When it comes to Pokemon Cards, the price of each card varies from card to card; with modern cards, the card’s value isn’t always based on pull rate but on the art of the card itself. For older cards, the price of the cards is based on scarcity and condition.
In the modern era, Alternate Arts from the Sword and Shield sets such as the Umbreon VMAX, Giratina V, and Rayquaza VMAX have been highly sought after by Pokemon Collectors. However, most older Pokemon collectors value other cards as holy grail cards. The top 3 Holy Grails cards are the 1st Edition Lugia from Neo Genesis, a 1st Edition Shadowless Holographic Charizard, and most importantly the Pikachu Illustrator Card.
For those who are unaware of what the Pikachu Illustrator card is, This card was created as a prize held by the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic promo contests held in 1997 and 1998; only 39 cards were given out as a reward but the card creator, Yuichi Konno, held onto two making it currently 41 copies of the card known to be in existence.
At the moment, only twenty-six out of the forty-one have been authenticated by PSA; out of the twenty-six authenticated by PSA, only twenty-two have been graded. One of the most notable copies of the Pikachu Illustrator card was worn by Logan Paul during his entrance at Wrestlemania 38.
Today, we can share with you that another Pikachu Illustrator card will soon be up for auction on eBay. Pokemon Enthusiast and Fan Tomoya Ohno (will be selling his 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card graded at a PSA 8; the card like many others will be listed on his eBay shop Pokemon Club Shangri-LA. The auction will run for 10 days starting on February 24th at 5 pm PST and will run until March 6th.
Top Selling Pokemon Cards on eBay
In the past, the top three cards sold on eBay previously were a Pikachu Illustrator Grade at a PSA 7, a Japanese Promo Kangaskhan graded at a PSA 10, and a Lugia graded at a BGS 10. Below are the listings for each sale.
- 1998 Pokémon Japanese Promo Holo Illustrator Pikachu PSA 7 – $375,000 – sold in Feb. 2021
- 1998 Pokémon Japanese Promo Holo Kangaskhan #115 PSA 10 – $150,100 – sold in Oct. 2020
- 2000 Pokémon Neo Genesis 1st Edition Holo Lugia #9 BGS 10 – $144,300 – sold in May 2021
Other Notable Pikachu Illustrator Sales
Other copies of the Pikachu Illustrator have sold for more privately or through other auction houses. In 2022, a Pikachu Illustrator card was sold through Goldin Auction House for 900,000.
Logan Paul trade a PSA 9 version of the Pikachu Illustrator card and 4 Million dollars to Marwan Dubsy in Dubai; Paul previously had purchased the PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator from Matt Allen while in Como Italy. Steve Aoki purchased a raw Pikachu Illustrator card in 2021 for $420,000; this card would be graded and scored at a PSA 9.
PSA 8 Auction
Starting tomorrow, the PSA 8 Pikachu Illustrator will go on sale at 5 PM PST. The auction will have a starting bid of 480k; we can very easily expect to see the auction go over the 900,000 mark becoming the most expensive card sold on eBay to date. At the moment, there is currently a PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator card up on eBay with a buy-it-now option at 4 Million US dollars.
Although that starting price is rather high, we can expect different collectors around the globe to throw in their bid on the Holy Grail of Pokemon Cards, the Pikachu Illustrator. Will you be watching to see what this card eventually sells for? Who will walk away with the highly coveted Pikachu Illustrator card? Ultimately, we will have to wait until March 6th to see who has the highest bid. How high do you think the final bid will be?
