There truly appears to be no limit on how much collectors are willing to spend securing rare Pokémon merchandise.
No more than a day following the news that a single card – of which only two are believed to have ever been produced – managed to fetch a whopping $360,000 at auction, Heritage Auctions has just finalized an even more outlandish transaction. The website, which acts as an intermediary for the sale of various collectibles including cards, comics and video games, recently confirmed that a sealed box of Pokémon TCG Base Set has been sold to an anonymous individual with deep pockets for $400,000. Containing 36 booster packs with 11 cards each, this particular lot was for a 1st Edition printing of the card game’s first-ever release, a label that mandates massively inflated prices over unlimited versions.
An image of the exact box sold – which has only mild wear and tear around the edges and corners – can be found below.
Due to the price explosion enjoyed by older Pokémon products over the last 12 months, counterfeiting has become more commonplace than ever. Indeed, we reported last year that a box similar to the one pictured above opened by investors live on YouTube turned out to be stuffed with resealed packs with little to no resale value. Likewise, stories of fans being able to pay off large debts and other expenses by selling large collections have become increasingly commonplace.
Several special products commemorating the Pokémon franchise’s 25th anniversary are due to release over the next several months, too, including jumbo reprints of classic cards as well as a follow-up to the highly sought-after Hidden Fates, dubbed Shining Fates.
