Magic The Gathering has been around for over 15 years now, and the basic design of the cards has barely changed in that time. However they were modernized in 2003 by updating the card frames. Here’s an example of the old frame:
And here’s the new (and still current) frame:
But did you know that WoTC spent about 3 years deciding on the updated frame, and during that period even did some test prints of alternate frame designs? I’ve seen scans of a few of these now, and unquestionably the ones I find most attractive are these two:
Incredible aren’t they? Only two of the first were printed (and in foil no less) and only three of the latter. They are now in the hands of private collectors and valued at many thousands ($7k+ apparently). Many other cards exist using these never-used frames, but the lands (2 islands and allegedly a mountain) are by far the most expensive because they are tournament legal.
As if the owners would ever play with them 🙂
As I have mentioned before I have a collection of basic lands, which is now upwards of 650 unique basic land cards. It makes me feel strangely happy to know that as complete as my collection almost is, there exists ‘holy grail’ lands like these that I will never, ever, ever own 🙂