Pokémon cards can become very valuable. In the past, these cards have sold for incredible amounts.
Over the past ten years, the value of Pokémon cards has skyrocketed. Cards, which originally cost only dollars, now cost tens, and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the last four years alone, the record for the most expensive card ever sold has been broken many times and has more than tripled in that time. It got to the point where many of these cards cost more than most people's homes.
All of this is striking in that many of the rarest Pokemon cards today were once quite common and owned by children around the world. Perhaps if they knew then what we know now, they could just take better care of them, rather than shove them in their pockets and, God forbid, use them to play the Pokemon Trading Card. Readers should check their attics after completing this list, as they may end up on a goldmine.
Updated on June 15, 2021 by Thomas Bowen: Whether the Pokemon TCG bubble will ever burst remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, valuable cards continue to be regularly sold at insane prices. In the past few months alone, Pokemon cards have changed hands by millions of dollars, with the average prices of many cards rising. The potential for big returns attracts investors from all over the world, but figuring out which cards to buy is not always easy. This list of the most expensive Pokemon cards sold at auction should give a pretty good idea of what to look out for, and therefore is definitely a good start.
20. World Championship Master's Key ($ 21,201)
A copy of The Master's Key sold for over $ 20,000 in November 2019. Unlike most cards sold at the auction, this card was not rated by PSA and was sold in the trophy case it was presented in. Whether it would have been possible to get more for this card is still unknown, but given its cost, one can understand why the seller did not want to open the trophy case to find out.
The Master's Key was originally awarded to participants in the 2010 Pokémon World Championship. The competition took place in Hawaii and was attended by a total of 36 players. As a result, this card is incredibly rare: there are only nine copies of the GEM-MT 10 - the highest rating a PSA can give.
19.No Rarity Poliwrath ($ 25,015)
While the card itself isn't particularly rare, a Japanese copy of the Poliwrath Basic Set was auctioned off at the end of 2020 for over $ 25,000. However, it was not just Polyvrat, but one of only three copies of the GEM-MT 10 version of "No Rarity", which appeared as a result of a printing error that occurred during the formation of TCG.
This error resulted in copies of all Japanese basic set cards being printed without the rarity symbol in the lower right corner. The error was corrected fairly quickly, but not before thousands of packages with such cards were released into circulation. As a result, these cards are in high demand and are regularly sold at overpriced prices.
18. Wonder Platinum Trophy ($ 25,100)
The Wonder Platinum Trophy Card was awarded to the best competitors in the 2009 Japanese National Championship. It depicts Giratina with a platinum pendant. It is estimated that there are only 36 copies of this card, but only eight of them have been rated by the PSA, and only six have received an excellent rating.
In November 2020, a copy of this card was able to bring in just over $ 25,000 at auction, although it was not evaluated by PSA. Instead, the card was rated by Beckett and received an impressive 9.5 rating. At the time of this writing, eBay lists a $ 200,000 perfect ten copy, but with 90 people following the ad, none of them seemed to want to bite the price.
17.EX Team Rocket Returns Gold Star Torchic ($ 25,400)
It's not often that a non-Charizard Pokémon starter card sells for a lot of money, especially the one released in 2004. The EX Team Rocket Returns' Gold Star Torchic is an exception of sorts, however, with one copy selling for over $ 25,000 at the end of 2020.
This card was one of only 17 to receive the perfect PSA GEM-MT 10 rating, and 322 cards were submitted to the company for review. Several other cards in this set have also sold at high prices over the years, but none of them have cost anywhere near as much as a small Fire Pokémon.
16. Skyridge Charizard ($ 28,100)
It is often said that there is nothing definite in this world other than death and taxes, but there is strong evidence that the skyrocketing value of Sorcerer cards deserves a place on this list as well. The Skyridge variant is just one of the many cards of this Pokémon that have sold for ridiculous amounts: in November 2020, more than $ 28,000 were raised at auction for one Skyridge Sorcerer.
15. Master's Scroll ($ 30,100)
In late 2020, a copy of the GEM-MT 10 Japanese Master's Scroll card was sold on eBay for over $ 30,000. This card was never sold in packs or available outside of Japan. The only way to get it was at the Pokemon Daisuki Club in 2010.
The Pokemon Daisuki Club is an official Japanese Pokemon fan club that regularly offers limited edition cards. Club members can accumulate action points by completing certain tasks, and then exchange them for such cards. It is not known exactly how many club members were able to accumulate the 8,600 points required to receive the Master's Scroll, but there are only 26 copies of the GEM-MT 10 in the world, which makes it incredibly rare.
