Encased in a plastic tomb and protected from the elements, PSA 10 Pokémon cards can go for massive amounts compared to the ungraded versions. With decades-old vintage cards, finding one that still earns a grading company’s ‘Gem Mint’ award is uncommon enough to bump the value up further. So in some ways it’s unsurprising, when a card appears that’s vintage and PSA 10 and came from a very exclusive, limited print run, that it ends up selling for stupendous amounts of cash. That’s exactly what happened with this Pikachu.
If you’ve been reading any of my articles recently, chances are you’ve been ticking off all the new additions to our list of the most expensive Pokémon cards – they’re basically every week at this point. ‘Oh look, another $10,000 card. Oh, it’s $15,000 this time,” and so on. However, even with so many cards now smashing into the five-figure category (and that’s a big $89,999 range), it’s still a massive deal when a Pokémon TCG card breaks the seven-digit mark.
On Monday, May 18, another Pikachu became one of the TCG’s most valuable cards. After an auction by New Jersey auctioneers Goldin, this 1998 Trophy Pikachu #3 in a PSA 10 grade is now, fittingly, the third priciest card in the TCG, with a final bid of $1,450,000. After a buyer’s premium of 22%, that becomes an eye-watering $1,769,000, or enough to buy one Destined Rivals booster box on the secondary market (I joke, but honestly, it feels like it’s getting that way).
If the card looks familiar, well, you’ve probably seen one similar before. There are a few of these still in circulation – although many are ungraded and/or at a lower PSA grade, and some have been lost to time. There’s also the #2 and #1 versions – the trio were given as prizes to first, second, and third place finishers in the very first Pokémon tournaments. That means they’re not just elusive, rare prints; they’re a massive part of franchise history. Sadly, they were only available in Japan.
Of course, this isn’t some modern chase that’s exponentially increasing in price due to fleeting hype or timely demand, but a piece of limited art that few in the world could ever own. While we’ve seen soaring demand and prices on recent chases, they usually have an extremely high population – even in PSA 10, these days. Not so with relics like this Pikachu. Based on PSA’s reports, this is the only one to get over a PSA 8, making it one of a kind – and a major reason why it’s driven such a high auction price.
At this point, we’re talking about huge amounts of cash that I can’t even fathom. I wish I had that much in my bank account, but let’s be honest, I’d still just blow it all on ETBs. Still, at least someone is having a good night of celebrations when this Pikachu money comes through! Either way, if you have some equally cool (but not as pricey) chases, make sure to share them with us in our Wargamer Discord. We’d love to see them.
Source: Wargamer
