That sale marked the second time a world record had been set for the value of a sealed first-edition Pokémon TCG Base Set booster box in a matter of months, after a set sold for $198,000 in September 2020. Both exceeded the record amount paid for another sealed Base Set booster box in November last year: $360,000. The $384,000 paid for the latest box doesn’t quite match the more than $400,000 paid for a similar sealed first-edition Base Set booster box in January. “To find a booster box like this one still sealed in its original shrink-wrap is no easy task due to the low print run, few have remained sealed and even fewer have come to market,” Heritage wrote in the booster box’s listing. While the booster box sold by Heritage Auctions on July 24th had some visible damage to the box itself - the auction house rated the box as “Very Good” condition, despite some wrinkling and “blunting” - it estimated that all of the cards within the booster packs would have remained in Gem Mint condition, the highest possible rating for collectible trading cards.
