GUEST: I brought this original artwork from Magic: The Gathering.

My son and I played Magic, uh, in the early-'90s.

We started playing, and we played off and on through the years, and I found this probably around 2007 or so from a local artist who actually did some of the artwork for the cards.

So, he had this available for sale, so I bought this as a Christmas present for my son back then.

APPRAISER: And how much did you pay back then for your son?

GUEST: I paid $500 for, for this.

APPRAISER: All right!

$500!

You are in!

So, we're gonna have some good news for you today.

GUEST: All right.

APPRAISER: Magic: The Gathering really doesn't need much of an introduction.

1993, created by Richard Garfield at Wizards of the Coast.

Revolutionized the trading card world as we know it, because it was the first true TCG, trading card game.

The card that you have here is Dark Ritual, which was part of their Urza's Saga set.

Urza's Saga is the first of three in the Urza series of cards.

You also had Destiny and Legacy.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure when you're playing the game, Dark Ritual is a fairly powerful card as a mana accelerator.

GUEST: Yes, it's a very popular and powerful card-- almost everybody, if you're playing this color, black, you're gonna have a Dark Ritual in there.

APPRAISER: We know the artist is Tom Fleming.

He's worked for a bunch of different comic companies.

He's worked for Wizards of the Coast, has been a freelance artist in the world of pop culture, as we say, but for Magic art, the artist isn't really as big as a driving factor as the visual appeal, aesthetic of the piece, but also the card itself.

Dark Ritual, being a recognizable, iconic card from Urza's Saga makes this a fairly desirable painting for collectors today.

The card is, like, having a print, right?

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: There's multiple of the cards, but this is the original.

You have the one of one painting that was used to develop that card, and you have the proof card there with the artist's signature; happy to say, today, your $500 investment, conservatively, at auction would easily be $4,000 to $6,000.

GUEST: Nice!

Can't complain.

My son will be very happy when I return this to him.

APPRAISER: (laughing): Yeah!

Magic collectors are the most dedicated core group of people I've ever seen.