displayed on many websites. And collectors are as concerned with the front of the card as they are with the back, where oftentimes it is easiest to see signs of wear.

Below I’ve included an image of a condition I commonly find when appraising childhood collections. If your cards show signs of wear similar to the ones below, they will have to be exceptionally rare to hold significant value.

Note the faint crease on the left side of the card, whitening along the edges, and the slight bend in the card, often caused by long term exposure to improper climates.

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See What The Card Has Sold For Before

The value of Pokemon cards spans a vast range: from a few bucks to hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are Full Art EX and GX Pokemon cards worth anywhere up to $100, Base Set cards worth thousands, and the numbers only get more ludicrous from there.


All that being said, it can be hard to know where to start when trying to find the value of a Pokemon card. The best way to find out how much a card is worth is to check how much it has sold for in the past.

The year is 2011.You’ve battled long hours on the Battle Subway on your way to visit Ns Castle for your showdown against Team Plasma.Whatever happens, you’re unfazed because you just pulled a full art Mewtwo-EX card from the #PokemonTCG.

Pokémon

This is real evidence of the amount of money people are willing to spend on the card, and therefore it can give someone an accurate estimate of their card’s value. One of the best sites to use to find this information is Ebay.

Simply type in the name of the card and any additional attributes that stand out about it. Now, you can see all the current listings of that particular card, along with how much money people are asking for them and usually what a few have actually sold for.

Not All Cards Are Worth Something

How to Look up Pokemon Sun &  Moon Card Values

Its worth noting that your average Pokémon collection wont make you rich. Most cards in recent sets arent worth more than $1, and even the rare ones often arent worth more than $10. However, there still is value in the older cards the ones that have been sitting around in self storage for years. Base set cards can be surprisingly valuable, and if youre lucky enough to have a first edition holographic card, you could be set up for a pretty penny.

If youre looking to maximize your return, use sites like pokemonprices.com or eBay to do research, checking each individual card of uncommon rarity or higher. Blindly selling your collection without doing the legwork on Pokémon card value could end up selling yourself short and giving a collector a great deal.


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Pokmon Game 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Alakazam #1

The psychic-type Alakazam is next up, thanks to a great card found in the original 1999 release.

As you might expect, its another holo shadowless 1st edition card, ticking all of the boxes for serious collectors.

Alakazam might seem weak by modern standards, but he was a fearsome prospect in the original TGC. The evolution of evolution, you would start with Abra, followed by Kadabra.

Once again, there are fewer than 100 PSA 10 copies on the registry, with 88 graded at the last count.


Pokemon Card Set Symbols

Use this handy guide to look up Pokemon card set symbols, set names, and set years.

The most common way to organize Pokemon cards is by set. To identify the set, look for a little symbol at the bottom of the card, next to the card number. There are a bunch of these set symbols 5-6 sets are released every year, each with a different set symbol, and theyve been printing cards since 1999!

The following table is a complete list of Pokemon card sets, sorted by date the newest sets are at the top the oldest are at the bottom. If I missed something, let me know if the comments! I want this to be THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR POKEMON CARD SETS!

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The Age Of The Pokemon Card

As a general rule of thumb, old Pokemon cards from the Base, Jungle, and Fossil sets are often quite valuable, especially the rare holographic ones.


Also, there is often a lot of hype around the newest Pokemon sets. If you pull a brand new ultra rare card from a booster pack, it will likely be worth money because of demand for new cards.

This isnt to say that cards from 2002-2020 are worthless. Many of the most expensive cards of all time were produced during this period. Its just important to know that extremely old and extremely new cards can often be more valuable.

This is what an old first generation Pokemon card looks like.

Is The Card Market A Bubble Ready To Pop

How to Find the Value of your Pokemon Cards (TCGPlayer & Ebay)

Everyone Marketplace spoke with gave us mostly the same assessment: prices for some cards will probably decrease eventually, but theyre not going to tank so badly that the entire market will crash.

The degree of the decline and when will depend on the type of card, according to Eugene Smith. The vintage cards released back in the 90s are no longer being printed and are basically part of history now, meaning many of them will likely continue to have value.


But because grading companies like PSA are still going through a backlog of cards, Smith thinks there will be an increase in supply.

Then post-holidays, theres going to be far less consumer spending happening. Its pretty much a perfect scenario for a decrease a correction, Smith said of the Pokémon vintage card market.

