Top 10 Most Expensive Pokemon Booster Boxes
Whether you’re collecting cards for their artwork or to build decks and play, us TCG fans love a good booster box. It’s pretty much always been the best method to get a big variety of cards in one product and you automatically collect the majority of the cards when buying a booster box from a specific set. More importantly, a booster box will at least have some guaranteed delivery of higher rarity cards so you know no matter what happens and no matter what set, you’re bound to get some rare and more sought after cards if you open an entire booster box. This gives booster boxes a sort of legendary status in terms of their card delivery as products. As a result, when thinking about your favourite pokemon set or your favourite pokemon cards your sweet home of a destination is going to be a booster box from that set. It’s no surprise that some of the most expensive pokemon products are booster boxes, for as the combination of their age, rarity and their set contents and iconicity seriously turn them into big money products.
In this article, I’ll be ranking what the most expensive pokemon booster boxes are in our recent time according to my own research. If you’ve ever been curious as to which booster box sets command the biggest value in terms of money then this post is for you. You must keep in mind that prices will always ultimately vary and change and the booster box rankings here could easily interchange overnight. It will give you an idea though of what the most expensive pokemon booster boxes are. The only rules are I’m excluding Japanese original booster boxes here and duplicate sets, so no including 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the same set.
Neo Destiny was the fourth Gen 2 set released in 2002 and definitely stands out for its unique Dark and Light theme of pokemon cards. Dark Pokemon cards may not be as unique here given their inclusion in some other sets but the Light pokemon cards to contrast them are definitely unique. Booster boxes of this set also pack some very good potential value as the home of some Shining pokemon cards. Any Shining pokemon card would be coveted, but Neo Destiny includes Shining cards on some very popular pokemon namely, Celebi, Charizard, Mewtwo and Tyranitar. On the lowest end this booster box sells for around $14000 if its 1st Edition.
ex Power Keepers has been one of my favourite and most nostalgic sets since I was a kid so I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that’s it’s so expensive to buy. The last set of the wonderful ex era in 2007, it served as a reprint set but the majority of its cards are original to this set. That includes all the cool ex pokemon here but no doubt the most sought after cards here are going to be the Gold Stars for the 3 original Eeveelutions, Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon. It also has its own set of unique holo versions for the 6 original basic energies at the time. They also happen to be some of my favourites to use.
Not many sets are going to be more iconic than Neo Genesis and it makes sense if you’re familiar with it. The first Gen 2 set released in 2000 and the first set to bring the next generation of pokemon in card form. I can’t cover the whole history in a few paragraphs, but know that this set is iconic for a multitude of reasons; most of them having to do with how the cards and mechanics from the set affected the actual game playability wise. From unique rules on baby pokemon, new special energies and types, mistranslated cards, and the super overpowered Sneasel here; a booster box of Neo Genesis is very rich with history.
Out of the Gen 2 Neo sets Neo Discovery is probably my favourite since its home to one of the prettiest holo Espeon cards. If you didn’t know, Espeon is my favourite Eeveelution of the group but I cheat on it with others all the time. Besides my personal bias here, compared to other Gen 2 sets Neo Discovery doesn’t have any Shining pokemon cards or any mega rare special cards of that level. Just your standard holo rares. Nevertheless, perhaps that might still be enough; I did mention Espeon after all and there are also Umbreon cards here as you might have guessed. This was the debuting set for these 2 Eeveelutions after all and I’m sure this must play a part in iconicity here.
From not so lovable, we come back to a very lovable set in my heart, ex Deoxys. This set is simply a beauty classic for Gen 3 released in 2005. From playable cards to mega rare cards and an iconic theme of the clash between Rayquaza and Deoxys, this set has it all. It should also be noted that the cardboard of the cards here and the ink used is of higher quality. That, combined with the unique holo technology they decided to use for the holo cards here make them bend and warp a lot easier with temperature changes. This set is home to some very cool ex pokemon (or maybe it’s just my bias) but it goes without saying, it’s the Gold Stars here that really raise the value here.
At the end of the day, this is the second Gen 2 set released in 2001 and 1st Edition boxes will cost you no less than $18000 on a good day with around $19000 as a more standard price.
Unlike ex Power Keepers, ex Holon Phantoms is one of the ex era sets that I like the least. I don’t hate it but let’s just say it doesn’t have too many cards or a set theme that speaks to me compared to most other ex sets from the era. Talking about a theme, this is Delta Species focused set but I have no qualms in saying ex Delta Species, ex Crystal Guardians and ex Dragon Frontiers are cooler delta species sets by comparison. I suppose other collectors don’t share my view though as at its lowest, a box from this set also goes at around $24000-25000. Mightyena ex is one of my favourite ex cards period, not just from this set, but including Mightyena there are only 3 different ex pokemon here.
Yet another ex set that I really like, ex Dragon Frontiers has a very vibrant and positive theme to it that I can’t quite put my finger on to express why. It is a delta species themed set and the last set of 2006 but the delta species pokemon here are pure and come in mono types just like Crystal Guardians. Many cool pokemon cards call this set their home but I doubt this set would be so valued if it wasn’t for the 2 possible Gold Stars you can get from here. You may know, they are none other than Mew and Charizard. But did you know the Snorlax here is the only pokemon in the era that has both a poke-body and a poke-power with no attacks? This has to be the real reason of this set’s mega value! ;)
It’s possible I’ll catch hate for saying this but ex Team Rocket Returns is most definitely my least liked ex era set. Again, doesn’t mean that I hate it, but it’s simply because it’s fully themed on Team Rocket and I don’t care about their cards. It’s strange, because I don’t dislike Team Rocket as a villain team but I really don’t care about them in the tcg. What I can put to words is this being a full set themed on Team Rocket wastes a lot of ex cards we could have received on pokemon that didn’t get any ex cards in the era. For example, numerous ex pokemon here received other ex cards from other sets and they are not even Gen 3 pokemon. I digress though.
