My Murakami Card Hunt Begins
So I saw these crazy colorful Takashi Murakami cards online and thought – how hard could it be? Big mistake.
Step one: I jumped straight to auction sites. Typed “Murakami trading cards” and boom – prices slapped me like a wet fish. $80 for one card? Nope. Felt like those sellers sniffed my desperation.
Alright, step two: Decided to hunt at conventions. Packed my backpack, wore comfy shoes, felt all pro. Got to this anime con and found exactly three vendors selling ’em. One dude tried passing off fan prints as real. Called him out – he just shrugged and said “Same-same”. Walked away feeling like a sucker.
What Actually Worked
After wasting cash on fake stuff, I got smart:
- Joined Facebook collector groups: Posted “ISO Takashi Murakami” every dang day. Got flooded with DMs – half were scammers wanting Zelle payments upfront
- Checked official Murakami drops: Signed up for newsletter alerts. Woke up at 3AM for a Perrotin gallery online release. Site crashed. Missed it anyway.
- Local comic shops became my haunt: Chatted up owners. One guy saved me this rad Superflat series promo card when I bought Spider-Man comics. Hooked ever since.
The Ugly Truth
Here’s the real talk nobody warns you about:
- Condition matters too much: Found this cheap lot on Marketplace. Cards arrived bent because idiot wrapped ’em in newspaper. Felt like crying.
- Storage cost more than some cards: Bought acid-free sleeves and binders. Spent $40 protecting $15 cards. Makes zero sense but here we are.
- Trading’s a nightmare: Posted duplicates for swaps. Got offered knockoff Pokémon cards every single time. Blocked so many people.
Ended up with just 11 cards after six months. But y’know what? That crappy journey taught me more than any fancy guide. Saw a teen pull a sick Murakami card from a gumball machine in Osaka last month. Should’ve started there instead of sweating eBay bids at 2AM. Live and learn.
