UPDATE 7/10/2021: The rare copy of The Legend of Zeldo was finally sold for $870,000 as confirmed by Heritage Auction, eight times the starting price of $110,000. The auction house has not revealed the identity of the buyer. “The Legend of Zelda marks the beginning of one of the most important sagas in gaming; its historical significance can’t be understated ... it is a true collector’s piece,” said Valarie McLeckie, Heritage’s video game specialist.
Original story: A rare sealed 1987 copy of The Legend of Zelda is up for auction, with the bid starting at $110,000. The copy belongs to the NES R lot, which only consisted of a few copies.
As spotted by Eurogamer, the current price of the copy stands at $110,000 at the time of writing, but could go up at any time, should someone choose to bid for it.
“While it is a hard truth, it is a truth nonetheless -- none of the copies we've offered of this title previously could even attempt to hold a candle to this one due to its incredibly rare variant that holds early production status,” said the Heritage Auction fact sheet. “This matter is completely inarguable. This is the only copy from one of the earliest production runs that we've ever had the opportunity to offer, and, possibly will have the opportunity to offer, for many years to come.”
The NES R lot ran for only a few months before being replaced by the Rev-A variant in early 1988. To justify how rare this copy is, the auction house noted that there is only one variant that stands above this one, the NES TM version. It’s widely speculated that only one sealed copy of the NES TM version of The Legend of Zelda exists, and it’s unlikely that it will ever come to market. That means this NES R copy is the rarest sealed version of the game you could hope to find.
Heritage Auctions has not downplayed the significance of this copy, calling it a “grail” and even mentioning that this would be, by far, the most prestigious gaming related item ever put up for auction on the platform. “None of the copies we've offered of this title previously could even attempt to hold a candle to this one due to its incredibly rare variant that holds early production status. This matter is completely inarguable. This is the only copy from one of the earliest production runs that we've ever had the opportunity to offer, and, possibly will have the opportunity to offer, for many years to come.”