How to spot a good find in a box of Pokémon cards
· 3 min read
An old binder of Pokémon cards can be worth flipping through at a flea market. But before you agree on a price, there are a few small details you need to know.
Between comics, toys and used records sits a binder of cards. You might recognise Charizard from your childhood, and the seller wants to get rid of the whole collection. Is it a good buy? A look at the cards and a search on your phone can get you closer to an answer.
Find the edition before you find the price
Start with the cards that catch your eye. Older cards with a shimmering image, and cards with artwork across the whole front, can be worth a closer look. But how a card looks is only a reason to look further.
At a stall it's easy to mix up the two Charizard cards. The picture is almost the same. On the left is the 2016 reprint. One copy of it sold for about 500 Danish kroner on eBay. On the right is the original from 1999. One copy of it sold for about 3,600 kroner. Both sellers described their cards as lightly played.
Use the name and the small number at the bottom of the card when you search on your phone. That way you can find the exact edition you're holding before you make an offer.
Turn the card over
Ask to see both the front and the back. White spots along the blue border, worn corners and creases are easier to spot once the card is out of the binder. Feel free to ask the seller to take it out.
Tilt the card gently in daylight so scratches and print marks show. A nice front can hide a worn back, and a crease can pull the value down a lot. A worn card can still be a good buy for a collection, but the price should reflect the wear.
The gold can fool you
A shiny gold card can look expensive. In the pictures, the gold Charizard VMAX is a fake, while the other is the genuine card the artwork was borrowed from. Genuine gold cards exist too, so the colour alone doesn't settle it.
Compare it with a clear picture of exactly the same edition. Look for the wrong font, spelling mistakes, blurry printing and off colours on the back. If the edition normally has a finely patterned surface, it should have that too. But fakes can have texture as well, as the gold card here shows.
If you're still unsure whether it's genuine, leave the card. You don't have to decide under pressure at the stall.
Check the price while you're at the stall
Once the edition and the condition are settled, you can use Cardmarket to find similar cards for sale. Choose the same language and condition. On eBay you can filter by sold items and see what others have actually paid. Look at several sales, and keep an eye on shipping. A high price on an unsold listing isn't the same as a selling price.
Also watch whether the price is for a card in a sealed plastic case with a grade. That's called grading, where a company checks authenticity and rates the condition. A loose card from a binder should be compared with other loose cards, not with a professionally graded copy with a top grade.
Buy the pile for what you can see
If the seller will only sell the whole binder, check the cards that make the purchase interesting before you make an offer. Many ordinary cards are worth little on their own. A big pile isn't automatically a good deal just because it holds a lot of cards.
If the cards are going to be resold, you also need room for fees, packaging and the time the sale takes. If you're buying for yourself or your child, the joy of the cards can be reason enough.
Bring card sleeves for the cards you find. And if the seller won't let you see the back, or give you time to look up the edition, move on to the next stall.
Expert guidance and photos: Slabbed.dk.