Japanese Base Set Booster Box Sells for ~$56.3k

Japanese Base Set Booster Box Sells for ~$56.3k

A Japanese Base Set booster box is a factory-sealed box of the original 1996 Japanese Pocket Monsters Card Game “Expansion Pack,” the first Pokémon TCG set ever released. These boxes were sold in Japan starting October 20, 1996, more than two years before the English Base Set launch, and each box contains 60 booster packs versus the 36 found in the English equivalent, for a total of 600 cards.

The very first print run of this set featured cards without rarity symbols in the bottom-right corner. These “no rarity” cards are functionally identical in gameplay but lack the small ●/◆/★ mark that later print runs use to distinguish commons, uncommons, and rares. A PSA 10 No Rarity Symbol Charizard sold for a winning bid of over $500k in September this year.