An incredibly rare Pokémon card from the late '90s has resurfaced, selling for a whopping 5 million yen ($136,000 USD) at a Japanese auction.
The card in question is one of 20 'Snap Magikarp' cards doled out to winners of a Pokémon Snap competition held in Japan. The competition itself required entrants to send in their favourite snaps of certain Pokémon, with the winners having their entry made into an official Pokémon card.
There are ten unique cards in total, including Magikarp, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Articuno, and more. What's interesting about the competition is that the winners didn't receive one of each unique card; they only received 20 copies of their own design. So effectively, the entire circulation of each design were given solely to the winners of the competition.
This makes these cards incredibly rare, as it's entirely possible that some of the winners simply boxed up their cards and popped them in storage. Indeed, while nine of the ten cards have been seen over the course of the two decades since, 'Snap Magikarp' has remained elusive... until now, that is.
As stated in the smpratte's YouTube video below, the irony behind this is that Magikarp is possibly one of the most common creatures in Pokémon Snap, appearing at least once in all of its levels. As for the remaining 19 'Snap Magikarp' cards, where they're hiding is anyone's guess.
[source comicbook.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 15
More money than sense....but at the same time if it makes them happy...why not.
Listed on eBay in 3, 2 .......
I'd hate to go for the whole collection.
I never understand the obsession to get Pokemon cards.
It just only a card, tho.
The cards will do nothing for you, it just only collectible items.
I can print the card template from internet and keep them for myself as private collection if I want.
It is sad to see a small piece of paper that is twice as expensive as my home
Removed - unconstructive; user is banned
@HamatoYoshi I am all in for collecting and having physical stuff but this is waaaay out of line.
I would understand if the card was made from a rare material or something like that or a renown artist drew it by hand. But NO it is just printed from a machine and it is made from simple paper
Who knows maybe the price is like that in order to do money laundering.
You can cut the jealousy and anger in the comments section with a butter knife.
Glad I didn't sell my collection for £50, I got a couple Japanese Neo Genesis that can fetch that alone.
Might sell now and retire early on the £300 I'll get!
@HamatoYoshi,
It's all relative though, as the person spending the $136,000 on the card will have more than the means to do so, it would be the same as a person on a normal income spending $1, not all that interested or bothered to how rich people spend their money anyway.
Would be really cool to see a few future cards be printed with pics from Snap and New Snap 😃
My first thought whenever I see something like this is "money laundering". Maybe I'm just cynical?
I think the seller is merely testing the waters (no pun intended) before they decide to sell the rest of them.
@Anti-Matter Not just collectibles, their are people who get pokemon cards to also use them for playing the official card game or custom games with them. Or get them and view them as artwork pieces.
Magikarp used cash, it's super ridiculous.
@Anti-Matter It’s fine if it’s not your thing, but I love collecting Pokémon cards. At least recent ones, not old ones, they are way too expensive for me, and you can’t even play with them now.
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