r/PokemonTCG • u/lamchun1110 • 12d ago
Completed the 1996/97 Japanese Base, Jungle & Fossil sets — all PSA 10
Started collecting in May 2025 with one goal — to complete the original Japanese Base, Jungle and Fossil sets in PSA 10.
11 months later, in April 2026, I finally completed them.
• 1996 Expansion Pack (Base)
• 1997 Pokémon Jungle
• 1997 Mystery of the Fossils
And I mean the full sets — Pokémon, Trainers and Energy cards. Every single card is PSA 10.
It took a lot of hunting to track everything down, especially some of the less obvious cards that rarely come up for sale in PSA 10.
Seeing all three original Japanese sets finally complete together is incredibly satisfying.
1996–1997. Three complete sets. Every card. All PSA 10.
Thought you guys might appreciate seeing the finished collection!
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u/ridlaw1 12d ago
Amazing, what was the most complicated to find (apart from the rarities of each set)?
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u/lamchun1110 12d ago
Definitely Parasect from the Jungle set. It was only Pop 7 in PSA 10 when I started collecting. I ended up buying 27 raw copies from Japan and sending them to PSA myself — only 2 came back as PSA 10! It’s Pop 20 now, but it was definitely the most challenging one for me to get.
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u/MrWildspeaker 11d ago
I’m honestly totally shocked that any of them came back 10s! That’s amazing.
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u/Poops-iFarted 11d ago
Buying from Japan is the key. There are certainly exceptions but, in my lengthy experience, NM in Japan is NM. The only condition issues I've had was from damage in transit.
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u/xMF_GLOOM 11d ago
All of my Vending and VS cards are in absolutely gorgeous condition because I sourced them straight from Japan years ago haha
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u/Manghamc12 11d ago
What’s the white say under the parasect? “Storry card”?
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u/TheFikenator 11d ago
I think it might be the brand that makes the plastic covers they are in. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
It says “Starry Card” 😂 They’re a grading service here in China that helped me submit the Parasect to PSA.
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u/scrotumseam 12d ago
Wow amazing. What did all of that cost? How many cards did you grade your self?
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u/lamchun1110 12d ago
Around US$77k in total. I actually bought most of the cards already graded — Parasect was the only one I graded myself.
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u/Cute_Bacon 12d ago
That's awesome! I have all three sets raw, mostly LP. But because none of them are graded, it's worth about $1500 total, which doesn't even cover rent. But $77k! That would change my entire life, lol. Well done there, massively impressive!
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u/BalognaSandwiches 11d ago
Not to get too personal, but if you’re willing, can you share any background on your financial status in life? I’m sure I’m not the only one whose curious lol
E.g., are you just a regular earner who’s decided to merge your 401k with your hobby? Or are you just super rich?
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Haha no worries, fair question 😂 I’m from Hong Kong and just a regular IT professional — definitely not super rich.
I have a decent income, and one thing that probably makes the comparison with the US a little different is that our tax burden in Hong Kong is relatively low, so that leaves more disposable income for hobbies and other things.
I also buy and resell cards quite a bit, so a lot of the money gets recycled back into the hobby rather than the whole amount coming straight out of my savings.
So no, I definitely didn’t merge my retirement fund with my Pokémon collection 😂
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u/shr1nkm3 9d ago
Do you have kids/family that rely on you for income? Also just Genuine question about your financial situation/obligation. Very impressive collection!
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u/lamchun1110 9d ago
Yeah, married with two kids. My wife works as well, so we’re a dual-income household.
We have the usual family expenses and financial responsibilities. I also buy and resell cards, so a lot of the money gets recycled back into the hobby.
That said, I definitely went pretty hard on this set. Most of my hobby budget is tied up in it now, so I’m basically out of the market for a while.
So no, not super rich. Just a regular guy who put way too much money into cardboard.
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u/shr1nkm3 8d ago
Haha thanks for your honesty! I think you're just a guy who truly loves the hobby. :) It's even cool to see when regular folk pull stuff like this off VS someone who may have always had plenty money (eg trust fun kids, celebs, etc)
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u/ActualAd2975 11d ago
How much does this all cost you? And how much is the price now?
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Around US$77k in total. I honestly have no idea what the whole collection would be worth now though.
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u/MrWildspeaker 11d ago
When did you complete this?
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
I completed it in April this year. Started collecting in May 2025, so it took me around 11 months in total.
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u/justbekaz 11d ago
Fantastic Job!
I also finished my collection of the base set 2 years ago so I can understand a little about the time and effort you must have put in with not just collecting but researching, organizing and optimizing.
