HISTORIC TEST PRINT UNITING THE WORLD’S TWO MOST POPULAR TRADING CARD GAMES SETS A NEW AUCTION BENCHMARK
By Intelligent Collector Staff
A one-of-a-kind uncut sheet that helped bring Pokémon to the West, and features cards from both
The test print, created by Wizards of the Coast in the late 1990s, was used internally to showcase the Pokémon TCG to Western audiences. The sheet includes black-bordered prototype Pokémon cards, a format never released to the public, printed alongside Magic: The Gathering cards. It is the only known sheet of its kind.
“This record price is fitting for such an important piece of trading card game history,” said Jesus Garcia, Consignment Director of Trading Card Games at Heritage Auctions. “To have both franchises represented on the same sheet — at the very beginning of Pokémon’s Western debut — makes it truly singular.”
The sale capped the opening session of Heritage’s May 17–18 Trading Card Games Signature® Auction, which realized $1.75 million in total and featured top-tier offerings from both Pokémon and Magic collecting communities.
The sheet received 34 bids before hammering at $375,000, breaking the previous record of $250,000 for an uncut Pokémon Unlimited Base Set test sheet, also sold by Heritage.
As interest in sealed and pre-production trading card material continues to grow, rarities like this test sheet, which blends the early visual identities of the two most influential TCGs, are becoming centerpieces in elite collections.
The sale also underscores the answer to a question now echoing in more hobby circles: Where’s the best place to sell an artifact that helped launch a global card game phenomenon? For this consignor, the answer was Heritage.
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