The sale occurred privately between Adam Cai of Pristine Collectibles and a buyer who was not revealed. This tops the previous record for a Magic: The Gathering single card sale, which was Post Malone's purchase of the 001/001 One Ring card in 2023 (see "Post Malone Buys 'Magic: The Gathering's' The One Ring 001/001 "). It also becomes the most paid for a card certified by CGC Cards, topping the $1,253,185 paid for a CGC 8 Grade 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle Type 1 (Mantle's rookie card).
The sale of this card creates a large gap between prices paid at auction for Black Lotus cards versus private sales. The highest price paid for any Black Lotus at auction was for a signed artist proof that clocked in at $615,000 at Heritage, which happened only a little over a year ago (see "Record Sale for 'Magic: The Gathering' Black Lotus"). The $3 million number is a $2.385 million dollar leap from the artist proof auction sale (about 387% more). Granted, the CGC Pristine 10 version of the card is a population one of one card, which makes it more inherently more valuable. However, as many collectors of comics and coins know, populations of collectibles tend to change over time and different grading companies offer different opinions on card grades.
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