An ultra-rare Pokémon card has resurfaced after 23 years, selling earlier this year for $136,000 USD. YouTuber
smpratte recently revealed the “Snap Magikarp” trading card in a video, claiming that it is the “first graded copy ever featured in a video.”
The reason behind the rarity of this particular Pokémon trading card is that it was a part of a CoroCoro magazine promotion that celebrated the 1999 launch of Pokémon Snap. Budding photographers were asked to send in their photos for the competition. The top five winners received 20 custom cards with their winning entries printed on them. A total of five cards were made with an additional five added from another competition. Other characters including the Gyarados, Pikachu, Poliwag, Bulbasaur, Magikarp, Squirtle, Koffing, Chansey, Articuno, and Charmander were all turned into trading card collectibles.
With only 20 of each card ever printed, only the Magikarp did not make it onto the market until earlier this year. The card showcases the Magikarp jumping in Pokemon Snap and recently appeared on Yahoo! Auctions in Japan for ¥5 million JPY, around $136,000 USD, back in January. It is expected to be the only graded copy in existence, but it is uncertain that the owner of the card is the YouTuber, who is also a major collector. He said, “I’ve owned Illustrators, ‘97 Pikachus, ‘98 Pikachus, Trophy Kangaskhans, you name it, I either have it or have sold it. This is the first time I’ve ever held a Snap Magikarp. It just cannot be overstated how insanely elusive this card is.”
Check out the video above.
In case you missed it, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel recently topped 20 million downloads.
Tagged: gaming