Even though the Pokemon Trading Card Game launched in Japan in 1996, it has an avid global following to this day, with legions of active players and avid collectors. The market for rare cards has soared, and the outcome of a recent auction shattered previous records with a staggering price tag.
Thomas Fish, president of Blowoutcards.com, secured a sealed, limited first edition US booster box with a winning bid of $360,000. The box was sold by Heritage Auctions as part of their annual Comics & Comic Art Auction. Pokemon TCG fans are known for their tremendous passion, but the record-breaking bid still beggars belief.
The previous record for a Pokemon TCG booster box was set as recently as September, for the still-impressive winning bid of $198,000. To provide another point of reference, a first edition Pokemon TCG card set with an alleged price tag of $375,000 was showcased on a livestream, only to be revealed as a fake. Tragically, the sealed packs had been stacked with damaged and common cards. This demonstrates the tremendous risks of investing in TCG boosters, which themselves, are always a form of gambling, as one never knows what cards a booster will contain.
Collectors occasionally stumble across lucrative windfalls, however. In August, the Pokemon TCG collector Gio Martin discovered a twenty-year-old booster pack sitting on a shelf in a target. Such finds are far from common but serve as a dream come true for serious collectors.
First edition boosters containing limited edition cards and cards that are long out of print serve as holy grails for collectors. Even though early cards are printed generously, relatively few of them are well-preserved. And it is sadly not uncommon to see valuable cards abused, or completely ruined via carelessness. Twitch streamer Wesbtw destroyed a card that would have been valued at $200 after a viewer paid him to bend a booster pack prior to opening it.
Hopefully, Fish’s sealed booster box arrives in good condition, and promptly. Shipping is another peril that collectors face, with cards occasionally incurring damage while in transit. One collector finally received his shiny Charizard card a full 5 months after purchase when it was lost in the mail.
It is interesting to note the recent upward trend in the collectible card market, and one cannot help but wonder whether trading is seeing a spike as a result of COVID, since playing in person has become more difficult. Avid players who are theory-crafting and deck-building are more likely to seek out specific cards during the lull. Players are finding ways to keep the game active as possible in the era of social distancing, however, and the Pokemon Company announced a virtual, team-based tournament in May of next year.
The Pokemon TCG is available now.
Source: Nintendo Life
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