it was on TV with ABC world news, too.   I'll try to post the clip later.

 

This is such wonderful event for the hobby. Congratulations to Dan on the sale, and to the buyers for stepping up and buying the "holy grail." Great exposure for WATA which has emerged in a short period of time as a powerhouse in the hobby.

"All hail His Grace, WATA of Houses Kahn, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Video games, and Protector of the Realm. WATA is the new King of the Seven Kingdoms "

If they do make that face, for the love of God, don't follow their advice.  

Congrats man!! I remember following this game when
it was originally found. Such a great piece of history!

 

Is there more documentation on this copy? When and where was it found? How was it preserved so well for so long. Also (and part of me hopes this is true) was it VGA graded only to be regraded by Wata?

its a neat story actually. Good questions. I'll try and pop in with more info at some point

Oh yeah well my dad WORKS FOR NINTENDO!

 

People talking about multipliers and logic with sticker sealed black box NES games...really? C'mon guys.

Remember a couple years ago and that one dude was buying up all the sealed black box stuff? Can't remember his name now....Omar? I think he bought something at $125k, $100k, and $60k back then....no? Technically this isn't even really the first publicly known 6-figure sale, it's only the first publicly known title.

Also, let's not forget that there are still Dov loads and Mexican Caltron lots out there somewhere, and I think there might be more "to-be-seen" Tim Atwood's, Nintendo Canada Auctions, and Nintendo Garage Sales....isn't Tim sitting on a sealed case of HT Mario's and other black boxes and even a Dino Peak case? 

Congrats on the sale, Bronty and congrats to the winners! This is a great story and that game is absolutely an icon.

The debate in this thread is also great. We are all human and have differing opinions - that's what makes people interesting & communities great! Being honest with our authentic opinions moves us forward.

Pretty damn cool seeing video games get such mainstream press. Congrats to everyone involved.

So I shouldn’t follow this guy down that dark alley, even though he says we’re going to meet women?

 

The important thing is everyone now knows their roles

 

I just want to point out that Omar did not pay 6 figures for any single game. He made 6 figure purchases but it was always for bundles. So yes, this is the first video game 6 figure sale for any individual game.

I think it’s pretty bad ass, congrats to the buyers and seller.
 

Dope.

Ah ok, I wasn’t fortunate enough to deal with the guy. I only heard whispers about his existence and then finally found out it was a legit mystery buyer until after his buying spree was over.

Not like I had anything worth his time either but still.

While I am downplaying the sale a little bit, it’s a landmark public fully disclosed price for what will probably be the hobbies “Gould” Stradivarius.

Edit: I meant Messiah Stradivarius. The only Stradivarius believed to have never been played.

Just wanted to say congrats to all parties involved! I think this is GREAT for collecting, and really kind of reinvigorates the chase, at least for me.

Deniz and Kenneth are both fantastic, and Mr. Halpern seemed like a really cool dude when I met him last year, so I am over the moon for all them. I'm also sitting here slapping my taint repeatedly with a school of pirahnas (pirahnae?) because I turned down an investment opportunity with WATA a while back. Man, what a great life that would have been...but onward!

Either way, like I said, thrilled for these guys. Hopefully I can work my way up to the high rollers table, but it will take some luck and savviness.

Game on!

We have an almost identical story. the reason I didn't collect when I was younger is because I was poor and I couldn't afford to do this. Collecting is a means of accomplishing something that was incredibly dear to my childhood and teenage years but that I couldn't afford to do so at the time. Once I got into my mid 20s I started becoming financially well-off enough to pursue collecting.

So I have my original Genesis Sega Master and PlayStation, ps2 and PS3, Xbox, x360 etc. But pretty much almost no games. I didn't have a Nintendo as a kid because my mom couldn't afford one. so I got a second master instead and I only ever had a few games.

But all my friends had Nintendo's in Super nintendos and 64s, so I was able to have a rich vibrant diversity because of more financially well-to-do friends.

