NintendoBack in August 2018 (a simpler time, I’m sure we can all agree), some unfortunate soul forked out an eye-watering $60,000 for an incredibly rare Pokemon card. It’s been nearly a year, and the card has yet to arrive at its destination.
The card in question was a No. 3 Trainer card, which boasts a holographic image of Mewtwo on the front. This super limited edition card was the prize for placing third in a 1999 Secret Super Battle tournament held in Japan, reports fan site PokéBeach.com. Apparently, there are only around nine to 18 sets of the card (including 2nd and 1st place versions) in existence.
Obviously, this makes it one of the rarest Pokemon cards out there, hence the incredible price tag on the thing.
EbayWhile most of us might assume the buyer was simply the victim of an incredibly unfortunate scam, YouTuber and Pokemon card collector smpratte claims to know both buyer and seller, and has suggested that the rare card simply got lost in the mail.
smpratte says that the US-based seller intended to ship the card to the buyer, who lives outside the US. As such, the seller posted it domestically, and it was forwarded to a Global Shipping Program centre in New York City.
The card was signed for and ensured for the highest possible figure of $50,000, but it vanished without a trace soon after that. No further tracking was ever noted, and it hasn’t been seen since. It’s been speculated that the card could have been swiped at the GSP office after someone spotted how much the package was worth, but there’s zero proof of that.
One worryingly plausible scenario posited by a YouTube user suggested that someone did take the package, or retrieve it by mistake, realise it was just a stupid card, and throw it away in disappointment.
Obviously, this is a gut wrenching situation for the buyer, who’s now offering a $1,000 reward for the card’s safe return and passage to its original destination. While I’m sure most of you would immediately do the right thing, there are certainly those who would see $60,000 card and $1,000 reward and make the wrong choice.
With that said, there’s very little chance whoever currently owns the card would be able to shift it via official channels. Given its rarity, it’s simply too hot – collector’s would immediately know what it was, where it came from, and that it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.
If you want to get your Detective Pikachu on and try to help crack the case, you can contact smpratte for more details.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.