http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204929
"10) Can you confirm the recent private sale of English Kizuna Encounter and Ultimate 11 home carts for the unprecedented combined price of $55,000, and to what do you attribute this phenomenon?
During September ’09, I was approached by Neo-Geo.com forum member, Wolf, who was seeking both of these extremely rare titles for his collection. He never expected me to be willing to part with my personal copies and so he did not readily make me an offer directly. Instead, TonK, our resident MVS price guide analyst informed Wolf that I have occasionally sold a handful of titles from my collection in the past for offers that were too good to pass up. After a brief period of negotiation, Wolf and I came to an agreement of $55,000 for the pair. In hindsight, I’m rather certain that Wolf would have paid more and then there’s that kick of reality that my collection is now missing my two most prized pieces. However, $55,000 was one of those offers that qualified as too good to pass up.
Wolf says that he wouldn’t sell his Kizuna/U11 pair even for $100,000. He considers them virtually irreplaceable, and perhaps he’s right. I figure that with my resources of operating the NeoStore that I’ll eventually replace these titles, but the quest for top condition has always been the biggest challenge. Condition wise, what Wolf received was rather top notch as he was smiling ear to ear as he inspected them in person. I also have no doubt that the copies I sold to him were 100% SNK original because they were both acquired near the turn of the millennium, a period when Euro Kizuna was selling for $450 to $550 and Euro Ultimate11 sold for $350 to $450.
Today, Euro Kizuna Encounter and Ultimate11 home carts are the rarest and most desirable by the most serious of collectors. It seems that only a single digit quantity of Euro Ultimate11s have surfaced, and perhaps only a handful more of Euro Kizuna copies are floating around. We can only speculate as to why these two titles are so rare, but one theory is that the English version was only released in Europe and in very small quantities.
For additional reference, in November 2008, 8man of the Neo-Geo.com forums acquired Euro Kizuna Encounter and Ultimate 11 home cartridges for a purchase price of $30,000. With this purchase he was able to complete his collection by owning every single home cart."
