Pokemon box scorches auction block via Huggins and Scott

Quick, can you name the hottest wax box of the 1990s?

It's not anything from Topps, Fleer, Upper Deck, Donruss or any other creator from the sports-card world, it's one of these 1999 Pokemon First Edition (English) boxes and it commanded a solid five-figure sale on Friday via Huggins and Scott Auctions. 

How much?

It went for $68,880 (it ended at $56,000 before a 23-percent buyers premium was added) after 15 bidders battled it out for the 36-pack box (that's $1,913.33 per pack!) that has 396 chances at a perfect Charizard Holo card. That one alone has commanded nearly that much on its own in recent months in top professionally graded form.

These boxes have 11-card packs with each one including five common cards, three uncommon cards, two Energy cards and one rare or foil. Foil-card odds are approximately one in every third pack.

While this sale is notable and strong, it's not alone. Why? One can easily assume that a good volume of these cards were opened and used -- not saved -- and the remaining wax is now being watched intensely as those who had them back in the day want in on what they used to have and want it in top condition.

An eBay search shows a $47,000 sale for one of these boxes on Wednesday and $40,000 for a PSA 10 Charizard early this month. Graded sets of this one are also five-figure sellers on eBay in recent months with a PSA 10 shadowless non-holo set selling for $10,100 in May and another for $10,000 in late July. The Charizard isn't the only strong-selling single card, either, as a Holo of Blastiose sold for $8,100 last month. Meanwhile, even lower-grade (PSA 9) sets can command close to $6,000 a pop and the Charizard alone can regularly top $5,000. Check out the rundown of auctions here.

As for other wax boxes commanding big bucks in eBay auctions? Well, it's not the First Edition wax that is out-doing anything in the sports realm from this time -- again probably because a big portion of it was ripped and the cards have been played. A Shadowless box recently sold for $18,000, while others have checked in at $12,000 and $10,000. Then there's a Pokemon Fossil Booster 1 case (six boxes) at $9,200, boxes of Pokemon Skyridge at $7,700, $7,000 and $6,900 and Legendary Collection at $6,000. We'll keep going with a box of EX Deoxys at $6,000, a box of Aquapolis at $5,150, boxes with Green Wing Charizard variants for $4,299.99 and even a box of German version of the First Edition for $4,025.

Continuing to scroll through completed auctions you'll see more than 80 other completed sales for Pokemon boxes of several types topping the $2,000 mark -- and, again, this is just eBay. There are even more under that plateau -- and that's still some serious cash for boxes. It's pretty obvious considering these sales that you'll be seeing more of these rarer and in-demand boxes make their ways into auction house sales, too.

It's the old power of "gotta catch 'em all" ...

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