Items that are difficult to value due to rarity

[RH | 4,987]

21 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

That if I'm not wrong here (too lazy to go pull it out of my book shelf in the closet) is the art from Nintendo for Link's Awakening.  That's koholint island and the egg there is the wind fish.

Sure, I meant, Is that in the manual or in a strategy guide or possibly used in Nintendo Power?  I mean, it looks special, I just want to know why exactly.  If that's OG Nintendo art, that's pretty impressive.  Don't they hold onto that pretty tightly?

[Tabonga | 2,351]

Ignore - posted in wrong thread

Edited August 25, 2022 by Tabonga

[Galdius | 1,516]

Around 7 years ago I got this lot from a GC collector from the UK.

The gold one is common but the other 2 aren't.
The blue one is the Smash Bros DX Event-You and the other is a retail release with a NFR sticker.
As far as I know this is the only known copy for the Event-You disc. Someone on NA said there was another 2 with Japanese collectors but I never saw photos of those 2 copies.

I remember how much I payed for the Event-You disc but I don't know how much it would be worth today.
A few years ago I got an offer for US$500 plus some other things but I said no.

I'm not interested in selling them but I'm curious to know how much they would be worth.

[Romiked2689 | 120]

7 hours ago, RH said:

What is that, exactly?

Original art for links awakening np player guide 

[Romiked2689 | 120]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

That if I'm not wrong here (too lazy to go pull it out of my book shelf in the closet) is the art from Nintendo for Link's Awakening.  That's koholint island and the egg there is the wind fish.

Pull it out and sell it to me

[Tanooki | 4,954]

5 hours ago, Romiked2689 said:

Pull it out and sell it to me

Hah I'll trade you the art for the book.

[attakid101 | 273]

On 8/24/2022 at 7:31 PM, Romiked2689 said:

@attakid101you know what to do with your rare item send it to me:p 

 

Here’s my recent pick up definitely falls in these categories and basically I had to either leave the item or pay the price asked
 

I do t own anything as rare as this lol

[DarkTone | 988]

3 hours ago, attakid101 said:

I do t own anything as rare as this lol

Didn't/ dont you own an earthbound poster?

[Chaos Control | 70]

Quite a lot of the CD-i library is like this in that not only are prices all over the place but also some titles might only show up for sale once or twice a year if at all, and often with BINs that sell instantly. Consider the BP game Making the Grade:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195282299417?hash=item2d77bb6a19:g:eVUAAOSwUIli1r4T&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoEGsZiqUnMOZQzBL6v8nj65V3dz6vTUE%2FTA6%2FwxyaYQz%2BXztttUaklqV2J1rBPUzKcuAEI27hBKN07KPj70rq1Od2MITqKE7JWeIQ8yBrCyGIA7EsrsF3xaJFBt8THT%2B%2BT%2F%2FnNCb%2BAmSwTAa9paS6PLkllHdxZqzgO4%2FLOadlZifSV05bp1ygZWmQSsHEByJ0%2BLidlFrZM%2B9rD48NzvGM88%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4TC_vzbYA#vi__app-cvip-panel

 

...over $400 with shipping to the US, and it was listed and sold almost immediately. I can only guess at what price an open auction would fetch. 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Chaos Control

[final fight cd | 187]

58 minutes ago, Chaos Control said:

Quite a lot of the CD-i library is like this in that not only are prices all over the place but also some titles might only show up for sale once or twice a year if at all, and often with BINs that sell instantly. Consider the BP game Making the Grade:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195282299417?hash=item2d77bb6a19:g:eVUAAOSwUIli1r4T&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoEGsZiqUnMOZQzBL6v8nj65V3dz6vTUE%2FTA6%2FwxyaYQz%2BXztttUaklqV2J1rBPUzKcuAEI27hBKN07KPj70rq1Od2MITqKE7JWeIQ8yBrCyGIA7EsrsF3xaJFBt8THT%2B%2BT%2F%2FnNCb%2BAmSwTAa9paS6PLkllHdxZqzgO4%2FLOadlZifSV05bp1ygZWmQSsHEByJ0%2BLidlFrZM%2B9rD48NzvGM88%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4TC_vzbYA#vi__app-cvip-panel

 

...over $400 with shipping to the US, and it was listed and sold almost immediately. I can only guess at what price an open auction would fetch. 

 

I would guess cd-i collecting is pretty niche. There is a good possibility it could have gone for far less at auction. 

[Super Nintendo Chalmers | 53]

Some video game promo posters pre-Gamecube (Donkey Kong Country, Mario Kart 64, Ocarina of Time, Pokemon G/S/C, Diddy Kong Racing) I own can be hard to put a price on, as these types of items can be legitimately scarce due to many being disposed of and as a result come with little to no public sold history.

The phrase "it's only worth what someone is willing to pay" is especially relevant with those types of items. You can extend that to certain pieces of video game merch, employee and distributor clothing, standees and retail signage, subscription prizes and to a lesser extent cabinets and kiosks.

