Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus card sells for a record $540k | Hacker News Reader

Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus card sells for a record $540k

polygon.com

42 pointsEndXA11 comments

Damn, I lost a beta Black Lotus in ante (circa 1993).

I remember reading the prices in InQuest back in 1995 and thinking $200 is kinda steep for a beta Black Lotus.

It must be money laundering or insider trading type money making nonsense.

I can’t imagine who would buy this units they were going to flip it.

As a recovering magic the gathering player, I thought the opposite. This is exactly in line with what would happen if a couple collectors with more money than sense bid against each other for the ultimate chase rare.

I thought so too, and then I remembered that NFTs are a thing. At least Magic cards have some purpose.

Black Lotus cards are pretty well known for selling for crazy amounts of money, there is no reason to suspect laundering or anything like that.

Imagine putting money into a collectible that someone else can make more of. Truly a Warren Buffett in the making.

money forgery is a somewhat common criminal activity. forging money is a strict crime and due to all of the protection, very hard to do. I wonder how hard it will be to forge a black lotus. let's say you make one and sell it for that amount of money. you can say that you found it in your closet, pay taxes on the money you earned from selling it, and then have legal money on hand.

much like combating counterfeit legal tender, there are many anti-theft safeguards put into place by the printers of MTG cards. They aren't perfect but there are signs of forgery/fake prints: https://infinite.tcgplayer.com/article/How-to-Spot-Counterfe...

more info: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/buyer-beware-2004-...

it can be done successfully, but there are many ways to fuck it up, as well.

Also, if you make a card as highly scrutinized as the Black Lotus, you're going to have a harder time because of said scrutiny.

I assume that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing have significantly more difficult anti-theft safeguards than a 1 year old playing card company.

Post Malone can't be stopped

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