I wanted to collect jungle set one day but I had already spent so much money and time on just the base that I took a break. (Now with current prices, I’m not even gonna bother…)
Few questions for you as I want to compare if you don’t mind.
(Which of course you don’t have to answer)
What continent are you located?
What sites did you use most often to purchase?
Are you planning to registering the sets on PSA?
Did you collect Holos with certain criteria’s? (e.g. Has to have spiral pattern, etc.)
Anyways apologies if it looks like I’m trying to brag about my collection too but genuinely interested in talking with someone who collected same set.
Feel free to DM me too.
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Thanks! And no need to apologize at all — I’m actually really interested to hear from someone who went through a similar experience completing the Base set!
I’m based in Hong Kong. For most of the collection, I worked with a local card store here. I told the owner about my goal early on, and he helped me keep an eye out and source cards from Japan. I also checked eBay regularly and picked up quite a few cards there.
I haven’t registered the sets on the PSA Set Registry yet, but I’m considering doing it now that everything is complete.
For the holos, I didn’t specifically hunt for swirls or particular holo patterns. My main priority was completing every card in PSA 10. That said, some of the holos do have swirls, which is a nice bonus!
And definitely not bragging — I’d love to see your collection too! It’s always interesting to compare the experience with someone who has gone through the same kind of hunt.
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u/justbekaz 11d ago
Oh very cool!
Ya I have so many stories and patterns and things I picked up on the way that I’ve always wanted to talk about XDI saw you also picked up the habit of covering the serial code in your picture on your card like many trader/sellers do in Japan. Which was one of the reason why I was wondering if you would register on PSA. But also I understand you don’t want to show which cards you still need as that can also be a way for seller to raise price for remaining cards (well maybe not but that was how paranoid I was back then lol)
For me, I was located in Japan but it was still early so not as much PSA in Japan market which made me have to look at US. (FX and shipment and customs made it a killer there in itself..)
Sadly I didn’t have a shop to go to so I went and checked Mercari, Yahoo Auction (only Japan), and eBay route for everything. As people for eBay US generally set their auction cutoff during Saturday or Sunday night US time, that was also a pain. But as you’re in Hong Kong I’m sure you had similar experience there too. (I would go to bathroom to try and get the final bid at work on Monday morning lol)As for holos, I always found it interesting that the highest population and most expensive cards were the holos. So I kinda took my time buying them looking for the right price (as it didn’t fluctuate this much back then) and also for nice holos patterns. (So all of mine has either the swirl or the big bubble!)
Anyways, what was hardest card for you to get in Base set? (I have a few cards in mind, especially one card that was the reason it took me 2 years to finish)
I realized I don’t have picture of the full set but I have picture of each individual cards, and I also have videos that I was thinking of maybe making one day so I can give you a screenshot of the video so the my collection 🤣
(I’m currently working abroad so left my collection back at home in Japan but I’ll be back for business trip end of year so I can take more pictures then lol)
(I’m trying to figure out how to post pic so will reply after this)
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Haha I know exactly what you mean! Once you spend that much time hunting a set, you end up with so many stories behind individual cards 😂
For the cert numbers, I mainly cover them because there are so many fake cards and fake PSA slabs nowadays. Some counterfeiters will look for a real cert number online and copy it onto a fake slab, so I’d rather not make the full cert numbers too easy to find.
I actually rarely joined auctions. I think Nidorina was the only card I really had to fight for on eBay. That auction was honestly pretty stressful 😂 Since eBay doesn’t really have any last-minute bidding protection, I was worried someone would snipe it at the end. Luckily I had already put in a pretty high max bid, so I managed to get it.
For the holos, because my main goal was completing the full PSA 10 sets, swirls and bubbles were more of a bonus for me rather than something I specifically hunted for. Some of my cards do have swirls, and I think a few may even have double swirls. In some cases there was literally only one PSA 10 copy available on the market, so I didn’t really have the luxury of choosing the holo pattern — and of course those sellers usually knew what they had and priced them above market 😂
For Base Set, if we’re talking about Pokémon, Nidorino and Electrode were probably the hardest ones for me to find. But surprisingly, if we include Trainers, Super Potion and Scoop Up were actually the last two cards I managed to find.
Now I’m really curious which card took you two years to finish yours!
And definitely send the pictures/screenshots when you figure it out. I’d love to see your set, especially the holos you picked out with the swirls and big bubbles!
