| RECON // NEWSLETTER NO. 009 |
MON OCT 26, 2026 |
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Know the market. Collect with conviction.
TCG · VIDEO GAMES · ANIME
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 | | IMAGE: PSA CERTIFICATE LIST |
PSA publishes the full list of 6,451 graded items stolen from the FedEx truck in Santa Ana on Oct 13, deactivates every cert and confirms the FBI is on the case with police; Pokémon is on the list
| STOLEN | 6,451 ITEMS · FEDEX TRUCK, SANTA ANA · OCT 13 |
| LIST | 93-PAGE PDF · EVERY CERT DEACTIVATED · OCT 23 |
| CASE | SANTA ANA PD + FBI · POLICE ESTIMATE $963,000 · NO ARRESTS |
6,451 ITEMS · CERTS VOID
PSA’s Oct 23 update puts the Oct 13 theft from a FedEx truck outside its Santa Ana facility at 6,451 items, publishes the complete list with every cert number as a 93-page PDF, deactivates every cert on it and says the Santa Ana Police Department and the FBI have the video, manifests and item-level records; grading fees are refunded and each item is paid at fair market value up to its declared Maximum Insured Value. Collectibles News read the list: a Grey Felt Hat Pikachu promo, a 2016 Charizard EX promo, an Evolving Skies Rayquaza V and a Fusion Strike Gengar VMAX are on it with Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and sports one-of-ones, after Chase Society’s Oct 22 read of a 382-card partner list had found no Pokémon. Police had put the loss at $963,000 on Oct 19 before the remaining boxes were scanned; the payouts are capped by what each submitter declared, so the loss PSA pays and the loss the market books will differ, and every PSA slab offered from here on can be checked against a public list.
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The 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box fell to $123 on Oct 21, its low, five weeks after release; Pokémon’s 35 in-print sealed products lost 6% in a month while 89 finished runs held, per Chase Society
The 30th Celebration ETB tracked at $123 on Oct 21, lower every week since its $179 first weekend, and Delta Reign’s ETB slipped from $122 on Oct 12 to $107 on Oct 21 before its Nov 6 release, per Chase Society. One of each of the 35 in-print Pokémon products cost about $5,050 on Sep 21 and $4,750 on Oct 21, down 6%, with 28 of the 35 lower; the 89 boxes, ETBs and bundles whose runs have ended went from $129,000 to $130,000, up 1%. Ascended Heroes’ ETB bottomed about five weeks after release in March, the point the 30th reached on Oct 21, so the in-print shelf is pricing the cases still arriving and the finished runs have found their level.
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Graded game auctions at Heritage and Goldin logged 61 sales for $41,353 in the 30 days to Oct 19, with a $2,125 top sale, after a $1.6 million week in September and a $2.8 million week in August, per What The Slab
What The Slab’s report (refreshed Oct 23) counts 61 graded game sales at the two houses for $41,353 in its last 30 days, a $525 median and a PSA 9.2 Donkey Kong Country at $2,125 on top; the week of Sep 7 did 304 sales for $1,623,540 and the week of Aug 24 did 191 for $2,763,772, led by the $450,000 Mario Bros. eBay carried the weeks between: The Graded Games Report tracked 698 graded game sales for Oct 6 to 13 at a $355 median, topped by a sealed PSA 9.8 Pokémon Sapphire at $35,100. The next bursts are dated: Goldin’s Pokémon 30th sealed games closed Oct 25 with a PSA 9.8 Emerald bid to $65,600 on Oct 24 per GoCollect (results pending), and Heritage’s Video Games Signature Auction runs Nov 20 to 21 with $689,483 in proxy bids on its sale page.
