Comment by rtkwe

Upwards of $24k USD when you factor in buyer's premium for a recent one. (Not confirmed to be fake but an example of another prototype card)

This is probably near the high watermark of cost because it's one of the earliest versions but a signed one might bump it up even higher.

https://goldin.co/item/1995-pokemon-alpha-prototype-25-pikac...

https://goldin.co/buy/?search=pokemon%20prototype&sort=Highe...

As for the article, it's posted to a niche specific community site, they're naturally going to explain less because the readers already have the context. These cards are expensive and sought after and there's a plausibly massive number of fakes out there.