The Kimura Premium: 249 Cards, One Quiet 1.13x Tax
Naoyo Kimura's catalog runs a 1.13x premium across 249 cards, and the spread between the top and bottom of that list tells you where the money actually sits.
KEY POINTS
- ›Naoyo Kimura trades at a 1.13x premium across 249 tracked cards
- ›Priciest tracked card: Lugia at $4500.00
Artist spotlights are usually a vibe piece. This one has a number attached: Kimura's 249 cataloged cards carry a 1.13x premium. Not a moon shot, not a rounding error. A steady tax the market pays for the name in the corner of the art.
Where that premium concentrates is the interesting part. Lugia from Aquapolis, Secret Rare, sits at 4500.00 dollars and does most of the heavy lifting for the whole cohort by itself. Drop down the list and the air gets thin fast: Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat, a Scarlet & Violet Black Star Promo, checks in at 1084.90. Everything after that lives in triple digits: Poliwrath from Skyridge at 500.96, Pikachu from POP Series 5 at 434.85, Vaporeon from Skyridge at 423.00, Machamp also Skyridge at 419.99, Slowking from Southern Islands at 305.97, and Umbreon from Neo Discovery closing the top eight at 300.00.
That's a nearly fifteen-fold gap between the top of the list and the bottom, inside the same artist's catalog. The 1.13x premium isn't evenly distributed. It's Lugia dragging an average up while the rest of the Kimura output trades like a normal set of holo rares and commons that happen to have decent art. If you're buying the artist thesis, you're really buying one card and hoping the halo effect spreads.
Now the part I don't get to skip: how the desk's own signals have actually performed. Monthly mint alerts hit 25% of the time at 7 days for an average return of +2.6%, and stretch to 40% hit rate at 30 days for +8.9%. The 7-day gainer signal is closer to a coin flip you shouldn't take, 19% hit rate for +0.7% at 7 days, improving to 39% and +3.4% by 30 days. The loser signal is the one that actually earns its keep: 46% hit rate at 7 days for -4.5%, and 60% hit rate at 30 days for -13.0%. Translation: we're better at flagging what's lagging than we are at calling what's about to run. File that under things I'd rather admit than hide.
None of this is a call to chase Kimura paper. It's a map of where the premium lives and a reminder that our own scoreboard says patience beats speed, especially on the upside signals.
Numbers from the TickerMint pipeline. Every call is scored publicly on the scoreboard.
