Gold Star Torchic PSA 5s Are Selling for Nearly PSA 8 Money

Ninety-five bids had taken a 2004 Pokémon EX Team Rocket Returns Gold Star Torchic in a PSA 5 to $20,000 by early Sunday afternoon, ahead of its 7:12 p.m. ET close on eBay.

In February, a PSA 5 sold for $3,600 on eBay. On Oct. 18, two went for $24,000 and $26,400 at Fanatics Collect.

Alt sold a PSA 10 for $2.7 million in September, one of only 19 copies PSA has graded a 10. By then PSA 5s had been selling around $8,000 since June, about double their spring prices.

PSA 9s have cooled since September, going from $105,618 at Alt on Sept. 25 to $60,000 at Fanatics Collect on Oct. 18. The PSA 5s kept climbing. That $26,400 copy sold for just $3,000 less than a PSA 8 did at Fanatics Collect the same day.

If you bought a PSA 5 for around $4,000 before the summer, tonight's bid puts you about $16,000 ahead. Anyone buying now is paying close to PSA 8 money for a card with far more wear on it. This exact slab sold on eBay for $18,950 on Oct. 11 and is listed again two weeks later, still in a damaged case. Plan on sending it to PSA for a new one.

At $20,000 I'm out. I'd stop at $15,600, what a PSA 5 sold for at Fanatics Collect on Sept. 20. If you're ready to spend $25,000 on a Torchic, I'd add a few thousand and chase a PSA 8 like the one that sold for $29,400 on Oct. 18.

The rest of tonight's closings are on CardWire's auctions page.