And most importantly, collecting has also reintroduced games into my life. I had stopped for many years and now I enjoy gaming just as much as I did when I was younger. I've made it a goal to qualify in the tetris world championships, and there are so many high-quality RPGs that you couldn't possibly play them all, so instead I play only the best. I balance that time with high quality relationships and physical sports for optimal happiness.

In short, life is good. We all do what we do for different reasons. Sure collecting can be an expensive hobby and even a bad addiction for some people, but it is a hell of a lot better than gambling your money away on sports betting sites or at the casino.

And obviously life is really good for both the buyers and the sellers in this transaction. I find it impossible to have any hate because there are some really cool down-to-earth people in this community, but it takes a lot of effort and personal time to find these relationships.

the broader issue here is that we all have internet egos and when we spend too much time virtually communicating and not going to events, hanging out face to face, etc, we tend to be a bit sociopathic or narcissistic and the way that we communicate with others.

It's very difficult to have empathy and to apply the correct social filters for communication when your brain can't physically place this identity in your reality. Identity systems and psychology are very weird and fascinating.

The part I most like about this thread is the overwhelming positivity. This site has grown a lot over the last decade. when I first heard of this site it was a shitshow lol, how far it has come....






Most people are not interested in economics so do not understand the mechanics behind supply-side restriction. When you have a supply-side restricted Market with a lot of demand then economic theory goes entirely out of the window. The only thing that matters in that scenario is emotion.

But it is still true price discovery. There's always going to be someone willing to pay more money for a Picasso. This copy is like a Picasso it may be a one-of-a-kind in this condition.

I'm really confused by jonebones comment about value being near 1K. Didn't a sticker seal first revision SMB just sell on eBay for over 30k last year? That means that it more than tripled in value. I've seen other instances of this occurring in other industries as well so it's not something unique. As an example I've seen the same exact thing happened for Casacius physical bitcoins. Some of the more rare ones can fetch 10x the base value. And those aren't even one of a kind, the lowest produced revisions are around 40. I'm sure Rich could give endless examples of this happening in the coin world.

As for records this won't last very long. Buzzy has turned down a 100k offer on his NWC gold. So that will probably be the biggest recorded sale for a single item for a while as I imagine that this copy of SMB is going to be held for at least a decade if not for much much longer, or perhaps forever.

Super cool news for Wata!

I get the rarity of the item and investment opportunity. I'm too far removed from sealed games though man. Action #1 is Action #1 because it's "the thing" not "the thing and nobody ever read it". I get it's currently unique and it is "the game", but can't shake that an unbroken sticker on otherwise the same object makes it comparable to Action Comics. Oh well, I'm just a normie opened game collector who doesn't get it. Congrats to everyone retiring in the wake of this  

Sorn: The one that sold for 30k was an early copy, but technically a sixth print.

The 1k comment is referring to cib instead of sealed price but I think he's low on that. It doesn't really matter though as certain variants of certain titles will have high multipliers and some will have low multipliers. The high multipliers generally happen on titles that stayed in print a long time (therefore common cib but rare as early versions and usually popular titles. The low multipliers generally happen on titles that are already very low supply as a cib (SE, myriad, etc).

really though cib and sealed are two different markets.

Congratulations to everyone involved. The massive coverage around the globe will definitely bring attention to videogame collecting. Going to be interesting to see if this will bring some interesting items to surface, as we've seen before when certain items get media coverage or break pricerecords.
  Seems it only took 11 years  
 

Ha! Thanks for showing me that old quote  

I guess you're right.  I just had no clue that a sealed SMB was worth this kinda money, until the one last year sold for 30k.  It does make sense as to why it's so valuable. 
 

Ah, I misunderstood the conversation then. I didn't realize it was a discussion of cost difference between CIB and sealed. It certainly does seem to be a unicorn in this regard, but ultimately it does not matter because it is what it is. No one can change the psychology of a buyer's market.

Most of them are worth 1000 bucks, 2000 bucks sealed, as almost all the copies around are the latest versions of the box.   Its when you get into the 'fancy' early ones that price ramps up.   and its a relatively recent thing.   As the market for sealed games has developed its gone more and more towards great condition, well known popular games, and early versions.   This particular example has everything.