Should I buy? Crown Zenith Galarian Birds tins | Pokemon TCG investing
- Professor Ash
- Jul 11, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 12, 2024
Hello everyone! This series focuses on finding Pokemon TCG products that are purchasable at a certain price and whether they could be a good longer term investment. I am a Pokemon collector and like to fund my hobby by selling a little on the side. I also like investing generally in both crypto and stocks so this combines some of my hobbies in a fun way for me and hopefully this is interesting for you too. We have started an Instagram account where we try and post relaxing Pokemon TCG content. If you are interested please check us out at @chibikiki_tcg or click here.
Onto today's product we are looking at the Crown Zenith Galarian birds tin. It comes with 4 Crown Zenith booster packs and a unique alt art promo card of 1 of the 3 Galarian Birds. I am a sucker for a product with a good unique promo (I'm looking forward to the new Shrouded fable Illustration set) . Too many of the new sets seem to have a generic full art or worse a replica artwork from a main set. That's not the case here. My favorite is the Zapdos terrifying the local Pokemon. Even better they are available for $18.49 frpm Amazon right now. That's both below the MSRP and 35% below the current TCGPlayer price for these of $29. Side note who is buying from TCGPlayer who doesn't have access to Amazon? Anyway let's look at this in more detail.
Why might the Crown Zenith Galarian Bird tins be good for Pokemon TCG investing?
As I always mention there are 2 main (monetary) reasons you might invest in a Pokemon TCG product.
There's something about the product that is desirable
The product is related to a desirable set
How is the product?
As already mentioned I really like the the promo card that comes with this set. I think most collectors will want one in their collection somewhere. However we know the Galarian birds are not as popular as the original Legendary birds from Red and Blue and the value of these promo cards is only $1-$2 so there's no real value in these today. Even the PSA 10s of these cards are going for around $30-$50 so again no real value today. However overtime when these go out of stock I can see these increasing. We may be some way away from that eventuality however.
Its worth noting that the Moltres variant appears to be the most popular (or at least the most costly today). This may be because more people like Moltres or that there is a valuable Galarian Moltres chase card in Chilling Reign increasing demand in general, either way its worth noting.
It also comes with 4 packs of Crown Zenith. This is perhaps the easiest of the Sword and Shield era sets to still get a hold of so currently a lot of the Crown Zenith products are available for MSRP in stores.
How is the set doing?
Like most SWSH sets there has been a recent spike and a slight tail off in the last month. However compared to some sets this has not been as steep for Crown Zenith.
In terms of cards themselves the quality and depth is huge. The Galarian Gallery is 70 long and holds some bangers like, Leafeon, Suicune, Entei and Mewtwo, Its a great set to open with a high hit rate (for a SWSH set). The only downside is the biggest chase card Giratina Vstar. The value of this is just over $100 right now. This is quite low for the biggest chase card and will likely remain simply because these cards aren't that rare. This gives people less reason to open this set beyond collecting.
As mentioned the supply of this set is also quite high still, there are plenty of different Crown Zenith products in stores and on Pokemon center available today meaning it may be a while before this set really starts taking off.
What could the future value be?
I'm struggling to find the right comparison to do a cost projection comparison of. There have been a few products with a unique promo over the years but I don't want to compare it to an Eevee or original starters as this will not go to that level.
Instead we are going to look at 3 different sets and their booster pack value from the last from X and Y and Sun and moon, Evolutions, Generations and Hidden fates.
Evolutions was the last set from X and Y and was a glorified reprint, similar to Crown Zenith (did I mention a lot of the Crown Zenith set replicates cards from the rest of the SWSH series). Hidden Fates and Celebrations were special sets that didn't get booster boxes. Again given us some similarity.
Product | Released | Current price | Yearly % increase |
|---|---|---|---|
Evolutions booster pack | Oct 2016 | $21 | 9% |
Generations booster pack | Feb 2016 | $44 | 31% |
Hidden fates booster pack | Aug 2019 | $20 | 34% |
Note we used a base price of $4 for each product and TCGPlayer for the current price.
We see a wide range of comparisons here, it's also worth reiterating I'm not sure what a good comparison is here. Both special sets show a good appreciation in price over time. If this is accurate we can expect good price appreciation over time. However if the XY comparison is accurate then its not a set worth looking at. I'm inclined to lean towards the former, it being a special set means no booster boxes are available. This means access to packs is harder and so price appreciation more likely. If this is accurate and with the set already being 18 months old we can expect the 4 packs alone to be worth $72 alone in 3 years. Whether the product attracts a premium because of the cool promos remains to be seen. Its also worth noting the price of $18.49 for the tin makes it less than $5 a pack which less than the current TCG price per pack of $5.20 plus you get a sweet promo card on top.
Pokemon TCG investment Conclusion: Buy
Price target: $55 Time frame: 3 years
Is it out of stock at the Pokemon center? |  |
Can get it for MSRP or less? | |
Is the product increasing in value? |  |
Is the set increasing in value? | |
Are the comparisons up in value? | |
Overall I rate this product a buy at this price. Note although this tin is not available at Pokemon center the large tin is and quite a few other Crown Zenith products are also. That's the main negative here as it may be a while before we see price increases as long as supply exists in the primary sales channels. However this being a special set with a good card selection I believe the price will increase substantially over time.
Also the promos do have a chance to appreciate over time also increasing the price of this set once these go out of stock. although I doubt this will be a major price differentiator. I'm being conservative of the price estimate because I'm not confident on the comparisons and I think the supply might last a little longer however this does have potential to be in the $70-$90 value range in 3 years if the more bullish case pans out.
If you would like some yourself here is the link to the listing and if you find it cheaper anywhere else, buy it!
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