{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/the-479-dollar-lie",
  "slug": "the-479-dollar-lie",
  "title": "The $479 Lie: How Mixed Printings Corrupt Vintage Prices",
  "summary": "Every price site said Fossil Zapdos PSA 9 was worth $479.50. Then we verified all 192 sales behind that number, listing by listing, and found the real Unlimited price is $120. Here is the mechanism that inflates half the vintage market, and how to spot it.",
  "section": "Investment research",
  "published": "2026-08-26",
  "readMinutes": 7,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "$479.50",
      "measures": "Zapdos PSA 9, mixed median",
      "basis": "192 recorded sales, printings blended"
    },
    {
      "value": "$120",
      "measures": "Zapdos PSA 9, Unlimited only",
      "basis": "75 verified same-printing sales"
    },
    {
      "value": "4.0x",
      "measures": "overstatement",
      "basis": "what the blend added"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "Mixed median vs printing-verified median, PSA 9, August 2026",
      "columns": [
        "Card",
        "Mixed median",
        "Verified Unlimited",
        "Distortion"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Card": "[Zapdos](/card/base3-15), [Fossil](/set/fossil)",
          "Mixed median": "$479.50 (n=192)",
          "Verified Unlimited": "$120.00 (n=75)",
          "Distortion": "+300%"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Moltres](/card/base3-12), Fossil",
          "Mixed median": "$201.38 (n=194)",
          "Verified Unlimited": "$199.99 (n=72)",
          "Distortion": "+0.7%"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Umbreon](/card/neo2-32), [Neo Discovery](/set/neo%20discovery)",
          "Mixed median": "$277.75 (n=41)",
          "Verified Unlimited": "$252.75 (n=38)",
          "Distortion": "+9.9%"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "sections": [
    "One product id, three different cards",
    "How we fixed it"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Data: individual eBay sold listings for Fossil and Neo Discovery PSA 9 slabs, August 2026, verified per listing by title against card name, collector number, set, and printing claims. Mixed medians are the provider aggregates we retired on August 25, 2026, and the three of them are our recorded August 19, 2026 snapshots; the verified medians are our August 25, 2026 snapshots. Sample sizes shown inline. The verifier does not record a reason code per rejected listing, so this piece states how many listings survived verification and does not attribute the shortfall to any one cause. A recheck on September 21, 2026 reads Zapdos $123.50 on 77 sales, Moltres $200.00 on 77 and Umbreon $260.00 on 39, so the rebuilt numbers have held."
  ],
  "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file."
}