NOG AANVULLEN: in deze blog ontbreken nog twee dingen. De prijsbullets onder "Hoe heeft de prijs zich ontwikkeld?" en de productfoto onder "Wat zit er in de Fossil booster box?". PriceCharting en alle beeldbronnen waren deze week niet bereikbaar vanuit de cloud, de uitgaande proxy weigerde de verbinding. Niet live zetten voordat deze twee zijn ingevuld, ook niet in de Engelse en Duitse versie. Deze alinea moet er daarna uit.
The Fossil booster box is the third and last box from Pokémon's first year at Wizards of the Coast. Thirty-six packs with Dragonite, Gengar, the three legendary birds and the fossil Pokémon that made their debut here. In this blog you'll read when the box came out, how to tell 1st Edition from Unlimited, what's in it exactly, which cards you can pull and how the price has developed since.
When did the Fossil booster box come out?
Fossil appeared on 10 October 1999 in English, published by Wizards of the Coast. It was the third English expansion, after Base Set and Jungle, and with 62 cards also the smallest of the three. The Japanese counterpart was around much earlier: it came out on 21 June 1997 under the name Mystery of the Fossils.
The European translations followed in 2000, including a Dutch edition. There's something special about that, because Fossil was the last Pokémon set ever released officially in Dutch. After Base Set, Jungle and Fossil, Wizards of the Coast stopped making Dutch-language cards, and no Dutch set has appeared since. What the box before it looked like, you can read in our blog about the Jungle booster box.
1st Edition or Unlimited?
Fossil got two print runs, and both are recognisable from the outside. A shadowless in-between version like the one Base Set has doesn't exist here, so with a sealed box you never have to guess.
1st Edition. The first print run. The cards carry the familiar round black 1st Edition stamp below the artwork, and the box itself is marked as first edition too. This is the print run the high amounts are paid for.
Unlimited. The later print run, made in far bigger numbers and without the stamp. This is by far the version you come across most often today.
One detail that sometimes surprises collectors: on the Australian Unlimited release the word Pokémon is printed in red letters on the box and the packs instead of in yellow. That was an anti-counterfeiting measure at the time, and it makes Australian sealed Fossil material recognisable at a glance.
What's in the Fossil booster box?
- 36 booster packs of Fossil
- 11 cards per pack: 7 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare, 396 cards in total
- The rare slot has roughly a 1 in 3 chance of a Holo Rare instead of a regular Rare
- No energy cards: the set doesn't contain a single one
- Three different pack artworks: Aerodactyl, Lapras and Zapdos
That's all there is. No promo card, no sleeves, no dice. The fact that Fossil had no energy cards of its own took some getting used to for players in 1999: you had to get your energy from Base Set or from a starter set.
[FOTO: Fossil booster box, 1st Edition en Unlimited]
Which cards can you pull?
Fossil has 62 cards: 15 Holo Rares, 15 regular Rares, 16 uncommons and 16 commons. Just like in Jungle, the fifteen Holo Rares return a second time as a regular, matte Rare with a different card number, so you can pull the same artwork in two versions.
The 15 Holo Rares are: Aerodactyl (1/62), Articuno (2/62), Ditto (3/62), Dragonite (4/62), Gengar (5/62), Haunter (6/62), Hitmonlee (7/62), Hypno (8/62), Kabutops (9/62), Lapras (10/62), Magneton (11/62), Moltres (12/62), Muk (13/62), Raichu (14/62) and Zapdos (15/62).
Dragonite and Gengar are the two names this box usually revolves around, with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres right behind them. Those three birds were the first legendary Pokémon in the English game, illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita, and you can still tell from the attention they get. How the Fossil Gengar compares to its later versions, we line up in rare and dark: top 5 Gengar cards.
Fossil also brought something new to the game: the fossils themselves. Mysterious Fossil is a trainer card you put on your bench as a Pokémon, something that didn't exist before, and from it Omanyte and Kabuto evolve on into Omastar and Kabutops. That's where the set gets its name.
What exactly you get out of a box differs per box. There is no reliable pack test from this era with enough boosters opened, so beyond the holo ratio of roughly 1 in 3 that applied back then, there are no hard percentages per card to give.
How has the price developed?
[PRIJZEN: referentieprijs en een aantal verkopen door de jaren heen voor de Fossil booster box, apart voor 1st Edition en Unlimited, in euro's van PriceCharting]
What a box cost in a shop in 1999 can't be traced reliably. Nothing about it is documented for the Netherlands, and for the American Fossil release we haven't found a source that pins down a retail price either. So we'd rather name no amount than an estimated one.
Also keep in mind with this box that few copies are sold publicly per year, and of the first edition fewer still. One unusual auction shifts the picture immediately. So look at the line across several years and not at the most recent transaction.
Is the Fossil booster box interesting to keep?
A sealed Fossil box has long stopped being a box you buy to open. Whoever buys one, buys it to leave it exactly as it is. Scarcity works in its favour: no box will ever be added, and every box someone does tear open disappears from the market for good.
How many boxes were made per print run has never been made public by Wizards of the Coast. What is certain is that the first edition sold out within a short time and that Unlimited was printed in far bigger numbers afterwards.
What you have to weigh up: at these amounts there are fakes around, and boxes that have been resealed. Buy from a seller you trust, ask for clear photos of every side and of the shrink wrap, and at the higher amounts only look at copies that have been graded by a reputable company.
Please note: the value of cards can rise and fall. No guarantee of an increase in value.
Frequently asked questions
Why is this set called Fossil? Because this is where the fossil Pokémon entered the English game for the first time. Mysterious Fossil is a trainer card you play as a Pokémon, and from it come Omanyte and Kabuto. Aerodactyl, revived from a piece of Old Amber in the games, isn't number 1 of the set for nothing.
How many holos are in a box on average? With a holo ratio of roughly 1 in 3 you end up at about twelve holos per box of 36 packs. That's an average and not a guarantee: one box runs in your favour, the next one doesn't.
Is Fossil a good set to start with if you want to collect vintage? For anyone after a complete set, this is the most achievable of the three from 1999. At 62 cards Fossil is smaller than Base Set and Jungle, and the commons and uncommons are still easy enough to find as singles. The fifteen holos remain the expensive part.
Conclusion
The Fossil booster box is a box of 36 packs from October 1999, with 396 cards from the third English Pokémon set. Fifteen Holo Rares can be pulled, with Dragonite, Gengar and the three legendary birds as the best-known names.
The main thing with this box is which print run you have in hand, and here that's simple: 1st Edition is on the box, Unlimited isn't. Beyond that, pay attention above all to the condition of the shrink wrap and to where the box came from. For the singles themselves, have a look at our Fossil collection too.
