Very Rare Magic: The Gathering Card Sells For $511,100 At Auction

You’ve no doubt caught wind of the insane money changing hands between collectors to secure a piece of Pokémon history, but it’s far from the only card game with vintage cards worth more than six figures on the secondary market.

Magic: The Gathering, which far and away remains Wizards of the Coast’s most popular product, has a legacy that stretches even further back than the Gotta Catch ‘Em All Craze, making even well-loved copies of extremely rare cards worth a pretty penny. Black Lotus – printed back in 1993 as part of Magic‘s debut Alpha release – is something of a holy grail for the tabletop game and maintains a high asking price not just due to rarity, but power. And as a member of the so-called reserved list (cards Wizards says will never be reprinted), any copies still in existence today are all there will ever be.

Armed with that information, then, it’s hardly surprising to learn that pristine examples fetch a huge amount at auction. Case in point: a Gem Mint 10, PSA-graded Black Lotus that recently sold on eBay for a whopping $511,100.

That sum may seem a little inflated, even for a Black Lotus, but it’s worth noting that this particular specimen is signed by original artist Christopher Rush. Having passed away in 2016, Rush’s signature (and its scarcity even when he was still alive) has demanded a hefty premium in the years since his death and this version could very well be the most expensive second-hand sale of Black Lotus ever recorded.

While you likely won’t own one exactly like this, it’s definitely worth having a rummage through old Magic: The Gathering collections. Even a well-played, ungraded copy of the artifact can attract prices in the region of $2,000. Good luck!