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DALLAS, Texas (November 9, 2021) — Nearly three dozen bids boosted a sealed Pokémon First Edition Base Set Booster Box to $312,000 to lead Heritage Auctions’ Trading Card Games Signature® Auction Nov. 6-7.
Nearly 1,200 bidders took part in this auction, which brought $4,055,742 in total sales and generated perfect sell-through rates of 100% by value and lots sold.
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“We had high hopes for this box and for the auction overall, and both exceeded our expectations,” Heritage Auctions Trading Cards Games Consignment Director Jesus Garcia said. “But hitting a number like this is incredible. This result is further proof that Pokémon continues to be a great collectible, and that the most serious collectors know they will find what they’re looking for in our auctions.”
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This incredibly rare Booster Box originally was released in early 1999, and it includes the widely popular Charizard card. An instant hit at the time, this box contains 36 booster packs — each contains 11 cards — for a total of 396 cards. The extraordinary result underscores the surging demand; it is the sixth First Edition Base Set Booster Box Heritage Auctions has sold that has brought more than $300,000.
The Booster Box topped the sale, but was just one of seven lots that drew six-figure bids.
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A Pokémon Blastoise #009/165R Test Print “Gold Border” Foil (Wizards of the Coast, 1998) CGC Ex/NM+ 6.5 drew 28 bids before finishing at $216,000. One of the first attempts by Wizards of the Coast to bring the Pokémon Trading Card Game to the English market, it was printed so early that it has a Magic: The Gathering back, and features one of the most popular Pokémon in the entire series: Blastoise.
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An opened Pokémon German First Edition Base Set Distributors Case more than doubled its pre-auction estimate when it sold for $156,000. Though previously opened, the demand remained for the case, which includes all six 36-card booster boxes.
A sealed Magic: The Gathering Unlimited Edition Booster Box fetched nearly two dozen bids before closing at $168,000 to finish as the game’s top lot in the sale. The Booster Box is from the third printing: the Unlimited Edition. Early sealed MTGmaterial is highly sought by collectors.
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“The demand for Magic: The Gathering continues to grow,” Garcia said. “To find a sealed Booster Box from this Unlimited Edition printing is an unquestioned rarity. This is the kind of lot that can become the centerpiece of any serious collection.”
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Two other MTG items went for $156,000 each: a sealed Unlimited Edition Starter Deck Box and an Alpha Edition Black Lotus.
Other top lots included, but were not limited to:
• Pokémon VS Tropical Mega Battle Complete Deck (Pokémon, 2002) CGC Graded: $108,000
• Magic: The Gathering Alpha Edition Sealed Starter Deck (Wizards of the Coast, 1993): $108,000
• Mark Poole Magic: The Gathering Alpha Edition “Island Sanctuary” Card Painting Original Art (Wizards of the Coast, 1994): $66,000
• Pokémon French First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box: $55,200
• Magic: The Gathering Antiquities Edition Sealed Booster Box: $55,200
• Magic: The Gathering Antiquities Edition Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1994): $55,200
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Minerva, The Exalted Lightsworn #008 Championship Series Trading Card (Konami, 2015) BGS GEM MINT 9.5: $34,800
For complete results, visit: HA.com/7264.
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Heritage 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.
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