Grade Expectations stories from The Pack Report.
Monday's Base Set Pikachu showed a grade cliff: nothing below a 10 was worth much. This week's quiz card, a 2019 Cosmic Eclipse secret-rare Pikachu in PSA 9, shows the opposite shape, and why.
Read itThe Base Set Pikachu was printed by the million and sells raw for a few dollars. In PSA 10 our mark is $493. The whole value is the grade, and the grade is rare because 1999 print quality made 10s hard to get.
Read itWith the $80 Regular tier at 70-80 business days, the question is not whether a card will gem but whether the uplift covers the fee, the wait and the risk of a 9. A simple rule for each tier.
Read itTwo identical cards in identical grades sold minutes apart in the same auction, 16% apart. The gap is made of centering, eye appeal, lot order and bidder fatigue, and it is the normal state of the market.
Read itThe $1.3 million Incorrect Illustrator was a CGC 10 and the $100,000 Legend Maker Gengar a CGC 10 Pristine. What the grading company on the label does to the price, and when it does not matter.
Read itTwo 1999 Pokemon Snap contest cards sold for $809,943 and $640,500 this week, both in PSA 8. On cards mailed to twenty children in 1999, an 8 is the top of the population, and the price says so.
Read itTwo reverse-holo Gengars sold for $156,000 and $100,000 in one week. The variant collectors ignored for twenty years is now the hardest Pokemon surface to find in a 10.
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