A few days ago, a rare Pikachu Illustrator card from the “Pokémon” trading card game was auctioned for $16.492 million. We summarize.
New record sales
In total, there are only 41 Pikachu Illustrator cards in existence in the world, 39 of which were printed as prizes for a “Pokémon” illustration competition in 1998 and two more were then circulated in 2020 by an ex-Pokémon Company employee – quite an impressive number considering that over 75 billion “Pokémon” cards have now been produced.
What’s even more impressive, however, is that only a single copy of the Pikachu Illustrator card received the highest possible score of 10 from Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), a US sports and trading card grading company – and that’s exactly the card that went under the hammer.
The former owner – influencer, actor and wrestler Logan Paul – made headlines five years ago: By purchasing the card for $5.275 million, he not only set a new price record, but also received a lot of incomprehension. However, the investment now turned out to be extremely profitable.
During an auction, the purchase price at the time was significantly exceeded at $16.492 million. According to Guinness World Records, this set a new record for the most expensive “Pokémon” card ever auctioned.
However, to be fair, the sale also included a custom-made diamond necklace for the card, which Paul Logan wore during his appearance at WWE’s live premium event WrestleMania 38 in April 2022.
The new owner AJ Scaramucci, venture capital investor and son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, received the card and chain directly from Logan Paul after the auction, who ceremoniously presented it to him.
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