Pokémon: can you catch ‘em all?
Never before has Pokémon collectables been so popular. On January 16, Heritage Auctions closed out its four-day ‘Comic & Comic Art Auction’, reeling in staggering amounts. The sale included 16 Pokémon cards that brought in $1.3 million alone.
One of the hottest Pokémon items was the First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box, offered in its original shrink wrap. The box sold for $408,000, breaking the world record. The previous record was set by Heritage Auctions in November 2020 when a similar booster box sold for $360,000.
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This present set was created in 1999 by Wizards of the Coast and featured 102 cards (most notably the Charizard), with 36 booster packs, each with 11 cards for a total of 396 cards. These kinds of box sets have become incredibly scarce due to their low print run, and very few remain sealed (and unhandled), making them the pinnacle of box collecting.
“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, reported Antique Trader. "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.”
Another item that yielded an incredible result was The Pokémon Blastoise #009/165R Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram, which brought in $360,000. The card was one of only two copies produced, and, at present, the existence of the other card is questionable.
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A Pokémon Charizard #4 First Edition Base Set Rare Hologram Trading Card also sealed its reputation as one of the hottest cards in the hobby, selling for $300,000. The card’s artwork was by Mitsuhiro Arita, a freelance artist who worked with the Pokémon Trading Card Game for years. There are currently 2,627 certified copies of this card, with this particular card earning a PSA Gem Mint 10 grade, meaning it is in virtually perfect condition. Last November, a PSA 10 1st edition Base Set Charizard sold for over $350,100.
Since 1995, people all over the world have been collecting Pokémon trading cards. Though it initially began as a simple trading card game, in the past 26 years, it has evolved and quickly established into a serious collector’s business.