[ThePhleo | 2,187]

On 8/22/2022 at 4:35 PM, DarkTone said:

Bought a memory card on ebay. The wu tang controller is uncommon but this memory card seems to be rare. Pulled the trigger with a few seconds to go as the only bidder and got it for £1, including shipping. An hour later I found £1 on the ground. 

The part that worries me is research. With no evidence online that this exists, how do I know its real? 

I've had a photo of this memory card on my hard drive since 2014....and only now I finally know where it came from.

Back on NA someone asked where it came from and NO one had any clue besides "I dunno, probably the PS1 game" but like no proof of how it was packaged.

Edit: Wait, nevermind...it's not bundled in there? Damn...so where did that thing come from. I bet this picture might even be yours.

Edit 2: Jason from Game-Rave shown me there's another rare memory card that looks like this for a PAL PS1 game: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385411591095

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by ThePhleo

[DarkTone | 988]

2 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

I've had a photo of this memory card on my hard drive since 2014....and only now I finally know where it came from.

Back on NA someone asked where it came from and NO one had any clue besides "I dunno, probably the PS1 game" but like no proof of how it was packaged.

Edit: Wait, nevermind...it's not bundled in there? Damn...so where did that thing come from. I bet this picture might even be yours.

Edit 2: Jason from Game-Rave shown me there's another rare memory card that looks like this for a PAL PS1 game: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385411591095

 

Oh wow. Not sure if that one is mine, but I still have it. I actually found pictures of the packaging too. 

[re4mat | 65]

Value is always such a tricky thing. I don’t generally sell anything in my collection(s), but I do like to know the values of things for insurance purposes. When it gets into the rare stuff, that presents an extra challenge. How can you tell how much it has appreciated over time if it never comes on the market?

I have quite a few rarities in my collection, but one that I never see anywhere is ‘Through the Looking Glass’ for the original 1984 Macintosh. Written by Steve Capps, who was on the Macintosh team, it remains the only video game ever physically published by Apple. The diskette pops up every now and then for pretty cheap, but the packaging is the real star. I paid about 400 for my copy several years ago after looking for even longer. Who knows how much the next copy to surface will go for?

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by re4mat
Switched images over to ibb.co to save VGS some bandwidth. :)

[GPX | 1,374]

38 minutes ago, re4mat said:

Value is always such a tricky thing. I don’t generally sell anything in my collection(s), but I do like to know the values of things for insurance purposes. When it gets into the rare stuff, that presents an extra challenge. How can you tell how much it has appreciated over time if it never comes on the market?

I have quite a few rarities in my collection, but one that I never see anywhere is ‘Through the Looking Glass’ for the original 1984 Macintosh. Written by Steve Capps, who was on the Macintosh team, it remains the only video game ever physically published by Apple. The diskette pops up every now and then for pretty cheap, but the packaging is the real star. I paid about 400 for my copy several years ago after looking for even longer. Who knows how much the next copy to surface will go for?

 

That’s got to be one of the newest looking oldest thing I’ve ever seen!

As retro collectors, I’m sure a lot of us would appreciate this rarity. It’s also the perfect example on how it’s near impossible to gauge the value, because how many collectors will pay premium prices for this item in 10-20 years? That’s always an unstable variable when projecting forward.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

I've got a few things.  A couple are even on eBay right now...a sealed US Cosmic Spacehead for Game Gear that shows one sale on Pricecharting from 2010, and a 2 item Mario Golf promo item set (a golf visor with Mario's silhouette swinging a club, and a golf multitool with the Nintendo logo on it).  Things in my collection include a Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy tip sheet that was sent by Camerica to someone that must have wrote in to them, the original artwork used for the PC version of Ikari Warriors II, a few rare NES and SNES guides and mags, my Myriad 6-in-1 cart, the complete NES Game Genie code update set, and probably a ton more stuff I can't think of off the top of my head.

[Code Monkey | 2,014]

4 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

I've got a few things.  A couple are even on eBay right now...a sealed US Cosmic Spacehead for Game Gear that shows one sale on Pricecharting from 2010, and a 2 item Mario Golf promo item set (a golf visor with Mario's silhouette swinging a club, and a golf multitool with the Nintendo logo on it).  Things in my collection include a Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy tip sheet that was sent by Camerica to someone that must have wrote in to them, the original artwork used for the PC version of Ikari Warriors II, a few rare NES and SNES guides and mags, my Myriad 6-in-1 cart, the complete NES Game Genie code update set, and probably a ton more stuff I can't think of off the top of my head.

Tip sheet? Rare NES? Myriad? Where?

I checked your store, not there.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

21 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Tip sheet? Rare NES? Myriad? Where?

I checked your store, not there.

If you actually read it, I said those were part of my collection and not for sale.  Only the first two items are.

