DALLAS, TX.- Important Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering cards and sets sold for nearly $300,000 at auction recently, after bidding wars blew away all expectations when they crossed the block at Heritage Auctions. A total of 37 lots were on offer and MTG cards claimed nine of the top prices. However, a bidding war broke out for a Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999), which pushed the sale price to $78,000, the sale’s most expensive role-playing game item.

The auction offered 12 Pokémon lots and 25 MTG lots, which sold for a combined $294,858 in Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comic Art Auction Feb. 21-23. Bidders were determined to own the Pokémon First Edition Base Set, containing 36 unopened packs, each with 11 cards, and paid $28,000 more than the set’s $50,000 pre-auction estimate.

“The demand for this set was very high, because it is from the first edition from the first set,” Heritage Auctions Vice President Lon Allen said. “Adding to the intrigue is the mystery about which cards are in each pack, because each pack inside the set is unopened.

In terms of individual cards, Magic: The Gathering dominated the auction.

Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Black Lotus BGS 9 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) brought $26,400 to claim the top spot in its series, followed by Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Black Lotus BGS 8 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993), which realized $18,000, and Ed Beard Jr. Magic: The Gathering - Legends Card #142 "Arcades Sabboth" Painting Original Art and Signed Card (Wizards of the Coast, 1994), which brought $16,800.

Two other Magic: The Gathering cards drew five-figure results: Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Mox Sapphire BGS 9 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993), which finished at $11,400, and Magic: The Gathering Unlimited Edition Black Lotus BGS 8.5 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993), which closed at $10,800.

Other top lots included, but were not limited to:

ˇ Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Time Walk BGS 9 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) $9,600

ˇ Magic: The Gathering Alpha Edition Time Vault BGS 9.5 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) $9,600

ˇ Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Ancestral Recall BGS 9 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) $9,000

ˇ Magic: The Gathering Beta Edition Underground Sea BGS 9.5 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) $9,000