14. 1st Edition Shadowless Chansey ($ 36,877)
The popularity of the core set is one of the driving forces behind the skyrocketing prices for Pokemon cards. Charizard may be leading, but many other holographic cards from the very first set in the West have sold at staggering prices over the past year or so; including this GEM-MT 10 Shadowless Chansey.
It was put up for auction by the PWCC at the end of 2020 and sold for over $ 35,000. This makes it the most expensive Changxi sold to date and is great news for anyone who currently has a copy of this card in perfect condition. According to information on the PSA website, there are at least 47 such copies.
13. 1st Edition Shadowless Blastoise ($ 45,100)
It is one of 100 copies of the card to have received a GEM-MT 10 rating from PSA, making it one of the most common holographic core cards in perfect condition. However, as in the case of Charizard, the relatively high prevalence did not greatly affect its value, most likely because many of them have already fallen into the hands of collectors.
12. Gold Star Rayquaza ($ 45,100)
Compared to other high-value Pokemon cards, Gold Star Rayquaza is relatively new to TCG. It was first printed in 2005 as part of the EX Deoxys set and is one of seven different Rayquaza varieties. Surprisingly, it is far from the rarest of these seven, although it remains the most coveted thanks to its golden star.
According to the PSA website, there are 46 copies of the GEM-MT 10 map in circulation, with over 440 copies evaluated over the years. As you would expect, it was one such card in mint condition that sold for just over $ 45,000 in December 2020.
11. Mew Victory Orb Trophy ($ 60,000)
The Victory Orb Trophy Card was awarded to the top 3 players in each age group during the Japanese Battle Road Summer 2003 and 2004. Although the map was reissued with a different design for subsequent tournaments, the original unnumbered promo card is incredibly rare and highly sought after.
It is for this reason that one collector was willing to part with $ 60,000 in order to get their hands on it at the end of 2020. Only 14 copies of this card were evaluated by the PSA, 12 of which received the highest possible rating. Of course, there are also rarer cards, but not many of them sell for that amount.
10. Tropical Mega Battle - No. 2 Trainer ($ 60,000)
Presenting one of these Special Trainer Cards is supposed to allow players to gain special treatment at official Pokemon events, but it is unlikely that this is the reason why they are so in demand. A copy of the PSA Authentic card was sold for $ 60,000 in 2019 on eBay. This may sound like a lot, but it is probably only a small part of what a copy of the GEM-MT 10 card could be sold for.
Trainer No.2 was one of eight limited-edition cards given out to members of the Tropical Mega Battle, an annual event held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu from 1999 to 2001. There are only 5 copies of this card registered with PSA, and only two of them are in mint state, making this card one of the rarest ever printed.
9.EX Dragon Frontiers Gold Star Charizard ($ 60,066)
Despite the fact that the Gold Star Charizard card was printed in 2006, it was not so long ago that an incredible $ 60,066 was raised at auction. The Delta Species card was sold through eBay in October 2020 and generated interest from several stakeholders before the final sale price was finally confirmed.
There are just under 1,500 copies of this card, according to the PSA website, although only 59 of them have earned the coveted GEM-MT 10 rating. Not surprisingly, one of these 59 cards has been the record-breaking sale. Others regularly sell for between twenty and thirty thousand dollars.
8.No Rarity Charizard ($ 60,100)
The Charizard Core Set has always been one of the most expensive Pokemon cards out there, but the Japanese version of "No Rarity" is definitely one of the most requested options. A copy of the GEM-MT 10 card was sold for just over $ 20,000 in September 2018, but the card's cost has skyrocketed in the following years.
In November 2020, a copy of the Mint 9-rated map sold at auction for over $ 60,000, and less than two weeks later another copy brought in about $ 58,000. Since then, prices for 9-denomination cards have dropped slightly, but many are wondering how much the GEM-MT 10 might cost in today's market. There are only six of them, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of them will soon surpass the one hundred thousand dollar mark.
7. Tropical Mega Battle - Tropical Wind ($ 65,100)
A perfect copy of Tropical Wind was sold on eBay in October 2020 for $ 65,100. What's even more surprising is that Tropical Wind is the most common of the Tropical Mega Battle set. Due to the fact that copies of some other cards in the "mint" condition are extremely rare, they are almost never put up for sale.
