'Antiques Roadshow' guest stunned after expert revealed the value of her husband's trading cards
Collecting trading cards may have started out as a hobby decades ago, but as decades have gone by, they're turning into valuable vintage items. An "Antiques Roadshow" guest realized this after finding out that her husband's trading card collection was worth six figures. The co-owner of a grand collection of "Magic: The Gathering" cards from the 1990s didn't seem to think much of the collection until she saw the show's expert, Travis Landry, get all excited about them. In the end, she was astonished to learn how rare the cards were and that they were worth over $100,000.
"My husband played Magic in the '90s. At the time, he made a concerted effort to obtain whole sets. He played with his friends and played in tournaments. But then I think he wanted to have a complete set. So he would buy individual packs at the store," she shared with Landry. She added that her husband was finally able to put together a complete set after trading some other cards.
Landry then explained that 'Magic: The Gathering' was created in 1993 by Richard Garfield, who worked in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast. "It was actually considered the first trading card game that started the craze. So, like Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, all those card games came afterward, after the influence Magic had on the collecting community," he shared.
He further noted that when Magic came out, there was the first limited alpha set, which consisted of 295 cards. However, there was a second reissue called the beta limited set with 302 cards, which the guest had brought to the show. Now, when Magic came out, it was the first Alpha limited set. The expert then went on to say the collection literally blew his mind as it has some of the rarest cards in the world. "This is referred to as 'the power nine,' and the reason why we call it the power nine is, these are literally the most powerful cards in existence in the Magic world," he explained.
He added that the black borders of the cards and the rounded corners indicate that they were printed in 1993 as part of the first beta issue. He then asked the guest to guess the value of the 'Power Nine' card, and she assumed it would be worth a couple of hundred dollars. After noting that the ungraded cards were in great condition, Landry said, "You might have a 7.5 in there. But they've all been well taken care of. For the power nine right here, as they sit, without professional grading, at auction, you'd be looking at $50,000 to $75,000." This blew away the guest who stared at the expert with wide-open eyes.
However, Landry wasn't done yet. He went on to add that there was a 'Black Lotus' card, which was the crème de la crème and one of the most sought-after cards. He estimated that the card alone would be worth $15,000 to $20,000 at auction. Moving on to another card, the 'Mox Emerald', Landry told the guest that it would be worth another $8,000 to $12,000. Thus, in the end, he estimated that the entire collection would be worth over $100,000. All that the guest could say in response was "Oh, my gosh!"
In the end, Landry jokingly asked the guest if she was happy that she didn't lose the cards in her backpack. "I am happy. No, because they're just, like, they're cards to me, but they are the college savings right here," the guest said in response.
