Pokemon TCG has always drawn a mystique when it comes to how their values blow up just by having them graded and minted. Among the thousands and thousands of cards that are currently on the market, there are the most valuable ones that feature some of the most popular Pokemon like Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo. If this intrigues you, we have listed down the Top 5 most expensive Pokemon TCG cards of all time below!
Top 5 Most Expensive Pokemon TCG Cards of All Time
#5 Ishihara GX Promo (Autographed)
Release Date: 2017
Grading: PSA-7 / Autograph 9
Card Value: $247,230
Number five on the list of most expensive Pokemon TCG cards of all time is a special artwork card that features the CEO and President of The Pokemon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara. This card was reportedly given to each employee that attended the executive's birthday back in 2017. Reports say that there are only 30 to 60 cards of these cards that were produced and were able to sell one at an auction for $50,000 back in April 2020. Luckily enough, this one employee was bestowed with an autograph on the card and in 2021, a PSA-7 version of the Pokemon card for $247,230 at the Goldin Auctions.
#4 Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer Bronze
Release Date: 1997
Grading: PSA-8
Card Value: $300,000
Pikachu is probably one of the most popular Pokemon in the franchise given that this Pokemon is the mascot. This Pokemon needs no introduction and is definitely one of the most recognized Pokemon in the world. We did a report back in April when a Pokemon TCG card was sold for a massive $300,000. This Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer Bronze that was sold for $300k is one of just four PSA-graded copies. This specific card is one of the rarest in the world and is one of the earliest promo cards in the series franchise. It received a total of 50 bids before it finally reached the hefty sum of $300,000. As shared by the auctioneers, Jesus Garcia of the Heritage Auctions, the card's importance is very significant in the scene “The historical importance of this card had us confident it would do well, but the result exceeded everyone's expectations,” said Garcia. “This card was not in the booster boxes that were offered at the time. It only was available to trainers who finished third at the First Official Pocket Monsters Tournament in Chiba, Japan, in 1997. It is an extraordinarily rare card, now stands as a centerpiece in the winning bidder's collection.”
#3 Blastoise Wizards of the Coast Presentation Galaxy Star Holo
Release Date: 1998
Grading: CGC-8.5
Card Value: $360,000
Wizards of the Coast back in 1998 commissioned this Blastoise presentation card which is supposed to give stores an idea of how Pokemon TCG will look in its final print. The Pokemon TCG community was absolutely surprised to find out that such a card existed and is possibly one of the rarest cards that you will find given that reports shared that there are only two of these cards ever to exist. Also, it is believed that it's one of the earliest Pokemon TCG ever to exist and as early as it is, some of the copies had a Magic: The Gathering backside to it while other cards of the early presentation cards appear to be blank.
This artifact went up for sale during the Heritage Auctions back in January 2021 and was sold for $360,000 making it to be the third most expensive card in the list of Top 5 most expensive Pokemon TCG cards of all time. This is just a few dollars away from the second card on this list. With the nature of this card only having two cards ever to be printed, this may probably come to be the most expensive Pokemon card in the world in the near foreseeable future.
#2 Charizard 1st Edition Shadowless Base Set
Release Date: 1999
Grading: PSA – Gem Mint 10
Card Value: $420,000
Much to everyone's knowledge, the 1st Edition Shadowless Base Set Charizard card is the most expensive card ever to exist. This is because the popularity and the cred that it has garnered throughout the years make it the number one pick to be the most expensive card. Charizard has always been that crown jewel that everyone wanted to get back in the 90s and is probably the card that everyone just threw away a few years after collecting it (Which is a PRETTY huge mistake given that its value today is absolutely ridiculous). 1st Edition version of this 1999 base card can be extremely expensive given its popularity as well as the difficulty of finding one. The Shadowless card, which is an earlier print version, is even more difficult to find and would cost a heftier amount than the other version of the card.
Back on October 9, 2020, a popular rapper named Logic paid $226,000 for a Grade 10 1st Edition Charizard which elevated the card's value even further. Two months after that record was set, a bidder at a PWCC auction dropped $350,000 for the 1999 Base Set collectible, and hours after, another 1st Edition was reportedly sold for $369,000 according to Goldin Auctions making it the most expensive Pokemon Card ever sold then. This record was later broken in March 2022 when a Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard card was sold for the card value that we know now, $420,000 during the PWCC auction. From reports shared by PWCC, there are only 121 Charizards known to exist with the perfect Gem Mint 10 rating which makes this card one of the most valuable TCG cards of all time. The value of Charizard's card is expected to increase through the years to come and we'll probably see the value skyrocket to a foreseeable $1,000,000 or more. Something that we think is not impossible to happen.
#1 Illustrator CoroCoro Comics Promo (Pikachu Illustrator Card)
Release Date: 1998
Grading: PSA – Gem Mint 10
Card Value: $6,000,000
As we have explained earlier, Pikachu is one of the most popular Pokemon ever to exist given its stature that it is the mascot of the franchise. The most expensive card on this list, more expensive than that of a 1st Edition Base Set Shadowless Charizard, is the Pikachu Illustrator card, Illustrator CoroCoro Comics Promo card. This card was printed back in 1997 when CoroCoro held an art competition where winners were given a card that features Pikachu drawing other Pokemon.
During the last 5 years, the Pokemon card was sold for about $195,000 to $200,000 but in 2020, a Pikachu Illustrator card was sold for $250,000. The value of the card increased back in February 2021, when a PSA-7 card sold for $375,000 at a PWCC auction. But that's not all, this particularly rare card was sold for $900,000 back in February 2022 which was the highest recorded amount for any card to be sold at the time until a PSA – Gem Mint 10 was found and was sold for a massive $6,000,000!
Logan Paul, a famous internet personality and currently part of the WWE roster, was seen wearing the Pokemon TCG collectible during his Wrestlemania debut. Paul shared how he acquired the card and it was through a mysterious seller where he traded a PSA-9 Pikachu Illustrator card valued at $5,250,000 as well as $4,000,000 cash.
A former New York Giants football player, Blake Martinez, is also known to own an expensive Pokemon TCG card – a CGC-9.5 graded Pikachu Illustrator card sold in an auction for $672,000 which makes it one of the most expensive non-PSA graded cards to be sold.
From the reports that were shared before, there are only less than 20 cards that are known to exist which guarantees that the value of the card to continue growing in the years to come. For most of the experienced and savvy Pokemon TCG collectors, the Pikachu Illustrator card remains to be the rarest Pokemon card in existence and is backed up with the value of this card.
What do you think about the Top 5 Most Expensive Pokemon TCG Cards of All Time? Do you own some of these cards somewhere in your old time capsule or collection? Well, make sure to have it graded and keep it safe! Who knows, you might be the next millionaire to come out because of these expensive cards!
For more on the latest news, updates, and events on anything and everything about Pokemon, make sure to check in from time to time in ClutchPoints Gaming!
Best of luck, Trainers!
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