We bought this card a few months ago before it exploded in price, and in this blog, we will analyse why it went from $12 to $78 in February and then dropped to $43 at the time of writing.
Some people on Reddit are speculating that this is market manipulation due to social media and YouTube channels making videos about this card being underrated, which caused prices to skyrocket. This theory makes sense when looking at the graph below.
Source: https: www.tcgplayer.com
Another factor might be the price difference between a PSA 10 and a raw card, making this particular card highly desirable for grading.
Recently, eBay sales for this card have reached £822 (see image below)
The illustrator of this card, Tomokazu Komiya, has illustrated over 260 cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) and has been contributing since the beginning. He is an expert in Primitivism, an art movement that draws inspiration from elements of prehistory, tribal cultures, or children's art. His style is characterized by deformed and loosely coloured images, which can be seen in many of his cards. Below are some of our favourite Tomokazu Komiya Pokémon card illustrations.
In conclusion, we believe that this might be market manipulation, and buying this card at its peak hype may not yield the returns you expect. As we can see in the graph, the price of this card is already declining.
However, if your goal is to grade it and sell the card, this could be a profitable opportunity—provided you carefully check the card's quality and pay attention to PSA’s grading criteria, such as centering, no white corners, etc.
That said, it is risky—if the card comes back as a PSA 9, it only sells for £45 (see image below).
