Fortnite Series 1 Trading Cards: Top 10 Sales

Panini released a Fortnite Series 1 Trading Card set in June 2019 in three countries: the United States, Italy, and Brazil. 

Series 1 comprised a 300 Card set with different categories — Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. There were 100 Common cards and the remaining 200 cards were split equally between Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. 

The latter four categories each had 50 cards featuring different characters and also had two parallels: Holofoil and Crystal Shards.

The checklist of cards includes weapons and objects from the game (commons) as well as popular characters and skins. You can see the full set checklist here. 

Panini later released a Promo Set with 9 Crystal Shards P1 — P9 exclusively sold through Panini’s Website for customers in the US. 

PSA has graded a total of 3,730 Fortnite Series 1 cards awarding 1,256 PSA 10s for a 33% gem rate across US, Italy and Brazilian cards. 

The United States print run reportedly has slightly larger cards (about 1 mm taller and wider) and besides differences between the “made in [country]” label on the back of the cards, Crystal Shards are slightly different in design based on the print location as well: 

On the left is the United States Crystal Shard, in the middle is the Brazilian Crystal Shard and on the right is the Italian Crystal Shard.

Generally, US prints are worth more, but Italian prints are slightly more rare in higher grades given their 23% gem rate. 

The cards were released in Value packs, Fat packs, Blaster Boxes, Mega Boxes, and Hobby Boxes. Italian and Brazilian prints had clear plastic wraps and US prints had the Panini-branded sealed plastic wraps. 

Mega Boxes were the only way to obtain the US crystal shard (the most valuable parallel on the market), which is why they are more valuable today, priced around $1,000. 

In February 2021 the most expensive Fortnite Series 1 trading card sold via private deal for $55,000. The sale was reported here, and here but keep in mind with private deals, we are unable to personally verify the sale. 

The Black Knight dominates this list of top 10 Fortnite trading card sales as it was one of the most popular skins in the game and players who had it were highly respected. Some YouTubers even said that gamers who encountered players with the skin would stop and cheer for the person who had it. 

The card pictured in this ranking is the Italian print, but it is unclear which country the $55,000 sale was from (most likely the US print, but it was difficult to find a clean photo of that card in a BGS 9.5 grade). 

Both the US and Italian Crystal Shard prints are close in population (32 and 38 total graded by PSA respectively) with the PSA 10 Italian Crystal Shard slightly rarer with 7 copies versus 9 for the US print. 

The second most expensive Fortnite Series 1 card sale also happened in February of 2021 when a Legendary Holo Foil Black Knight sold for $30,000 via eBay best offer and is verified by PSA. 

As we mentioned, the Black Knight skin was one of the most popular in series 1 and took a lot of work to get it. 

This rarity and popularity of the skin and value in the game transferred over to the card market. 

There are 16 total Black Knight Holofoil PSA 10s and are less rare than the Crystal Shards based on the total graded population. 

February and March of 2021 were record months for Fortnite Cards (like the rest of the trading card market) and a BGS 9.5 Black Knight Holofoil sold for $20,000 on an eBay best offer accepted. 

The Holofoil and Crystal Shard are the two most desirable cards in the set because they are parallels with refractor elements and a low population. 

In December 2021, a Legendary Fortnite Series 1 Crystal Shard Black Knight sold for $17,877 via eBay auction. 

There is a lot of variation between the PSA 10 and raw card value multipliers based on set and cards (i.e. PSA 10s are worth 7x of the same card in raw condition), but this recent raw sale indicates that the market for the Black Knight Series 1 Fornite Crystal Shards paralell card hasn’t dramatically decreased since its peak in early 2021. 

In April of 2021, this PSA 10 Black Knight Series 1 Holofoil sold for about $3,000 less than its BGS 9.5 counterpart that sold a few months earlier. 

It’s still a strong five-figure sale but suggests that the value of Fortnite cards started pulling back after hitting a peak at the beginning of 2021. 

In June 2021, this Italian print Black Knight Crystal Shards PSA 10 sold for $14,900 via PWCC Auctions verified by PSA. 

The Italian print of this card has a slightly lower population (by 2) in a PSA 10 but the market does not currently value them as much as US prints.

In May 2021, a PSA 10 copy of the Black Knight Holofoil parallel sold for $12,699. A $17,301 price drop from its original high of $30,000 in February. 

A second copy of this card last sold for $8,600 just a few weeks later, marking a further pull-back in the value of this card in the market.  

Along with a number of record Series 1 Fortnite card sales in 2021, a Black Knight Holofoil PSA 9 (US print) sold for $12,000 via accepted best offer on eBay. 

There are 50 copies of the Black Knight (US) Holofoil in a PSA 9 grade versus 16 in PSA 10. 

The total PSA graded supply of the Holofoil parallel is 119 cards, which is small relative to other sports card sets. 

Our first non-Black Knight record Fortnite card sale is the Red Knight. This is another rare skin in the Fortnite game and some people weren’t happy when it was announced that the skin could be purchased as it watered down the skin’s scarcity in the game. 

Nonetheless, a PSA 10 copy of the Crystal Shard parallel sold for $11,000 in February 2021. There are only 6 copies of a PSA 10-grade Red Knight Crystal Shards.

In March 2021, a PSA 9 Black Knight Holofoil parallel sold for $10,000. 

There are 50 copies of the card in a PSA 9 grade and the most recent sale of a PSA 9 was $2,025 in September, a nearly 80% loss in value. 

Zooming out, the card has still appreciated significantly as it sold for just $66 in February 2020.