Understanding cards
The Most Expensive Pokémon Cards Ever Sold
By TCG Emporium Editorial Team · Published 18 October 2026 · Updated 18 October 2026
The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold is a PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator. It went for $16,492,000 (about £12.37 million) at Goldin on 16 February 2026. Guinness World Records confirmed it as the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold, and the most expensive trading card of any kind sold at auction.
The seller was Logan Paul, who bought the card privately in 2021 for $5,275,000, itself a Guinness record at the time.
The 15 biggest Pokémon card sales of 2026
Every price includes the buyer's premium, so it is what the winner paid.
| Rank | Card | Set | Grade | Paid | In pounds | Where | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pikachu Illustrator | CoroCoro Comic promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $16.49m | £12.37m | Goldin | 16 Feb |
| 2 | Raincoat Pikachu | Art Academy contest promo, 2015 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $8.40m | £6.30m | Fanatics Collect | 28 Sep |
| 3 | Pikachu Illustrator | CoroCoro Comic promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA 9 | $5.00m | £3.75m | Heritage Auctions | 19 Sep |
| 4 | Art Academy Mudkip | Art Academy contest promo, 2015 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $3.72m | £2.79m | Fanatics Collect | 25 Sep |
| 5 | Pikachu Illustrator | CoroCoro Comic promo, 1998 (Japanese) | CGC 9 | $2.81m | £2.10m | Goldin | 20 Sep |
| 6 | Torchic Gold Star | Team Rocket Returns 108, 2004 | PSA 10 | $2.70m | £2.02m | Alt | 10 Sep |
| 7 | Bronze Trophy Pikachu | Tournament prize promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $1.77m | £1.33m | Goldin | 18 May |
| 8 | Typhlosion | Neo Genesis 17, 2000 | 1st Edition PSA 10 | $1.55m | £1.16m | Alt (payment pending) | 8 Oct |
| 9 | Pikachu Illustrator | CoroCoro Comic promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA 9 | $1.41m | £1.05m | Heritage Auctions | 28 Mar |
| 10 | Charizard | Base Set 4, 1999 | 1st Edition PSA 10 | $1.39m | £1.04m | Alt | 8 Oct |
| 11 | No Rarity Symbol Charizard | Base Set, 1996 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $1.23m | £924k | Goldin | 8 Mar |
| 12 | Pikachu Illustrator | CoroCoro Comic promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA Authentic | $1.08m | £810k | Goldin | 29 Jun |
| 13 | Tamamushi University Magikarp | Prize promo, 1998 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $1.06m | £792k | Alt (payment pending) | 15 Oct |
| 14 | Mudkip Gold Star | Team Rocket Returns 107, 2004 | PSA 10 | $1.05m | £785k | Alt (payment pending) | 15 Oct |
| 15 | Raincoat Pikachu | Art Academy contest promo, 2015 (Japanese) | PSA 10 | $1.04m | £778k | Goldin | 12 Oct |
Sales from 1 January to 16 October 2026. Pounds at £0.7499 to the dollar (16 October 2026). "Payment pending" means Alt shows the sale as won but not yet paid.
Nineteen Pokémon cards sold for $1 million or more in that time, and 525 for $100,000 or more.
Why these cards cost so much
- They were never in a pack. The Pikachu Illustrator was a prize for a 1998 illustration contest run by the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic. Trophy Pikachu cards went to Japanese tournament winners, and the Art Academy cards to winners of a 2015 drawing contest. Very few exist.
- Gold Stars are the rarest pulls of the 2000s. Cards marked with a star after the name, like Torchic and Mudkip from Team Rocket Returns, were tiny odds in packs between 2004 and 2007. A PSA 10 Torchic Gold Star sold for $38,400 in June 2024 before this year's $2.70 million.
- The grade does most of the work. The same Pikachu Illustrator sold for $16.49 million in PSA 10 and $1.08 million as PSA Authentic, a card PSA confirms is real but does not grade. Our guide to PSA grades explains the scale.