Edit: some pics:

Edited December 21, 2023 by the_wizard_666

[Code Monkey | 2,014]

11 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

If you actually read it, I said those were part of my collection and not for sale.  Only the first two items are.

Edit: some pics:

Oh damn, got too excited.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Just now, Code Monkey said:

Oh damn, got too excited.

It's cool, it happens.  Technically everything is open to offers of course, but what it'd cost to pry them from my collection is going to be stupidly high and probably not worth it to you

[Enternal | 15]

I have a sealed king of fighters cell phone game that I can barely even find any information on (I think 2 articles, never seen on eBay) see attached. I found this in a barn from someone that would buy storage units.

A Samurai Showdown 3DO game that I think is a review copy. Doesn't look anything like the retail release and I can't find anything that looks like it. (In storage so don't have pictures)

A Last Day Gears of War Cog Tag, these were randomly spread to different locations, random areas, some geo caching spots, and to press.

They have different serial numbers and I believe unlocked information for everyone to see on the gears of war 2 website.

Ive only see 3 in the last 10 years sell, 130, 500, and 2 days ago one of the press ones sold for 150.

Here is one of the press ones.

 

Edited January 8 by Enternal

[xelement5x | 74]

One of my favorite items which I own that is rare but practically worthless probably is the Sega Pico Storyware Sampler cartridge.  Found it over a decade ago when I picked it up in a Pico lot off Craigslist from a lady.  She was late meeting me and even gave me like $10 off for the whole lot (a handful of loose and boxed games and a system), and I had no clue to the rarity until years later when I mentioned it on Sega16 to someone. 

These were normally paired with the demo kiosk, which was destroyed or sent back to Sega I'd assume.  There was a full kiosk with pamphlets and this cartridge which came up on ebay a year ago I think, too big for me to consider buying and storing, plus I'm sure after shipping the whole thing would be destroyed unless the seller was very careful packing.

 

I've gotten a LOT of obscure merch from Japan over the last 20 years or so as well, and it's stuff I've only seen a handful of times, but I'm pretty sure no one cares about here as far as I know.  

Edited January 8 by xelement5x

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

7 hours ago, xelement5x said:

One of my favorite items which I own that is rare but practically worthless probably is the Sega Pico Storyware Sampler cartridge.  Found it over a decade ago when I picked it up in a Pico lot off Craigslist from a lady.  She was late meeting me and even gave me like $10 off for the whole lot (a handful of loose and boxed games and a system), and I had no clue to the rarity until years later when I mentioned it on Sega16 to someone. 

These were normally paired with the demo kiosk, which was destroyed or sent back to Sega I'd assume.  There was a full kiosk with pamphlets and this cartridge which came up on ebay a year ago I think, too big for me to consider buying and storing, plus I'm sure after shipping the whole thing would be destroyed unless the seller was very careful packing.

 

I've gotten a LOT of obscure merch from Japan over the last 20 years or so as well, and it's stuff I've only seen a handful of times, but I'm pretty sure no one cares about here as far as I know.  

I actually wouldn't mind scoring something like that.  I'm at 14/20 on my Pico collection, with the bulk of the rares already down.  Haven't seen a sampler cart come up at all in my searches.  Super rare, but demand is next to zero.

[DarkTone | 988]

7 hours ago, xelement5x said:

One of my favorite items which I own that is rare but practically worthless probably is the Sega Pico Storyware Sampler cartridge.  Found it over a decade ago when I picked it up in a Pico lot off Craigslist from a lady.  She was late meeting me and even gave me like $10 off for the whole lot (a handful of loose and boxed games and a system), and I had no clue to the rarity until years later when I mentioned it on Sega16 to someone. 

These were normally paired with the demo kiosk, which was destroyed or sent back to Sega I'd assume.  There was a full kiosk with pamphlets and this cartridge which came up on ebay a year ago I think, too big for me to consider buying and storing, plus I'm sure after shipping the whole thing would be destroyed unless the seller was very careful packing.

 

I've gotten a LOT of obscure merch from Japan over the last 20 years or so as well, and it's stuff I've only seen a handful of times, but I'm pretty sure no one cares about here as far as I know.  

Nice. Also, please share the obscure Japanese stuff. 

[xelement5x | 74]

On 1/9/2024 at 12:54 AM, DarkTone said:

Nice. Also, please share the obscure Japanese stuff. 

Sure!  Happy to share a couple

Here's a Cotton Teacup I found years ago which I was never able to completely figure out where it came from.  Best bet after talking with some friends in Japan is it was part of the X68000 release.  I've seen lots of others cups but none like this, the EA Victor branding is a bit odd.
https://flic.kr/p/k7U6c5 

 

 

This is two different releases of a promo video about the LaserActive that was released in Japan. The 'Mr. J.H. Long' Video.  This is probably the weirdest promotional video I have seen, since from what I was able to understand it promotes the LaserActive as like alien technology and integrates the promo along with a mock interview with someone recounting their abduction experience.  Uploads of it are on YouTube.