DALLAS, TX.- A Magic: The Gathering/Pokémon Test Print Uncut Sheet with Notes (Wizards of the Coast) that was part of the sales pitch to extend the Pokémon game’s reach from Japan into the Western world sold for $375,000 to lead Heritage’s May 17-18 Trading Card Games SignatureŽ Auction to $1,747,323.

The final price, reached after 34 bids poured in, established a new world record for the most ever paid for an uncut sheet of cards from any trading card game.

The auction’s top lot is hugely significant in trading card games history because it not only helped the growth of the Pokémon game, but also features cards from the two most popular trading card games in the world: Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering. Uncut sheets from either game are coveted by collectors, but to have both games on the same sheet is incredibly rare. In addition, it is the only sheet known that represents a Pokémon card with a black border.

“This record price is fitting for such an important piece of trading card game history,” says Jesus Garcia, Consignment Director of Trading Card Games at Heritage Auctions. “It smashed the previous mark of $250,000 that was paid at Heritage last year for a Pokémon Unlimited Base Set Test Print Uncut Sheet.

“The market for trading card games remains remarkably strong, and the results in this auction reflected that.”

A Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box also was in high demand, pulling in 24 bids before closing at $237,500. Released in January 1999, the set included 102 cards, including the enormously popular Charizard. Because of the low print run, booster sets like this one that are scarce, and rarely reach the collecting market.

A Pokémon Charmander Unnumbered Promo 64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest CGC Trading Card Game Mint 9 (The Pokémon Company, 1999), featuring an image by Tsukasa Hosono, brought in a winning bid of $75,000. Contestants competed to take the best photos they could for the N64 classic, Pokémon Snap, with the top five photos printed on reprint cards from the Japanese Pokémon TCG Expansion Pack.

Another card featuring an image from a Pokémon tournament, a Pokémon Squirtle Unnumbered Promo 64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest CGC Trading Card Game Mint 9 from the 1999 64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest, ended at $68,750, as did a Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition (Alpha) Sealed Starter Deck that was the very first set released for the game.

One of the most popular cards from any game, a Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus Limited Edition (Alpha) BGS Trading Card Game EX-MT 6 (Wizards of the Coast, 1993) Rare, drew $50,000. The most sought-after trading card in existence, this spectacular card from the Alpha Edition is part of the most powerful group of cards in the entire game, known as the Power Nine. BGS has certified 10 copies earning an EX-MT 6 grade with 250 graded higher.

Other top lots included, but were not limited to:

• $47,500: a Magic: The Gathering Antiquities Edition Sealed Booster Box

• $30,000: a Magic: The Gathering Legends Edition Sealed Booster Box

• $28,750: a Pokémon Japanese Base Set Sealed Booster Box