Black Collection

What Black Collection is

Black Collection is one half of the first expansion block of the Japanese BW era, released on December 17, 2010 alongside its partner set White Collection. It has 53 cards in the numbered set plus 3 secret cards, 56 in total, and one card, Pikachu 56, is shared between the two collections. Together they became the English Black & White expansion of April 25, 2011 with 115 cards. Black Collection carries Reshiram, the Legendary of Pokémon Black, while White Collection carries Zekrom.

The block was a fresh start. Every Pokémon is a Generation V Pokémon apart from Pikachu, and the set introduced Abilities in place of Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies, Full Art cards with artwork and holofoil covering the whole card, gray borders on Japanese prints and a new card layout. Japanese rarity symbols became letters, with SR marking the Full Arts and UR the secret card, and packs shrank from 11 cards at 300 yen to 5 cards at 150 yen. The three secret cards are the Full Art Tornadus 54 and Reshiram 55 and Pikachu 56.

What makes Black Collection different

• The first Full Art cards Reshiram 55 and Tornadus 54 are among the first Full Art cards ever printed, and Reshiram 55 leads the set in PSA 10, with a 15th Anniversary stamped print of the same card tracked separately at the top of the chase list.
• The shared Pikachu Pikachu 56 is the one card printed in both Black Collection and White Collection, the only non Generation V Pokémon in the block, and its 1st Edition print ranks second in the set in PSA 10.
• 1st Edition prints The BW era Japanese sets carried a 1st Edition mark on their first run, and 1st Edition copies of Pikachu 56, Tornadus 54, Reshiram 13 and Beartic 18 are graded and priced separately in the chase list above.

How Black Collection arrived

Black Collection and White Collection released in Japan on December 17, 2010, after the BW-P promotional cards began on December 1, 2010, and they were followed by Red Collection on July 15, 2011. The English Black & White arrived on April 25, 2011 and combined both collections into one 115 card set with three Theme Decks. The Japanese set is tracked here as its own hub because its Reshiram full art and 1st Edition prints are the original prints of the Black & White era.

Black Collection products

Black Collection was sold in five card booster packs and booster boxes, separately from White Collection. The sealed table above tracks both.

Collecting and grading Black Collection

The 15th Anniversary Reshiram 55 leads the set in PSA 10, with the 1st Edition Pikachu 56 second, then the regular Reshiram 55, the regular Reshiram 13, Tornadus 54 in both prints, Gothorita 27 and the 1st Edition Reshiram 13, Beartic 18 and Tornadus 47. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

Japanese print quality keeps PSA 10 rates high, so graded premiums are modest and concentrate on the Reshiram full art and the 1st Edition prints, which are graded and priced separately from the unlimited run. Sealed Black Collection is scarce, and the sealed table above tracks what boxes and packs trade for today.