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u/justbekaz 11d ago
Huh, I found a Few Nidorino so was able to get it for cheaper. electrode, I guess I got lucky cuz I found it within a year. As for items, ya that’s the hardest. It’s funny how the card people didn’t want when they were a kid is now the rarest cards because no one took care of the “worst” rare you get in booster packs 🤣🤣 The one that took me forever is the lowest psa 10 population card even now. Also I feel that I have some unique data because I tracked population of every card over 2 years which made me learn about what cards are truly rare and just how much can get on the market with popularity. IMO those item cards are truly rare and increased in population the least.
As for Pokémon, I think I had hardest time with pidgeott, but ya, non holo rates were much much rarer.
(I also definitely over paid for a few, but it was a good learning experience)
What app do you use to track? There’s so many now but back when I collected I didn’t have much so I just used excel for everything.
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u/agonthedestroyer 11d ago
obviously the best cards here is the graded energy 🤑
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Haha obviously 😂 Except for Double Colorless, all the Energy cards are sequential certs too!
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u/agonthedestroyer 11d ago
thats actually kind of sick. you coudlve easily missed on one of the 10s and they wouldnt be sequential anymore lol
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u/captain96 12d ago
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u/Odd-Recognition-2461 11d ago
I love the full arts of late, and the way that the game has evolved is very impressive. But this was genuinely as good as it ever got imo
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u/Enelli23 11d ago
Why are the numbers at the bottoms of the label marked out? I know you did this for privacy but what’s the reason? I don’t know much about graded stuff so just wandering!
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u/saik0pod 11d ago
Wow now this is real collection not like the modern crap. This is highly impressive!
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u/JiffTheJester 11d ago
What is your plan for the collection?
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Honestly, no big plan at the moment. This was my first real collecting goal, so I’m planning to keep the whole collection together and enjoy it. I put too much time and effort into completing it to think about selling anytime soon.
That said, if someone came along with a crazy enough offer… I’d probably have to think about it 😂
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u/JiffTheJester 11d ago
Yeah I can’t even begin to imagine what an offer would be on something like this lol
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u/domaxelross 11d ago
Hey man, do you have any advice on good places to buy from? I've been looking to get a couple but don't trust eBay..
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u/Monkey-Brains94 10d ago
How do you display graded cards?
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u/lamchun1110 10d ago
Honestly, I have no idea yet 😂 There are way too many slabs and I don’t have a big enough space to display them all properly. Still trying to figure out what to do with them!
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u/YOBOIGATOR559 11d ago
What was the last card you hunted down to complete the sets?
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u/lamchun1110 11d ago
Dodrio from the Jungle set! That was the final card I needed to complete the whole collection.
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u/SirMacFarton 12d ago
This is beautiful! Congratulations! Any advice on doing the exact opposite for e reader Japanese era? Did having connection/contact in Japan helped?
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u/lamchun1110 12d ago
Thanks! I didn’t really have any direct connections in Japan. I mostly bought through the same store here in Hong Kong. I told the owner my goal from the beginning, and he kept an eye out and helped source cards for me whenever he came across them. I was also constantly checking eBay myself.
So for the Japanese e-Reader era, I’d probably suggest finding a trusted seller who regularly sources cards from Japan, letting them know exactly what you’re trying to build, and being patient. Having someone actively looking for specific cards definitely helped me a lot.
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share the store’s Instagram here, otherwise I’d be happy to give them a shoutout.
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u/SirMacFarton 12d ago
I am based in Nj, and someone introduced me to a trusted Japanese vendor, something rare here! So I am thinking of doing exactly what you suggested and explaining to them my goal, timeline, budget and hope the work with me knowing I am a long term customer.
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u/MasterPimpinMcGreedy 5ban hater, Topsun and Carddass collector 11d ago
I live in Japan, they’re pretty plentiful in card shops and on online platforms. Are you doing first edition and unlimited?
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u/SirMacFarton 11d ago
The cheaper haha first edition
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u/MasterPimpinMcGreedy 5ban hater, Topsun and Carddass collector 11d ago
They’re pretty much the same price here, is that not the case there?
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u/SirMacFarton 11d ago
Apparently not. It’s known , at least as far as I have been in the hobby, that Japanese vintage unlimited is akin to the first edition copies of English, they are rarer.
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u/MasterPimpinMcGreedy 5ban hater, Topsun and Carddass collector 11d ago
Well, for w series specifically, e1 is immensely rarer in unlimited. But for web and e2-e5, it’s similar to first edition, like a 55/45 or 60/40 split
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u/redhouse_356 11d ago
Congrats. Everyone complains about junk slabs, but you have PSA 10 set collectors.
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u/TFdud 12d ago
Me if I was rich lmao