10. Neo Destiny (1st Edition)
9. ex Power Keepers
8. Neo Discovery (1st Edition)
7. Neo Genesis (1st Edition)
6. ex Holon Phantoms
While I’m not the biggest fan of it, it doesn’t mean that I don’t know my history. This set is very iconic as it’s the first set where the first 3 original Gold Star cards debuted and the reverse holo style of gold lettering and set logo stamp got introduced for reverse holo cards in the era. Admittedly, with their unique card layout some Team Rocket cards do look very cool design wise if they’re reverse holo. The 2 Houndooms here for example. The 3 Gold Stars here are the Hoenn starters, Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip. All 3 of them are obviously very valuable but Torchic in particular is the most coveted; not only among these 3 but among all Gold Stars in general. A few other aspects can be noted about what drives the value of the set; a secret rare holo Charmeleon or the Here Comes Team Rocket! Card but I think all of its unique differences that disappoint me is what others find very special. I do like Dark Dragonite though, it’s super cool. Ranked at number 3 here whether I like it or not it’s possibly the most expensive ex era booster box with a low average price of around $47000 and no less.
Kind of a boring but expected finish is the obvious most expensive pokemon booster box of the very first original Base Set. I actually deem this set as the second strongest set of all time playability wise, largely because it’s rich filled with the strongest trainer cards but let me stay on topic here. Base Set is the oldest non Japanese set, the first pokemon set of all released in 1999 in English and with that status you could say all 102 cards here are iconic. Even if I’m exaggerating everybody knows (even non pokemon fans) how sought after some of the holo cards are from here and especially the starters, and even more especially just Charizard because it’s Charizard.
5. ex Deoxys
The way I see it, Skyridge is like the Invasion of Chaos yugioh set for pokemon. Perhaps I could say this about Neo Genesis as well. Either way, it’s one of the most if not the most revered set and I know if there’s one goal some collectors have is to collect every card from Skyridge to some capacity. Graded or not graded, in good or in whatever condition, many pokemon fans really like this set. Released in 2003, it is the last official Wizard of the Coast era set and this may be a significant factor in its iconicity. The artworks on the cards are all over the place, from great to weird and it’s a very big sized set given those days. It doesn’t have Gold Stars but it does have Crystal pokemon, which while not as nice in my opinion still are very rare and sought after special cards.
Phew… This post ended up being a lot longer than what I thought it would be but I suppose I got carried away by my passion, that’s why. Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed it. Remember, the rankings could very well look much different at some point but I think we can all agree we’d love to have at least one booster box out of these 10 regardless of what changes :)
4. ex Dragon Frontiers
3. ex Team Rocket Returns
2. Skyridge
1. Base Set (1st Edition)
I do wonder what the fate of this set would be if it didn’t have Crystal Charizard here but because it does, the value of this set raises significantly. While still technically a Gen 2 set, as part of the first 3 e-reader sets, Expedition, Aquapolis and Skyridge are more similar to ex era sets in that they were not as printed as the Neo sets making booster boxes of this valued set very rare. All these factors I mentioned among others make this the second most expensive booster box you can hope to find and buy right now with a low average price of at least $57000.
The big overall theme of the set is based on the Elite Four from Hoenn and the Champion Steven of course. Regardless, you won’t easily find booster boxes for this set for less than $15000 nowadays and from what I gathered the lowest they usually go for now is around $16000.
Specifically, Rayquaza Gold star, commonly known as the most sought after Gold Star out of every other one you can think of. Very few sealed booster boxes remain of this mega coveted set and over the years I’ve seen it prized over $40000-50000. It’s an unforgettable memory once you see it but I can’t realistically know for sure if sales with these prices went through. Either way, I’m confident that even at an average minimum, you won’t find any listings that go for less than $33000 for ex Deoxys in this day and age.
I’ll just leave it at that. A 1st Edition booster box of Base Set goes for no less than $150000 right now. It’s true that Base Set, the other Gen 1 sets and most of the Gen 2 sets received a lot more printings in that period compared to Gen 3 and Gen 4 sets as pokemon was a global media phenomenon in that fresh beginning. At the same time though, certain collectors only care about cards from these very old Wizards sets so in the end it still drives that demand even if there are way more cards around from that era compared to other Gens.
It also costs around $24000-25000 (on the low) if its 1st Edition but similar to Neo Discovery it doesn’t have any Shining cards or other mega rare special cards.
This is one, but not the only reason why Holon Phantoms feels a bit lacklustre to me. The most likely reason why this set is valued so much is its particular set of Gold Stars. They include Gyarados, Mewtwo and Pikachu and I don’t think I need to elaborate more for most pokemon fans to get the picture. This set also has its own set of holo energies that look similar to ex Power Keepers but are not the same. I put this set ahead of Neo Genesis because unlike the Neo sets, sets in the ex era had a single print run and overall fewer printings as a whole.
Boxes of this set are just as rare if nor rarer than ex Deoxys and the lowest average price you can see this booster box is around $39000-40000 these days. That is, if you do see it.