- 1st Edition Charizard is the English benchmark. Two PSA 10 copies sold this year: $954,800 at Goldin in February and $1.39 million at Alt in October. See our First Edition guide for how to spot the stamp.
The most expensive cards from sets still in shops
You will not pull a Pikachu Illustrator, but these modern cards come out of packs you can still buy. Ranked by the middle of each card's recent raw (ungraded) eBay sales.
| Card | Set | Rarity | Illustrator | Raw, recent sales | PSA 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umbreon ex 161 | Prismatic Evolutions | Special Illustration Rare | YASHIRO Nanaco | £638 to £975 | £3,959 |
| Mew ex 232 | Paldean Fates | Special Illustration Rare | USGMEN | about £574 (4 sales) | £2,250 |
| Mega Gengar ex 284 | Ascended Heroes | Special Illustration Rare | danciao | about £562 (5 sales) | £1,319 |
| Pikachu ex 276 | Ascended Heroes | Special Illustration Rare | booota | £506 to £596 | £1,597 |
| Mega Charizard X ex 125 | Phantasmal Flames | Special Illustration Rare | danciao | £405 to £506 | £1,271 |
| Victini 171 | Black Bolt | Black White Rare | 5ban Graphics | £375 to £464 | £1,069 |
Sales from 14 to 17 October 2026. Last checked 18 October 2026.
The two Mew cards from 30th Celebration, released on 16 September 2026, are left out. They have too few clean sales yet to price fairly.
How we compiled these figures
The 2026 table comes from published results at Goldin, Fanatics Collect, Heritage Auctions and Alt, plus eBay completed sales. Every sale is matched to its grading certificate where one is shown. A sale is dropped when the same certificate sold for far less shortly before, which usually means a fake listing or an unpaid bid. Alt's results are covered from 19 July 2026 only, so an earlier Alt sale may be missing.
The modern table uses the most recent raw eBay completed sales for each card, up to ten. With six or more we drop the single highest and lowest and quote the range of the rest. With fewer, we give the middle figure and the number of sales. PSA 10 figures are the median of PSA 10 completed sales. More on the method is in how to value Pokémon cards.
Questions collectors ask
What is the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold?
A PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator, for $16,492,000 at Goldin on 16 February 2026. Guinness World Records lists it as the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold.
What is the rarest Pokémon card?
The Pikachu Illustrator is the best-known answer. It was a contest prize in Japan in 1998, not a pack card, and only a handful exist. Trophy cards and the 2015 Art Academy prize cards are similarly scarce.
What is the most expensive English Pokémon card?
In 2026, a PSA 10 Torchic Gold Star from Team Rocket Returns, for $2.70 million at Alt on 10 September. The most expensive 1st Edition Charizard this year sold for $1.39 million in PSA 10.
What is the most expensive card from a current set?
Umbreon ex 161 from Prismatic Evolutions. Raw copies have been selling for £638 to £975, and PSA 10 copies around £3,959.
Related guides
Next review due 18 January 2027. We update this guide sooner when a sale beats one in the top 15, or quarterly for the modern card figures.
Sources
Facts on this page were checked against these sources on the dates shown.
- Guinness World Records: Logan Paul's rare Pokémon card becomes most expensive ever sold in record-setting auction (February 2026) · guinnessworldrecords.com · checked 18 October 2026
- Published auction results from Goldin, Fanatics Collect, Heritage Auctions and Alt, and eBay completed sales, 1 January to 16 October 2026, compiled and cert-checked by UltraBall's 2026 sales tracker · checked 18 October 2026
- eBay completed sales, 14 to 17 October 2026, and PSA population counts: CardTrack sold-sales ledger · checked 18 October 2026
- US dollar to pound rate, 16 October 2026: CardTrack daily exchange-rate feed · checked 18 October 2026