The Pokémon trading card, which features Pikachu, sold for $195,000 at a New York-based auction house.
(Image: Weiss Auctions)
How much do you think a Pokémon card might go for? $5? $25? Try $195,000.
Yes, someone actually spent that amount of money on Pikachu's Illustrator edition card. In fairness, it's a very exclusive item, and the transaction is the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold.
Released in 1997-1998, only 39 printouts of this ultra-rare card were produced as part of a Pokémon comic contest. The winners received an Illustrator edition card featuring Pikachu, and only 10 of them are in existence today. We'll never know what happened to the others, but the fewer that remain, the more valuable they become. The latest sale proves exactly that.
New York-based Weiss served as the auctioneer for the item, as spotted by Kotaku in Invaluable's database. The Illustrator edition card went up for bidding on Oct. 23, and in the days since sold to an unidentified person (or group).
Back in 2013, another Illustrator edition card featuring Pikachu sold for $54,970. It's unclear why the value almost quadrupled in six years, but the popular character did appear in the Detective Pikachu movie, which generated more than $430 million at the global box office earlier this year. Such international fame appears to be letting card owners and entertainment companies cash-in on Pikachu's likeness.
Everyone else who doesn't have $200,000 sitting around to spend on a Pokémon trading card can look forward to it the next Pokémon video game. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company will release Pokémon Sword and Shield on Friday, Nov. 15.
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