Last year, the ultra-rare Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $195,000. That was the highest price paid for a Pokémon card. Until now.
The Pikachu Illustrator card was given out to winners of a comic contest that was held in Japan in 1997-98. Thirty-nine of these cards were awarded, but only ten apparently still exist.
Back in 2013, the Pikachu Illustrator card went for $54,970. The total paid last fall was $224,500, including the listed sale price of $195,000, mentioned above, and buyer’s premium.
But in this month’s auction on ZenPlus, the PSA-graded mint-9-rated Pikachu Illustrator card sold for a whopping 25,000,000 yen ($233,578.75), according to the Japanese language press release. Note that the English language release states the card went for $250,000, and Kotaku has reached out for clarification. Both numbers are higher than the previous record of $224,500.