Unopened, first-edition Pokémon card set shatters bid records, selling for $360K at auction
Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999)
DALLAS - A sealed, first-edition deck of Pokémon cards sold for a record-breaking $360,000 at auction, according to a news release.
Thomas Fish, president of Blowoutcards.com, was the winning bidder of the Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999) during Heritage Auctions' Comics & Comic Art Auction held on Nov. 19-21.
"I am thrilled to purchase this pedigree box as well as the Pokémon Demo Game Sealed Booster Pack (Wizards of the Coast, 1998), PSA GEM MT 10, from the Pokémon Central Collection," Fish said.
The Pokémon First Edition Base Set is still sealed in its original shrinkwrap and is considered the pinnacle of Pokémon box collecting, according to Heritage Auctions. The sale broke the previous world record, which was set at Heritage Auctions in September 2020 when a similar first-edition Pokemon card set sold for $198,000.
“Bidders were exceptionally aggressive in their pursuit of the lot. Online bids exceeded the previous world record before the auction even opened,” the news release continued.
"This set is the pinnacle for all Pokémon collectors, and the back-to-back record-breaking sales show that," Heritage Auctions Assistant Comics & Comic Art Operations Supervisor Jesus Garcia said. "This set comes from a very low print run, and to find one that is still sealed and in such great condition explains why the demand for it was so intense.”