Pokmon First Edition Base Set Sells For A Mind
A Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box released by Wizards of the Coast in 1999 set a new record by selling for $408,000 at auction.
A Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box set a collectible card game world record last week by selling for $408,000 at auction.
The box reportedly sold during the second session of Heritage Auctions four-day Comics & Comic Art Auction, which runs through Sunday, Jan. 17. The afternoon session included 16 Pokémon lots overall, which accounted for more than $1.3 million in sales.
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“Recent history has shown that the demand for First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Boxes is soaring,” said Jesus Garcia, Trading Cards Expert in the Heritage Auctions Comics Department. “Based on the competitive bidding when Heritage Auctions sold a similar set in November, we expected the interest in this set to be even higher, and our collectors did not disappoint.”
The First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box was in its original shrink wrap and broke the previous world record for an auction sale, set when Heritage Auctions sold a similar booster box in November 2020 for $360,000. The set was created in 1999 by Wizards of the Coast and featured 102 cards, including the highly sought after Charizard.
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The Series That Started It All
You almost have to be a fire-breathing dragon to fend off competition for a 1999 Pokémon 1st Edition Charizard card .
This dazzling holographic single, which highlights the extremely popular, fire-breathing Pokémon, has become the 1993 SP Derek Jeter of Pokémon cards.
“To put it into perspective, I remember reading on a forum that people were struggling to sell that Charizard card for $600 to $700 in PSA 10 in 2008, and now it’s probably $4,500 to $5,000,” shared Scott Pratte, a well-known Pokémon trading card expert. “The growth has been pretty significant.”
Robert Hebb, who has assembled the entire 1999 Pokémon 1st Edition set in PSA 10 grade, has noticed the same trend.
“Everyone wants that card,” he said. “It’s definitely the most iconic Pokémon card of the set, if not all time.”
But while prices for PSA 10 Charizard cards have soared, the demand for this single is nothing new.
“A lot of people, including myself, grew up in the schoolyard wanting the Charizard card,” said Jason Perdue, who’s just 23 and has built the registry’s No. 4 Current Finest, 1999 Pokémon 1st Edition set. “I never got one , but when I came back to the hobby 10 years later with disposable income, what card do you think I was going to go for? I wanted the Charizard.”
“The Charizard card, in particular, has phenomenal art,” said Perdue. “He’s breathing this huge flame and he just looks so menacing.”
Of the 1,071 Charizard cards submitted, there have been 95 PSA 10s.
There are now 22 PSA 10s.
You Will Not Believe The Prices That Old Pokemon Booster Boxes Are Selling For
I have been playing and collecting Trading Card Games since the mid-1990s. I started playing Magic: The Gathering in 1996. I remember seeing a Black Lotus card from MTG at my local game store selling for $300. I still remember thinking $300 for a single card was crazy!
In 2017, someone paid $100,000 for a Perfect 10 graded Black Lotus. Wow! Just Wow! A PSA 9 Black Lotus sold for $62,000 in April 2020.
While playing in a large MTG Tournament in January 1999, representatives of Wizards of the Coast were demonstrating their new Pokemon Trading Card Game. I played the demo, and enjoyed it. The Base Set of Pokemon had just been released. My kids and I had been playing the Pokemon Red/Blue games on the old B& W GameBoys, so I picked up some booster packs to teach them a TCG. Booster packs sold for $3.29 each back then. And Booster Boxes of the Base Set retailed for about $118. The real Pokemon Craze started in the Spring/Summer of 1999, about 2-3 months later.
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Sealed First Edition Pokmon Base Set Booster Box Could Bring $300k At Heritage Auctions
Event also features Skyridge Sealed Booster Box, last set produced by game originator Wizards of the CoastComics & Comic Art AuctionPokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box sold a similar setPokémon-e Skyridge Sealed Booster Box Pokémon Yellow – Wata 9.8 A+ Sealed , GB Nintendo 1999 USAHeritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth . The Internet’s most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,250,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.
Vintage Pokemon Tcg Booster Box Sells For A Record
Pokemania has well and truly been running wild in the Pokemon trading card game community for some months now. Ever since the invasion of cash-flush influencers into the scene, including YouTube star Logan Paul and rapper Logic, the market has seen a huge uptick in demand for the already-popular TCG.
The games most sought after set, the 1999 Base Set, somehow still has mint, first edition boxes out there despite going out of print two decades ago. These boxes have been going for ludicrous sums of money well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars with the lure of pulling the iconic Charizard a huge selling point. Now, a new record has been set, with an eye-watering $450,000 exchanging hands in return for a 1st edition shadowless Base Set booster box.
Pokemon card broker to the stars, Michael ThePokeJew Goldstein, yesterday took to Instagram to announce that he had facilitated the sale of the box to German Fortnite content creators LoftyVTR and Standart Skill. According to ThePokeJew, this is the single largest transaction for a sealed first edition Base Set booster box to date, shattering the previous record sale of $408,000.
You can see the encased box in all its glory below.
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Pokmon Box Set Sells For $408k
Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
DALLAS — Demand for rare, high-end Pokémon collectibles continues to soar as evidenced by the sale of a Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box for a world record-setting $408,000 at Heritage Auctions.
The box sold during the second session of Heritages four-day Comics & Comic Art Auction, which ran through Sunday, January 16.
The afternoon session included 16 Pokémon lots that accounted for more than $1.3 million in sales. The record-setting booster box was one of three that produced six-figure results.
Jesus Garcia, Heritage Auctions
Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
Recent history has shown that the demand for First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Boxes is soaring, said Jesus Garcia, Trading Cards Expert in the Heritage Auctions Comics Department. “Based on the competitive bidding when Heritage Auctions sold a similar set in November, we expected the interest in this set to be even higher, and our collectors did not disappoint.
