It's no secret that trading cards from Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering or even baseball players are worth a lot. As a recently sold Black Lotus shows, it's not just about rarity.
Have you ever heard of a card called Alpha Black Lotus? It belongs to Magic: The Gathering and is probably the most valuable card in the game – and therefore also one of the most expensive trading cards ever. It is difficult to determine this precisely because, in addition to public auctions, there are often private transactions between collectors that are never made public.
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One of the highest official sales to date took place in 2021. There was an Alpha Black Lotus for over one half a million US dollars sold.
New record of $3 million
As the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), a company specializing in the authentication and valuation of collectibles, reported in a press release, an Alpha Black Lotus traded for $3 million. The seller was the company Pristine Collectibles, which finds special collectibles for its customers. Your customer wants to remain anonymous, but shows off his achievements on an Instagram account. The Black Lotus card is in the middle in this picture:
What's different about this card?
If you also own a Black Lotus from the Limited Alpha Edition (1993) – as I said, they are very rare – it must also be in good condition. The quality of the card is from CGC with the highest grade “Pristine 10” specified. For comparison, the 2021 card was graded Gem Mint 10, which is just one level below Pristine 10 but a price difference Factor 6 means.
The buyer, who is called Benjamin on Instagram, told PC Gamer that he paid the $3 million in Bitcoin. He also reveals that this is not his first Black Lotus purchase. He bought one of the tickets for three years ago $880,000, but the private transaction was never made public. According to him, there is only one other card with the same seal of approval, which is why the collector was happy to pay the price.
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