Tropical Wind "is another of eight cards dealt at the Tropical Mega Battle event. There are only two copies of this card in the world in GEM-MT 10 condition, and most PSA-rated cards are rated 8 or 9. However, even they cost a lot of money.
6.University Magikarp ($ 66,100)
The University Magikarp is not often listed for sale, but when it does, it usually gets a pretty high price tag. The average price for this card in recent years has been around $ 17,000, but the most recent sale was for a much higher amount. A copy of the GEM-MT 10 card was sold on eBay at the end of February 2021 for a staggering $ 66,100. This broke the previous record for card sales (set in October 2020) by as much as $ 16,000.
The card was awarded as a prize after a competition held by Tamamushi University. The participants passed a series of tests, and those who passed them were invited to a special tournament in Osaka. At the end of the tournament, the winners received a copy of the University Magikarp. According to an advertisement in a magazine promoting the competition, 1,000 copies of the map were printed, but only 68 received a PSA rating.
5.No.1 Trainer ($ 90,000)
A copy of Trainer Card # 1, considered by some to be the rarest Pokémon card in existence, was auctioned for $ 90,000 in July 2020. Given its perceived rarity, it's a bit surprising that it didn't sell for more, but $ 90,000 is still a decent price for the card given away for free.
This card was awarded to each of the seven regional champions at the 1999 Pokémon World Championships in Tokyo, and the additional card somehow made its way into circulation. It is adorned with Hideki Kazama's art and is part of the Super Battle Secret Promo Pack. Of the eight copies of this card that passed the PSA rating, only six received the perfect GEM-MT 10 rating.
4. 1st Edition Neo Genesis Lugia ($ 144,300)
Rarely does a card issued in the West sell for crazy money, unless it is part of the basic set. For this reason, the original owner of this 1st Edition Lugia map was probably a little surprised when it was sold at PWCC Auctions for nearly $ 130,000 in November 2020. Six months later, the price rose even more when a copy of the card sold for $ 144,300.
There are 41 copies of this card that have received a GEM-MT 10 rating from PSA, although the current record holder was rated by Beckett and received a 10 Pristine rating. Whether this sale will spike the price of other Neo Genesis cards remains to be seen, but - until the recent move - the average selling price of the 1st edition of the Neo Genesis Lugia was only $ 70,000.
3. Family Event Kangaskhan ($ 150,100)
Just four years ago, the Kangaskhan Family Event Card was selling for about $ 10,000. However, in October 2020, a copy of the PSA GEM-MT 10 was sold for more than 15 times more. The card was sold by PWCC Auctions via eBay with a final bid of $ 150,100.
The card itself was released in Japan after the 1998 Pokémon Parent-Child Tournament. Families fought other families, and the teams of parents and children with the most victories received a Kangaskhan promo card. There are only 11 copies of the GEM-MT 10 card in circulation, the total value of which is more than one and a half million dollars.
2. Pikachu Illustrator ($ 233,000)
The Pikachu Illustrator card has held the record for the most expensive Pokemon card in the past, but is currently ranked second. One copy of the card was auctioned for $ 74,000 at the end of 2016, and another for $ 190,000 just a few years later. The last copy and former record holder was sold for a staggering 25 million yen through the Japanese marketplace ZenPlus in July 2020.
The card itself was presented to the winners of an illustration competition held by the Japanese manga monthly CoroCoro Comics in 1998. A total of 39 copies of the map were printed, and only 12 of them survived in good condition. Interestingly, all three of the aforementioned examples received a 9 rating from the PSA, so if the only existing GEM-MT 10 ever goes up for auction, it will likely bring in an astronomical amount and help Pikachu Illustrator reclaim its top spot.
1. 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard ($ 399,750)
The controversial YouTuber Logan Paul made headlines in October 2020 when he spent $ 150,000 on the 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard card. Perhaps surprisingly, this is not the most expensive copy of the card ever sold. In fact, this is not even close to being true. The current record holder belongs to Goldin Auctions, which sold a copy of the card for just under $ 400,000 just a few months later, making the Shadowless Base Set Charizard the most expensive Pokemon card ever sold.
According to the PSA website, there are only 54 copies of the GEM-MT 10 card, which explains to some extent their value. However, given that the basic set of Charizard has been released in such high volumes, it is possible that there are still hundreds, if not thousands, of copies just waiting to be discovered!
