Admit it, you wish you’d kept that old Pokémon card collection, wouldn’t you?
But chances are you’ve never seen a rare card: a holographic Blastoise that sold for $ 360,000 at an online auction last week.
Collectibles authenticator CGC Trading Cards broadcast the live bidding on YouTube on January 14, noting that the ‘presentation’ card – one of two prototypes used in marketing and promotion ” to demonstrate what an English Pokémon card looks like would see ‘- is the only one. which are known to still exist.
“This is a historic moment, ladies and gentlemen,” said the auctioneer before making the final offer. The buyer was anonymous when, according to CGC, he was almost right on the record for the highest amount paid for an English Pokémon card.
The test print, commissioned by Wizards of the Coast in 1998, is one-sided, showing an empty space where the Pokémon logo would have been. Cardmaker Cartamundi produced other similar Blastoise cards, some of which included designs for “Magic: The Gathering” – another game also distributed by the Wizards brand.
The “whereabouts of the second blank Blastoise map is unknown,” said CGC.
A few Charizard cards at the end of last year sold for $ 369,000 each at Goldin Auctions. That beat the previous record set by rapper and, apparently, Pokémon collector Logic, who dropped more than $ 220,000 on a Charizard card of the same edition.
“The first record was only set last month,” wrote CGC, “showing how hot the trading cards market is getting, with CGC Trading Cards fueling the fire through its expert certification services.”