Garcia agrees that prices will eventually level off, although he doesnt think theyll dip that drastically.

Pokémon is one of those things thats never gone out of style, he said.

Since Pokémon first launched on the GameBoy in 1996, the franchise has spawned the trading card game, a wildly popular anime series that continues to run new episodes, dozens of console games and Pokémon Go, which was The Summer Event of 2016 and helped add $7.5 billion in market value to Nintendo within 48 hours.


Many collectors, like Caitlin Sidhu, Kalvin Foley and Jason A., became Pokémon fans when they were kids, proving its longevity.

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How Value Is Determined

The surge in Pokémon card prices doesnt necessarily mean every card is worth a lot of money or will be.

I think prices will rise for some cards, but obviously not all cards, which is what some people dont get, Caitlin Sidhu explained. If cards are still in print, they wont rise in price. Once the card is out of print it may go up in price, but its not guaranteed.

Jason A., a collector from East Tennessee who declined to give his last name, compared it to the stock market: You can take a bet on a cards value. Is it going to increase? Is it going to flop? Or is it just gonna stay steady?


There are plenty of cards out there that when they first got released are still the same price that they were back then, he said.

A cards scarcity, condition and the actual Pokémon on it all play a role in its value. First edition holographic cards released as part of Pokémons first print in 1999 command high prices especially Charizard.

Why is he always so coveted? In that first set, he was objectively the most powerful, with both the highest HP and the strongest attack. But maybe the reason for his appeal is more obvious than that.

I mean, hes a dragon. Kids love dragons, Garcia said. In the cartoon show, he was kind of rebellious, did whatever he wanted.

Kalvin Foley, after losing his eBay bid, said he was able to finally obtain his Rainbow Vmax Charizard in a private sale.

Only 39 were initially released through a Japanese comic contest in 1998.

Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Blastoise #2

The second of the trio of evolved starters from the 1999 set, Blastoise was also the cover star for Pokémon Blue.

First off, lets get the price tag out of the way. A PSA 10 copy sold for $45,000 in 2020, with another selling for $44,000 this year.

Its all the more astounding considering there are around 100 when looking at graded pristine copies.

However, Blastoise is indisputably one of the most popular Pokémon ever, and the same goes for Squirtle and Wartortle, which is the evolution path it follows.

In fact, its the second-most valuable card from the original 1999 set.

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Blastoise Wizards Of The Coast Presentation Galaxy Star Holo

  • Release Date: 1998
  • Grading: CGG 8.5
  • Pokemon card value at auction: $360,000

The Pokemon Trading Card Game community was stunned when this insanely rare Pokemon card was discovered by the public for the first time in 2021. Originally commissioned by Wizards of the Coast in 1998, the Blastoise Presentation card was supposed to give stores an idea of what the TCG line would look like in its final print run.

While there are varying reports about its history, its currently believed that only two are known to have ever existed, with only one currently accounted for. Its essentially is one of the earliest known Pokemon cards to exist, at least for the North American release. It was so early that one of the copies had a Magic: The Gathering backside to it, while the other is simply blank.

The historical Nintendo artifact went up for sale at Heritage Auctions in January 2021, and sold for a whopping $360,000, making it the third most expensive collectible just an inch behind the Base Set Charizard. Given that only two of these exist, it could one day take the top spot as the most valuable Pokemon card of all time. If nothing else it may be the rarest Pokemon card in the world.

Pokmon Blastoise #009/165r Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram

Pokemon Card Price Guide

A two-of-a-kind card that suddenly became one of the most valuable Pokémon cards of all time

Sold for $360,000 in January 2021

One of only two such Pokémon cards in existence – making it extremely rare – this Blastoise suddenly became one of the most valuable Pokémon cards of all time after it sold at auction in January 2021 for a whopping $360,000 .

The ultra-rare Pokémon card was created in 1998 as a presentation piece by Magic: The Gathering maker Wizards of the Coast to convince Nintendo of Japan executives to allow it to handle the TCGs English-language release. The game would eventually make its international debut one year later in 1999.

While two Blastoise Presentation cards were produced, this is the only one that has been seen publicly. Even more impressively, it has been graded at a NM/Mint+ 8.5 level by certification website CGC, meaning that the 20-plus-year-old card is in near-perfect condition. The location and state of the other Presentation card remains unknown – meaning that this may well be the only such card of its type left.

