The Pokémon franchise is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Back in the day, you used to scrounge up whatever spare dollars you could manage to buy packs of cards. Now, collectors are making bank selling off rare and valuable memorabilia. Case in point: An unopened box of Pokémon cards from 1999 that just sold at auction for $ 56,000. If you think that’s insane, you’re right. It is.
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The booster box is advertised as a first edition limited printing that was in the cosigner’s possession since before the millennium. Opening bids started at $ 20,000; the box was sold last week.
Here’s auction house Huggins and Scott explaining the odds of stumbling across a jackpot card, per Kotaku:
A box break will yield (36) 11-card packs. Additionally, each pack will deliver: (5) common, (3) uncommon, (2) Energy and (1) Rare or Foil card. Based on production, the odds of pulling a foil card are nearly 1:3 packs. With 396 chances for Gem Mint 10 holos and other high-grade treasures, “the sky’s the limit” for this transcendent non-sport box!
The real prize is if the new owner discovers a Charizard Holo card in the box. One of those went for $ 55,000 last year on eBay, and that was just the single card.
This bodes well for the three-ring binder full of Pokémon cards in plastic holders that’s been living in the back of your childhood closet since 2003. Better go get them appraised before mom chucks the whole lot in the trash.
