"A 1966 Stationery-Store Card Worth 300 Million Won?" ... Thought Only Pokemon Was Causing a Frenzy? 'Batman No. 1' Rocks Auction House

Batman Cards Also Draw Attention Amid Trading Card Collecting Boom

An original Batman trading card first issued in 1966 sold for about $220,000 (approximately 296 million won) at an auction in the United States.

No. 1 'Black Bat' card sells at auction for 300 million won

Batman trading card. Heritage Auctions.

On November 2 (local time), the New York Post reported that the card was offered at an auction held on October 23 at the headquarters of auction house Heritage Auctions. After a bidding battle, the winning bid was set at $180,000, and the final sale price, including the buyer's premium, reached $219,600.

The card is No. 1 in the 'Black Bat' Batman trading card series released in 1966 by Topps, a company that produced illustrated cards. Titled 'The Batman,' it depicts Batman protecting Gotham City.

The card series was released alongside 'Batman,' an American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The 55-card series featured hand-drawn illustrations on the fronts and excerpts from a story on the orange backs, presenting Batman's adventures in sequence.

The card illustrations were created by illustrator Norman Saunders and comic book artist Bob Powell. The series is distinguished by its black bat-shaped logo from the later 'Red Bat' and 'Blue Bat' series.

Earns PSA 9 grade... highest grade awarded to this card

Batman trading cards. Heritage Auctions.

The Batman card sold at the auction received a Mint 9 grade (PSA Mint 9) from Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). PSA assigns grades based on an overall assessment of factors including the card's surface and edges, as well as discoloration. Gem Mint 10 is the highest grade.

According to the PSA database, 13 examples of this card have received a grade of 9. None has received the top grade of 10. The card sold at this auction also received a 9, the highest grade recorded to date.

Meanwhile, a trading card collecting craze centered on popular characters such as Pokémon is also spreading in South Korea. The market is growing as people in their 20s and 30s, as well as children, emerge as key consumer groups.

According to Payhere, a company providing payment and business management services to stores, sales in September this year at the top 50 trading card specialty stores among its merchants rose about 154% year over year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.