DALLAS, TX.- On Friday, Jan. 20, Heritage Auctions broke new ground in the video-game category with the sale of both the first CGC-rated games and original promotional artwork for home video games. It was the world-debut for both at public auction. The event, Heritage's January 20 - 21 Video Games Signature ® Auction, brought in more than $1.8 million with 100% of the lots sold.

Original marketing artworks by Robert Florczak, Frank Cirocco, Jim Lee and more were among the top performers in this event, and the first CGC-rated games Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart 64, and Sonic the Hedgehog performed with expected gusto.

"It's always easier to speak to the lots that render incredible auction performances, like the finished covers for Prince of Persia and Bionic Commando, as well as concept art by famous comic book artist Jim Lee for Gotham Knights," says Valarie Spiegel, Managing Director of Video Games at Heritage Auctions. "However, we'd be remiss if we didn't recognize the broad spectrum of prices realized from this session; it's important from an analytical perspective. Ultimately this session gave us a pulse on the entire art market for every budget. It's clear that, although it's still in its infancy, the long-term potential of the original Video Game Art market is there."

The rating service CGC (Certified Guaranty Company), long dominant in comics and more recently trading cards, announced last year (with much celebration among collectors) that it would launch a video-game division, and in this event Heritage offered the first games graded by the company. (Up until now this burgeoning category was led only by grading services Wata and VGA.) The top-performing lots in this event were CGC-rated games, and in fact the first game ever rated by CGC was Heritage's top seller overall: A 1987 NES The Legend of Zelda graded 9.4 A+ by CGC sold for $120,000.

Just behind it, a CGC-rated a 9.8 A++ 1996 Nintendo Mario Kart 64 sold for $81,000, and a CGC-rated Super Mario Bros. 3 (9.8 A++) sold for $60,000. A Sonic the Hedgehog rated 9.6 by CGC brought in $50,400.

The rating company Wata is of course still an industry leader, and other top lots in this event carried its stamp: A second Legend of Zelda (Wata 9.2) sold for $48,000; a Twisted Metal (Wata 9.6 A+) sold for $39,6000; a Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wata 9.8 A++) sold for $38,400; and a Super Mario Bros. (Wata 9.6 A+) sold for $36,000.

The other big news from this event is the success of Heritage's initiative to sell original video-game art by some of the top artist-illustrators in the industry. It heralds a whole new market. A top performer in this auction was an original illustration for the 1989 game Prince of Persia. The consigner, Kevin Nealon (of Saturday Night Live fame) was also the model in this charming original artwork by Nealon's longtime artist pal Robert Florczak. The oil painting depicts Nealon as the character Grand Vizier Jaffar, and sold for an impressive $63,000.

An original artwork by Frank Cirocco — creator of the comic book series Alien Legion — for the game Bionic Commando brought in $45,600. The legendary Jim Lee of Marvel and D.C. illustrated Gotham Nights in 2020, and his original drawing sold for $22,200. These are just three of the more than 40 game artworks featured in this event. All of them sold.

It was, in other words, a historic night for video-game collectors, if not art collectors.