Isn't an unlimited set worth more than this?

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:26 pm

Lately I've been exploring the idea of selling off some of my older sets, and the Unlimited set would probably be the first to go. However, I thought they were worth more than this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-COMPLETE-UNLIMITED-SET-MOX-BLACK-LOTUS-MANA-DRAIN_W0QQitemZ280104353194QQihZ018QQcategoryZ19115QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Am I missing something here? I thought they could go for over 7K, and at Gen Con I saw a set at one store for 12K.

Are the prices of older sets going down?

Squt

Moderator Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 3040 Location: Paris

squt wrote:

Lately I've been exploring the idea of selling off some of my older sets, and the Unlimited set would probably be the first to go. However, I thought they were worth more than this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-COMPLETE-UNLIMITED-SET-MOX-BLACK-LOTUS-MANA-DRAIN_W0QQitemZ280104353194QQihZ018QQcategoryZ19115QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Am I missing something here? I thought they could go for over 7K, and at Gen Con I saw a set at one store for 12K.

Are the prices of older sets going down?

Squt

Hi Mark.
It's roughly the price for an Unlimited one,at 7/12K it must be Alpha or Beta.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:33 pm

A set of NM UL power is $3200-3800 or so, and the rest doesn't add up that fast, so I would think 5200 is more likely than 7k.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:40 pm

At present, Unlimited sets are definitely underpriced relative to Alpha and Beta. Black-bordered cards always commanded a premium among players, and that attitude (combined with the increased rarity of Alpha and Beta sets) has led to a major price discrepancy. In fact, Unlimited sets often sell for little more than the value of the Power 9 alone.

And while most true NrMt Alpha and Beta rares go for $15-$20 or more each, many Unlimited rares sell on eBay for the prices of their Revised counterparts, often les than $1 each. Players are only starting to appreciate the richer colors and odd wordings of the Unlimited set, and they still prefer black borders, foils, promos or foreign cards to pimp their decks. As an extreme example of how underpriced the Unlimited set is, I picked up a strictly NrMt-Mt set, missing only the Power 9, for under $700 in December.

So its not a great time to sell Unlimited sets. But if you can wait, more and more collectors are discovering just how hard it is to complete Unlimited sets, especially in top condition. I wouldn't try to predict future pricing on P-9 cards, but I think the rest of the Unlimited set is probably the most undervalued of any older Magic set.

If you have to sell, you would probably make more by breaking out the key cards (P-9, duals, big $ rares), and selling the commons as a single lot, the uncommons as a single lot, and the "junk" rares as a single lot.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:14 pm

Hi Mark, I watched an Unlimited set up for auction on ebay a couple months ago end around $3275 US. It was described as NM/MT. As hammr says, it is very under-appreciated.

Member Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 8

I agree - it is rather undervalued as a set.

The problem is that BB=premium, so people don't want to pay extra for a wb card, no matter what set it's from (summer & oddities excluded). I started playing when Unlimited came out, and as such have had a lot of them. Over the years as I traded with people it was almost universal that no one wanted to give any premium for the non-OOP cards, and I think that's still true today. Funny thing is, like others have said, true Mint Unlimiteds are actually hard to come by. Most were played in the day and there isn't a lot of sealed product floating around.

Perhaps someday they will command a better premium happy

Take it easy,
Jared