Weiss isn’t able to share details about the seller, but noted that the person fits within the generation that grew up with Pokémon. “It’s why you see vintage cast iron toys or tin wind-up toys’ prices dropping, while Star Wars and that kind of stuff is just increasing crazily,” Weiss said.
People nostalgic for stuff from the ’80s and ’90s are grown up now - and some of us have money to spend on the things we loved as kids. “With the buyer’s premium, it’s over $220,000 for the card.” (The buyer’s premium is paid to the auction house.) IGN, which first reported the sale, said the sale broke the record for the highest-priced Pokémon card sold.ĭespite the high price, Weiss said he wasn’t surprised. “The two of them just bid back-and-forth until it went to $195,000,” Weiss said. Bidding started low with a “handful” of interested parties, but all dropped off at around $75,000, Weiss said. I took an economics class in high school, and I remember my teacher telling us that something’s worth what another is willing to pay. “I was stunned it went that high,” Weiss said. This Pikachu card, however, went a lot higher - to $195,000 at the hammer.
Other cards have sold for higher at online auctions, he said. Weiss told me that the same card, with the same rating, sold at auction for around $50,000 a few years back. This particular card is a PSA 9, the closest to perfect a card could get without a 10 rating. Ten of the Illustrator cards had been rated by PSA, a certification company that grades cards. Phil Weiss, a collectibles expert and owner of Weiss Auctions, knew the card was worth a lot. Only 39 were handed out to contest winners. The card was never commercially available, which makes it so rare. 23, Weiss Auctions opened bidding on a super-rare Pokémon card, Japanese Illustrator Pikachu, a promotional card created as a contest prize in 1998.