GUEST: I brought in 
Magic cards. My husband 
played Magic in the '90s.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: And at the time, he 
made a concerted effort to get 
whole sets. He played with his
friends, and played 
in tournaments.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: But then I think he 
wanted to have a complete set.
APPRAISER: Yep.
GUEST: And so he would 
buy individual packs 
at the, at the store.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: Until he was able to 
put together a complete set. He 
traded for some of the cards,
as well.
APPRAISER: Magic: The Gathering 
was created in 1993 by Richard 
Garfield in collaboration
with Wizards of the Coast. And 
it was actually considered the 
first trading-card game that
started the craze. So, 
like, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, 
all those card games 
came afterwards, after
the influence Magic had on 
the collecting community. Now, 
when Magic came out, it was
first alpha limited set. Now, 
the alpha set consisted of 
295 cards, and then there was
a second reissue called the 
beta limited set, and which you 
have here, all cards for the
beta set, which, it was limited 
to 302 cards. Now, you've 
never played Magic or anything
like that?
GUEST: I haven't played-- 
my husband played.
APPRAISER: Okay, so to give 
you the image, just pretend 
you're two dueling wizards, and
you're going to be summoning 
some spells, you're going 
to be put, bringing out some
creatures. And the whole point 
is each player starts with 
20 life points, and the whole
goal is me, as a competing 
wizard, I want to say, "Oh, I 
want to drain your life points."
So the first person to bring 
the other opponent to zero wins. 
Do you know why we have the
binder open to this page with 
these nine particular cards?
GUEST: No, I don't.
APPRAISER: Okay. (imitates 
explosion): That's like mind...
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: This is referred to 
as "the power nine," and the 
reason why we call it the power
nine is, these are 
literally the most powerful 
cards in existence in 
the Magic world. Now,
today, the power nine are 
not allowed to be played in 
decks or anything like that.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Unless it's a vintage 
tournament. So all of these 
cards were printed in 1993
as part of the beta set. And 
after that, they went into an 
unlimited printing. They just
printed and printed and printed.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: So, by seeing the 
black border, the rounded 
corners, and the little white
dots in the printing on 
each edge of the image?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: That's how we're 
able to tell these are printed 
in 1993, part of the original
set. If you had to guess, 
what do you think the 
value on nine cards is?
GUEST: Couple of 
hundred dollars. Couple 
of hundred dollars.
APPRAISER: Now, because 
they're ungraded-- now, 
the grade and condition 
of a card significantly
affects the value. That's why 
we left it right in the binder, 
because I don't even want to
breathe on them, let alone 
touch it, because the slightest 
nick, the slightest crease all
affects the value. Looking at 
both sides of the cards, judging 
the wear, I would say they
all probably range around an 
eight out of ten condition. 
You might have a 7.5 in there.
But they've all been well taken 
care of. For the power nine 
right here, as they sit, without
professional grading, at 
auction, you'd be looking 
at $50,000 to $75,000.
GUEST: (chuckles): Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: (laughs): Yeah, 
right? So out of that $50,000 
to $75,000, the black Lotus,
which is, like, the crème de 
la crème-- that's the card 
everybody wants-- is $15,000
to $20,000 in its 
current condition.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The second card 
right here, the Mox Emerald, 
which is one of the five jewel
cards that you can see here, 
is the rarest of them all. In 
its current shape, you'd be
looking at about $8,000 to 
$12,000. Now, that's just 
this page of nine cards.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: When it 
comes to the other cards 
that you have here...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: If you look here, 
this card right there, Volcanic 
Island, now, that is what
we refer to as a dual land 
or a dual mana card. The cool 
part about that card is, it
was not included 
in the alpha set.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: It was only issued 
in the beta set. So, that's 
its first issue. That card
alone, at auction in its 
current shape, would be 
between $5,000 and $10,000.
GUEST: Huh.
APPRAISER: And the remainder of 
the binder, for all the pages 
there-- 'cause they're all
beta cards, they're all early 
1993 beta cards. You're looking 
at an additional $10,000 to
$15,000.
APPRAISER: (chuckles)
APPRAISER: So cumulatively, 
you're looking, at auction, at 
between $65,000 and $100,000
in trading cards here.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: So, see? Aren't 
you happy you didn't lose 
them in your backpack?
GUEST: I am happy. 
(both laughing)
APPRAISER: Would you 
have ever expected your 
husband's trading cards...
GUEST: No, because they're 
just, like, they're cards to me.
APPRAISER: Yeah, now, this is, 
like, "Let's send the kids to 
college" kind of money right
here.
GUEST: That's exactly, the 
college savings right here.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's 
literally the best culmination 
of Magic cards I've ever 
seen in one setting.
Like, it's absolutely 
ridiculous.
GUEST: Oh, wow.
APPRAISER: That's why when 
you came up to the stall, I 
was, like... (imitates heart
racing): Looking at the... 
Looking at the binder, 
I was, like, "Whew!" 
In the marketplace,
this is hotter than fire. 
The demand for these 
cards is uncontrollable. 
And you would absolutely
sell them individually. Because 
if I'm at home, and I have 
five out of the nine cards,
I don't need to buy all nine-- 
that's a ton of money. I just 
need that one or two extra
card.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Power nine, baby-- 
unbelievable. For me, this is 
like looking at a painting.
Like, you go to the museum, 
it's, like, "Oh, a Renoir."
GUEST: (laughs)