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Base Set: Unlimited Edition

There were reportedly six separate printings of the Unlimited Edition of the Base Set. The first five print runs had a copyright line that read: © 1995, 96, 98 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. ©1999 Wizards.. These five print runs are completely identical, with no way to differentiate between them. The final print run, which was only available in the United Kingdom, can be differentiated by a change to the copyright line which reads, ©1995, 96, 98 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. ©1999-2000 Wizards. Cards from the sixth print run are much rarer due to their limited geographical distribution.

Unlimited Edition made a number of aesthetic changes to the face of the cards. The overall card appears to be a lighter and brighter printing than the previous Limited Editions. The drop shadow was added behind the art box to add some depth to the card. In addition, certain text, such as the Pokémons HP value, was set in a bold typeface.

With five to six printings, these cards are by far the most common Base Set cards in existence, and their prices reflect that. Unlimited Edition was printed to meet the insane demand of a public that became obsessed with Pokémon. A Charizard from these printings could fetch about $500 in Near Mint condition from a collector.

Best Pokmon Card Value Scanner

TCGPlayer is the only legit service that allows a customer to scan Pokemon cards online to obtain values that a fairly accurate.

In our opinion, the best place to check the value of a Pokemon card is via eBay advance search. Simply click on sold listings and auction from the advanced eBay search menu. You will be presented with a list of recently sold Pokemon cards.

To obtain high-end/valuable Pokemon sales on eBay use the term Pokemon PSA 10 via the advance search page.

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Holographic Shadowless Mewtwo: $20000

While the other Kanto starters dont come close to Charizard in the realm of First Edition cards, its hard to ignore the second-place winner off of its fame in the series. Most Pokemon fans are plenty aware of Mewtwo from the original Pokemon movie, and as a result cards featuring the character will often go for record-high prices in any set.

Much like the First Edition Charizard mentioned earlier, Mewtwo has its own Holographic and Shadowless version that PSA Collector has seen sold for at least $20,000, putting it far above Venusaur and Blastoise but still far below everyones favorite Fire-type tyrant of the skies.

No 1 Trainer Super Secret Battle

How to look up values of Sports and Pokemon Cards
  • Release Date: 1999
  • Grading: PSA Gem Mint 10
  • Pokemon card value at auction: $90,000

In 1999, The Pokemon Company hosted regional contests in Japan. Winners received a No. 1 Trainer Pokemon card which granted them access to the final that took place in a secret location.

Named Super Secret Battle, the special TCG tournament had a lot of mystique surrounding it. The rare Pokemon card features a silhouette of Mewtwo which has made it all the more desirable to fans.

In July 2020, the Japanese promo sold for an astonishing $90,000 making it one of the most valuable Pokemon cards to ever exist.

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Other Places To Sell Your Pokemon Cards

  • Cardmarket: a German-based online marketplace that caters to trading-card-game hobbyists.
  • Troll and Toad: a hub for all things gaming-related, including video games, table-top games and trading-card games.
  • TCGplayer: an e-commerce marketplace that allows stores and hobbyists alike to buy and sell trading cards.
  • : a free tool connected to your Facebook profile that allows you to buy or sell almost any physical item locally.
  • Local comic book or hobby shops: a great alternative to Facebook Marketplace if you want to buy or sell Pokemon cards without the hassle of shipping.

Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Ninetales #12

Not the fire Pokémon shiny youd be hoping for back in 1999, Ninetales is the evolved form of Vulpix.

Designed to look like a golden-white nine-tailed fox, its inspired by the kitsune, which is a Japanese fox spirit.

Its backed by a cool blue holo background, but Ninetales Fire Blast attack is one of the more powerful in the base game.

Its not the most popular Pokémon with a western audience, but there are only 67 gem mint copies according to the registry.

The rarity hasnt translated to higher prices, but that could all change in the future.

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Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Venusaur #15

Now were getting somewhere. The final evolution of the starter Pokémon Bulbasaur, Venusaur had a massive part to play in both the games and the anime as one of the mainstays in Ashs party.

It featured on-the-box art for the original Japanese version of the game, although the Green edition was never released worldwide.

With over 137 PSA 10 copies in existence, the original holo Venusaur is clearly a coveted card.

It may pale in comparison to the likes of Blastoise and Charizard, but its still a member of the original trio that players got to choose from.

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