Admit it: You kind of wish you’d kept that old Pokémon card collection, don’t you?
But chances are you’ve never laid eyes on one 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 Jan. 14 via YouTube, noting that the “presentation” card — one of two prototypes used in marketing and promotion “to demonstrate what an English Pokémon card would look like” — is the only one known to still exist.
“This is a historic moment ladies and gentlemen,” the auctioneer said before reaching the ultimate bid. The buyer was anonymous, while nearly tying the record for the highest amount paid for any English Pokémon card, according to CGC.
The test print, commissioned by Wizards of the Coast in 1998, is one-sided, showing a blank space where the Pokémon logo would have been. Cardmaker Cartamundi produced other similar Blastoise cards, some of which bear back designs for “Magic: The Gathering” — a different game also distributed by the Wizards brand.
The second blank-back Blastoise card’s “whereabouts are unknown,” said CGC.
Late last year, a pair of Charizard cards sold for $369,000 each at Goldin Auctions. That beat the previous record, held by rapper and, evidently, Pokémon collector Logic, who dropped more than $220,000 on a Charizard card of the same edition.
“The first record was only established last month,” wrote CGC, “demonstrating just how hot the trading cards market is becoming, with CGC Trading Cards adding fuel to the fire through its expert certification services.”