Japanese Southern Islands (1999): all 18 cards with PSA prices — two movie-era folders

Hi, this is Bunbun. This column covers Southern Islands, an 18-card collection released alongside the second Pokémon movie, The Power of One (Revelation Lugia in Japan), in 1999. Every card has original artwork set on a tropical island, and the cards were sold in folders rather than booster packs.

What is it?

• Released on 17 July 1999, timed with the movie.
• 18 cards, all Pokémon. No Trainers and no Energy.
• Sold as two 9-card folders, Tropical Island and Rainbow Island, and also distributed in 3-card boxes.
• Cards are numbered 1/18 to 18/18.
• 6 holos: Mew, Vileplume, Ledyba, Marill, Slowking and Togepi. None of the 18 cards carries a rarity symbol.
• The Pokémon: Mew, Pidgeot, Onix, Togepi, Ivysaur, Raticate, Ledyba, Jigglypuff, Butterfree, Tentacruel, Marill, Lapras, Exeggutor, Slowking, Wartortle, Lickitung, Vileplume and Primeape.

Highlights

• Mew: card 1/18 is the face of the set, and by total PSA population it is far ahead of every other card here. One of the most collected old-back Mews.
• Slowking: a Pokémon from the movie, and second in the set by graded population.
• Togepi and Marill: heavily graded, yet with very small PSA 10 populations. These are the two cards where the scarcity of a PSA 10 shows most in the price.
• Wartortle: the largest PSA 10 population in the set; clean copies survive in good numbers.
• Vileplume: high in the population report, with island artwork that collectors like.

Reading the prices

• PSA 10 / PSA 9 below are the median of the latest confirmed sales (up to five).
• There is no variant print, so same card, same grade is directly comparable.
• Listings for a whole folder or box are a different item from single slabbed cards. The table here is for single cards.