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| ANIME |
The twelve sheets of Castle in the Sky rough genga listed as corrected by Hayao Miyazaki rose to ¥5,100,000 after eight bids on Oct 23 in Mandarake’s Big Web Auction No. 136, from ¥3,600,000 and six bids on Oct 22 (our No. 008), about $32,600 at Pound Sterling Live’s Oct 23 rate; the lot closes Nov 7. The same sale’s four-sheet Dragon Ball Z genga stood at ¥465,000 after 25 bids on Oct 26 from a ¥15,000 start and closes Nov 2. (Mandarake (Castle in the Sky lot) · Mandarake (Dragon Ball Z lot) · Pound Sterling Live) |
| ANIME |
The record for Pokémon production art is five months old: a Pikachu cel from “Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village” with its key master background made $73,200 at Heritage’s Art of Anime Vol. VIII (May 15 to 17), a world auction record per Heritage, and a Pikachu and Ash cel with master background and animation drawing made $67,100 in the same sale, which sold all 1,206 lots for $2.5 million. (Heritage via Anime News Network, May 20) |
| TCG |
Riftbound’s Radiance booster box lost its markup before Riot shipped it: advance orders ran about $245 through September, $148 by Oct 10 and $146 on the Oct 23 release, against Riot’s own $119.99 price, per Chase Society (Oct 24); Origins, the first set, is at $226 from a $296 high, and 107 of the 161 Riftbound cards priced above $50 sold for less this week than a month ago, 37 for more. (Chase Society, Oct 24) |
| TCG |
Spin Master and Ghost Galaxy added Paramount’s A Quiet Place (the Death Angels), Sleepy Hollow (the Headless Horseman) and Smile to Hellbreak TCG’s first set, more than 200 cards from seven horror properties including Universal Pictures and Horror Inc. titles, due January 2027 through game and hobby stores and Amazon, per Collectibles News (Oct 23). (Collectibles News, Oct 23) |
| TCG |
CVS Pharmacy put Pokémon trading cards at the front of an expanded fall collectibles assortment, with Nook Nook Series 1 blind boxes and other surprise products, rolling out through its roughly 9,000 stores and CVS.com this fall with availability varying by store, per Collectibles News (Oct 24); no sets or prices were named. (Collectibles News, Oct 24) |
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STARTS OCT 29 |
Heritage: Tapping Into The Many Worlds Of Magic: The Gathering Vol. X (TCG Showcase #43250) → Oct 29; sealed Collector Booster boxes from Wilds of Eldraine, Modern Horizons III and Commander Legends, an Unlimited Black Lotus signed by Christopher Rush and Richard Garfield, and the Scrye Black Lotus, Duelist Juzam Djinn and Inquest Chaos Orb oversized promos, per ICv2 (Oct 22); no estimates in the source |
SIGNED BLACK LOTUS |
LIVE THRU NOV 2 |
Propstore: Space Jam 30th Anniversary animation art → 167 lots of original animation art, prints and one-off pieces from the Warner Bros. Archives; opened Oct 19, closes 8 AM PT Nov 2; 26% buyer’s premium; no estimates on the page, per Propstore |
167 LOTS |
LIVE THRU NOV 3 |
Landry Pop Auctions: the Doug Ferguson Pokémon collection → Prebidding open ahead of the Nov 3 auction; the CGC-graded 2019 Doug Ferguson GX 18 x 25 inch jumbo promo, est. $30,000–50,000, with more than 50 items from Ferguson’s collection, per ICv2 (Oct 21); the house’s site would not open for our tool |
EST $30K–$50K |
LIVE THRU NOV 7 |
Mandarake Big Web Auction No. 136 (Zenbu) → In The Tape · the Miyazaki-corrected Castle in the Sky genga at ¥5,100,000 closes Nov 7, the Dragon Ball Z genga at ¥465,000 closes Nov 2, per the lot pages |
¥5.1M BID |
LIVE NOV 20–21 |
Heritage Video Games Signature Auction #7455 (Dallas) → Featured in Big News · live proxy bidding open with $689,483 in bids on Oct 26, per the sale page; floor session 4 PM CT Nov 20, internet session 4 PM CT Nov 21 |
$689,483 IN BIDS |
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| UPCOMING RELEASES |
DROP DATES |
| NOV 6 |
Delta Reign (Pokémon TCG, English): its Elite Trainer Box tracked at $107 on Oct 21, from $122 on Oct 12, per Chase Society LIVE LISTINGS ON EBAY → |
ETB $107 ON OCT 21 |
| NOV 13 |
Magic: The Gathering – Star Trek (Wizards of the Coast): Play Boosters, Collector Boosters and Beam Me Up Bundles, with seven actor-signed headliner cards at 250 copies each in Collector Boosters, per ICv2 (Oct 20) LIVE LISTINGS ON EBAY → |
SIGNED CARDS 250 EACH |
| FEB 12, 2027 |
Disney Lorcana: Into the Inkdark (Ravensburger): the first Lorcana set with serialized Illustrious cards; 12-card Collector Boosters at select Ravensburger Play Hub stores, Disney Parks and Disney stores, plus an Illumineer’s Trove, prerelease kits and booster displays; preorders open, per ICv2 (Oct 23) LIVE LISTINGS ON EBAY → |
FIRST SERIALIZED CARDS |
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FIELD NOTE
The floor is the end of the print run. In-print sealed is inventory.
The 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box fell to $123 on Oct 21, lower every week since its $179 first weekend, while Chase Society’s 89 finished runs held at $130,000 and its 35 in-print products lost 6% in a month. A sealed box cannot hold a premium while the printer is still running, and Ascended Heroes found its floor about five weeks after release, when new cases stopped arriving. The date to price a new set from is the last print, so an in-print box is inventory until then and a collectible after.
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