Offered in its original shrink wrap, the First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box broke the previous world record for an auction sale, set when Heritage Auctions sold a similar booster box in November 2020 for $360,000. The set was created in 1999 by Wizards of the Coast and features 102 cards, most notably the Charizard. Today, an original shrink wrap version is considered the pinnacle of box collecting.
Pokémon First Edition Base Set Booster Box: $408,000 at auction
Pokémon Charizard
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What Are Shadowless Pokemon Cards
The Shadowless cards are the very first print runs that Wizards of the Coast produced for the Pokemon Base Set. WOTC did not like the look of the original Pokemon Cards. So, they changed several things on the cards to make them look better. The most obvious was putting the shadow around the box which had the art of the Pokemon character. The HP font was also changed and the colors were made to pop.
All 1st Edition Character cards are Shadowless. There is a very small print run of Unlimited Shadowless cards that followed the 1st Edition cards. The bulk of Unlimited cards have shadows. Shadowless Unlimited cards are generally worth more than shadowed versions of unlimited cards due to their scarcity.
Here are the releases of Base Set Pokemon Cards, in order:
- 1st Edition All Shadowless
Prices are all based on Near Mint Condition. We highly recommend you get 1st Edition Holofoils cards from this set graded! .
The PSA 10 Column shows actual sold prices for 1st Edition cards on eBay. As Base Set cards are graded more and more, we have decided to show only PSA values for 7s and 10s.
| Card # |
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Pokmon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box
Are you looking for the item that will quickly become the centerpiece of your collection? Well, look no further because we have just the item for you with this Sealed First Edition Base Set Booster Box! Released on January 9, 1999 by Wizards of the Coast the Base Set included 102 cards, including the widely popular Charizard. At the time of its release the Pokémon Trading Card Game became an instant hit and has withstood the test of time continuing to be beloved by the next generations. To find a booster box like this one still sealed in its original shrink-wrap is no easy task due to the low print run, few have remained sealed and even fewer have come to market.
Whether you’re opening it, storing it, or attempting to make a famous YouTuber seek you out, I wish the best of luck to everyone going for this 1st Edition Pokémon TCG: Base Set booster box.
Pokemon Booster Box Price Guide
So without further adieu, lets have a look at Crazy Pokemon Booster Box Prices!
Note: When i mention single card values in the article, Im specifically mentioning cards graded Gem-Mint by an Independent Grading Service. Card Prices and Booster prices are based on Actual eBay Sales in the United States!
Pokemon Base Set, 1st Edition, 1999 $60,000 The Holy Grail of Pokemon Booster Boxes! 1st edition Pokemon Cards sell for ridiculously high prices. In November 2018, this booster box sold for $60,200 on eBay receiving over 64 bids in the process. Why is this going for $60k? Basically, every card in this box is still mint, and could sell for great prices. Charizards in this box can sell for $20,000 to $75,000 all by themselves. All holofoils in this box can sell for over $1,000 each. Even basic energy cards can sell for $60 a piece! Based on this sale, each individual booster pack would be worth $1,600! Yowza!
A PSA 10 Blastoise sold for $6000 in April 2020.
Pokemon Skyridge 2003 $15,995 Its funny how one rare card can essentially make the price of a booster box skyrocket in value. Whats the one rare card in this one? You guessed it another Charizard! This time its Crystal Holo Charizard. A Pristine 10 Crystal Holo Charizard sold for $9000 in April 2020. This helps these boosters boxes sell in the $15,000 price range. That makes each booster pack in this expansion worth about $400 each! Crystal Ho-oh is in here as well, which can sell for about $2,700.
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Had I Known In 1999 What I Know Now
Cut to 2020 and Pokemon still has legs! There are a lot of Pokemon Collectors/Investors with money to burn. And there a lot of readers out there sitting on small fortunes.
There were a lot of moms & dads playing in Pokemon Tournaments with their children in 1999/2000. Some parents would buy two boxes of Pokemon cards: One box of Pokemon cards to open with their kids And another box stored away for a rainy day. Well, that rainy just might be here for them!
One particular parent I know would always but 2 Pokemon Booster Boxes when they hit stores. He would give his kids a pack a day if his kids had good days at school. Luckily this was a rare occurrence for him and his kids. And now, he has some unopened old booster boxes still sitting in his closet.
Ive been scouring eBay lately, looking at past sales of Pokemon Booster Boxes, and basically freaking out. There are over two dozen Pokemon booster box expansions selling for more than $3000 each!
An Unopened First Edition Set Of Pokmon Cards Deemed The Pinnacle Of Pokmon Collecting Just Fetched $408000 At Auction
It turns out playing with your Pokémon cards was a big mistake.
Sarah Cascone, January 22, 2021
Did your mother make you throw out your old Pokémon cards? Now you have an opportunity to show her that they really could have been worth a lot of money one day. An unopened first edition set of Pokémon cards just fetched a world record $408,000 at the Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction sale at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.
Released in 1999 by game publisher Wizards of the Coast, the original run of US Pokémon cards featured 102 cards, including the coveted Charizard, the powerful dragon-like final form of the fire Pokémon Charmander. The record-setting auction lot is a sealed box of first edition cards featuring 36 booster packs of 11 cards each, or 396 cards total, all of which are in gem mint condition , according to the auction house.
Due to their low print run, these box sets have become extremely scarce, especially those still in the original sealed state, wrote Heritage. It is considered the pinnacle of Pokémon box collecting.
The auction featured 16 lots of Pokémon collectibles, collectively accounting for more than $1.3 million in sales.
This Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box set a world record with a $408,000 sale at Heritage Auctions, Dallas. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
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