We’re living in the age where celebrities are using extremely rare trading cards as “bling”. Last month, we saw YouTube star Logan Paul wear a first-edition mint 10-graded shiny Charizard Pokemon card like a medallion as he entered the ring for his exhibition fight against Floyd Mayweather, and Paul acquired it for $150,000 last year. Now, MLB star Hunter Pence has shown off something worth much more than that, a mint 9-graded Black Lotus Magic: The Gathering card from the 1993 Limited Edition Alpha set.
Over on Twitter, Cut4 shared a video clip of Pence showing off and talking about his expensive Magic necklace. The 38-year-old former American baseball pro said that Quavo from Migos loved it. “This is the Alpha Black Lotus. This is the most famous Magic: The Gathering card in the world.”
Hunter Pence’s Black Lotus bling!
First printed in 1993, the Alpha Black Lotus commands a higher value than the more common (but still extremely rare) Beta and Unlimited versions of the card. If you’re wondering how much Pence’s Magic “bling” is worth, it probably costs him more than $400,000. Earlier this year, a Gem Mint PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) 10 Alpha Black Lotus was sold for $511,000, smashing the record for the most expensive card ever sold on eBay. Last May, a Tokyo store sold a “slightly played” Alpha Black Lotus for ¥40,000,000 ($290,000).
Last March, Peter D. Adkison, the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast, shared the definitive print run information about the Alpha and Beta MTG sets, and revealed that the Alpha Black Lotus is 10% rarer than initially thought.
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