A very rare Pokémon card was supposed to be sold for $60,000. But something went wrong during shipping, and the card never arrived at the buyer. An expert suspects that someone noticed how much the card was insured for and intercepted it on the way.
Which card is it? The card is called “Trainer No.3” – it was awarded in 1999 to the third place holder at the “Super Secret Battle” competition in Japan.
This makes it one of the rarest cards in the world.
As Polygon reports, a Pokémon shop sold it for $60,000 on eBay back in 2018. But when the store shipped the card, it mysteriously went missing.
Polygon refers to information from YouTuber smpratte, who is knowledgeable about such Pokémon matters and is acquainted with the shop owner.
The card never arrived
How did the shipping go? The shipping was done through USPS, the United States Postal Service, with insurance of $50,000. That’s the highest amount you can insure something by mail.
Other items were also shipped – we’re talking about “hundreds of other items” in the shipment.
However, the card somehow went missing on its way to the intermediary Aramex in New York.
The eBay shop PokémonPlace claims they shipped the card to Aramex, who were to send it overseas to the buyer. The tracking also indicated that the card arrived at Aramex, and they signed for it.
But Aramex says: they signed for a shipment of items, but the card was not included.
This is the theory of how the card was lost
This is what people believe now: The theory is that someone who doesn’t know anything about Pokémon cards saw how much money the card was insured for and simply took it.
The Pokémon expert can’t imagine that the card thief can sell the card, Trainer No.3, “on the black market”, because the market simply isn’t there.
So the thief stole a card that is practically worthless to him. That’s why the YouTuber also believes: The card must have been stolen by someone who has nothing to do with the Pokémon community.
What’s next: PokemonPlace has now offered a reward of $1,000 for anyone who provides information on the whereabouts of the card. Sounds like a case for Detective Pikachu.
What else can you buy for $60,000 that is useful? Well, this weapon skin:
