The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold is the Pikachu Illustrator. The only copy graded PSA 10 sold at auction for $16,492,000 on February 16, 2026, buyer's premium included, and as of October 27, 2026 it still holds the world record for any trading card sold at auction. Second is a PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu, a 2015 prize card from a drawing contest, at $8.4 million in September 2026; third, a PSA 10 Mudkip from the same contest, at $4,880,000 on October 25, 2026.
The ranking counts each card once, by the highest public sale of a single copy, at auction or at a fixed price, buyer's premium included, as of October 27, 2026. Private deals are listed apart. A record is one buyer's price, not what every copy is worth: two weeks after the $8.4 million sale, another PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu sold for $1,037,000.
The 15 most expensive Pokémon cards ever sold
Public sales in US dollars, buyer's premium included, as of October 27, 2026. CGC Pristine 10 is CGC's top grade, above Gem Mint 10. Number 7: another PSA 10 closed at $1,385,274 at auction on October 8, 2026, but the next day its payment was still unconfirmed. Number 8: a PSA 10 of the same card sold privately for $1.7 million on March 3, 2026; the scan shows the regular print, which has the rarity star the record copy lacks.
Every sale in the table took place in 2026, and 11 of the 15 between August 28 and October 25. Some prices multiplied fast: PSA has graded only one Bronze Trophy Pikachu of the Kamex events a 10, and a PSA 10 of that card had sold for $324,000 in November 2024; PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachus sold for $17,400 in July 2025 and $156,250 in June 2026, and a PSA 10 Ochiai Mudkip for $3,720,000 a month before the $4,880,000 one.
Next in line: a PSA 10 POP Series 5 Umbreon ★ (2007) sold for $738,100 in October 2026, and two PSA 10 English Art Academy Pikachus for $660,000 each the same month. Left out on purpose: sealed boxes, multi-card lots and a 1997 Pokémon telephone card, which sold for $2,255,000 on October 23, 2026 but is a phone card, not a card of the game. Also left out: two widely reported October 2026 results, a $960,000 PSA 10 Cresselia and an $840,000 PSA 10 Southern Islands Mew, which the auction house's own record of paid sales does not list.
Private sales
Private deals are reported after the fact and were not open to other bidders, so they stay out of the ranking. The ones we found reported at $1 million or more:
| Card | Grade | Price | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pikachu Illustrator, the copy sold at auction in 2026 | PSA 10 | $5,275,000 | July 2021 |
| Ivy Pikachu, 1996, glossy marketing version | CGC 8.5 | $3.3 million | August 2026 |
| Pikachu Illustrator | PSA 9 | $2.7 million | August 31, 2026 |
| Pikachu Illustrator | BGS 9 | $2 million | July 22, 2026 |
| Pikachu Illustrator | CGC 9.5 | Over $1.7 million | June 2026 |
| Charizard, Japanese Base Set without rarity symbol | PSA 10 | $1.7 million | March 3, 2026 |
| Ivy Pikachu, 1996 CoroCoro insert, Ken Sugimori credit | CGC 10 | $1.3 million | August 2026 |
Logan Paul paid for the Illustrator with a PSA 9 Illustrator plus $4 million in cash, and the $5,275,000 total became the record for a private Pokémon card sale. The deal dates from July 2021, though some reports place it in 2022. The 1996 Ivy Pikachu, one of the first two cards of the game, given away with CoroCoro Comic, and its rare marketing version are explained in our guide to the first Pokémon card ever made.
The Pikachu Illustrator, grade by grade
CoroCoro Comic awarded the Pikachu Illustrator to winners of its illustration contests of 1997 and 1998: 39 copies in all, and at least 41 are known. Atsuko Nishida, who designed Pikachu, drew it, and it is the only card that says Illustrator where a Trainer card says Trainer. The copy of the record is the only one PSA has graded 10. More of the magazine's prizes are in our CoroCoro guide.
Every grade that sold both before and during 2026 sold higher in 2026, most of them several times higher. Real completed sales of the card, one sale per figure, in US dollars:
| Grade | Before 2026 | In 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 | $5,275,000, private, July 2021 | $16,492,000, auction, February 16 |
| PSA 9 | $840,000, auction, June 2022; $625,000, auction, August 2025 | $1,406,250, auction, March; $5,000,000, auction, September 18 |
| CGC 10 | $495,000, auction, September 2023 | Over $2 million, auction, February |
| CGC 9 | $325,000, auction, December 2025 | $2,806,271, auction, September |
| BGS 9 | $274,500, auction, November 2023 | $2 million, private, July 22 |
| BGS 8.5 | No sale on file | $1,006,500, auction, August |
| PSA 8.5 | $300,000, auction, September 2024; $610,000, auction, December 2025 | $727,120, auction, March; $843,750, auction, June |
| TAG 8 | No sale on file | $488,000, auction, April |
| PSA 8 | $317,200 and $305,000, auctions, February and June 2024 | No sale on file |
| PSA 7 | $209,841, auction, July 2024 | No sale on file |
| PSA 5 | No sale on file | $344,040, auction, May |
Buyer's premium included. The 2021 PSA 10 and 2026 BGS 9 figures are private sales; every other figure is a public sale.
The curve was not always rising: a PSA 7 had sold for $900,000 at auction in February 2022, and PSA 7 and 8 copies went for $209,841 to $317,200 in 2024. Since the February 2026 record, PSA 9s have sold for $1,406,250 in March and $5,000,000 in September; as of October 27, 2026, only two public sales of any Pokémon card have topped that PSA 9: the PSA 10 Illustrator and the $8.4 million Raincoat Pikachu. Even a PSA 5 brought $344,040 in May 2026.
Trophy Pikachu and the other prize cards
Eight of the 15 were never sold in a pack: they were prizes for a tournament or for a drawing or photo contest, made in tiny numbers. The other seven came from booster packs: Torchic ★, Mudkip ★, Rayquaza ★, the two Charizards, Garchomp LV.X and the Legendary Collection Pikachu.
Trophy Pikachu: No.1, No.2 and No.3 Trainer
The first official Pokémon card tournament, held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, in June 1997, gave its top three finishers in each division a Trainer card showing Pikachu with a trophy, drawn by Mitsuhiro Arita: gold for the No.1 Trainer, silver for No.2, bronze for No.3. The same art came back for the Lizardon (Charizard) Mega Battle events, from late 1997 to early 1998, and a last time for the Kamex (Blastoise) Mega Battle events of 1998. The 1997 cards promise their holder priority entry to official tournaments; the Lizardon and Kamex cards certify a place in the first and second Japan championships. Their biggest public sales:
| Card | Event | Grade | Price | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold, No.1 Trainer | First official tournament, 1997 | PSA 8 | $3,080,500 | October 25, 2026 |
| Bronze, No.3 Trainer | Kamex Mega Battle, 1998 | PSA 10 | $1,769,000 | May 17, 2026 |
| Gold, No.1 Trainer | First official tournament, 1997 | PSA 8 | $982,100 | March 7, 2026 |
| Gold, No.1 Trainer | Lizardon Mega Battle, 1997-98 | PSA 9 | $450,000 | December 2025 |
| Silver, No.2 Trainer | Lizardon Mega Battle, 1997-98 | PSA 10 | $444,000 | September 2023 |
| Bronze, No.3 Trainer | First official tournament, 1997 | PSA 8 | $402,601 | June 2026 |
| Silver, No.2 Trainer | First official tournament, 1997 | PSA 8 | $359,900 | March 2026 |
| Bronze, No.3 Trainer | Lizardon Mega Battle, 1997-98 | PSA 9 | $250,000, fixed price | July 2025 |
| Gold, No.1 Trainer | Kamex Mega Battle, 1998 | PSA 9 | $168,000 | November 2024 |
| Silver, No.2 Trainer | Kamex Mega Battle, 1998 | PSA 9 | $150,000 | November 2024 |
All at auction unless stated, buyer's premium included.
The gold card of the first tournament brings the most: in PSA 8 the card sold for $982,100 in March 2026 and for $3,080,500 seven months later. Japan kept awarding numbered Trainer cards to its top finishers after 1998, with other art; one from the 2000 final is in our World Championships promo guide.
No.1 Trainer (Pokemon Card Game Official Tournament 1997)
No.2 Trainer (Pokemon Card Game Official Tournament 1997)
No.3 Trainer (Pokemon Card Game Official Tournament 1997)
Kangaskhan (Garura Parent/Child Tournament 1998)Art Academy contest cards (2015)
The 2015 Art Academy cards came from drawing contests held through the Nintendo 3DS game Pokémon Art Academy. Each winning drawing became a promo card credited to its artist, and each winner received 100 copies; Japan had ten winners, and English-language contests had their own. Before September 2026 the top PSA 10 sales ran from five figures to a few hundred thousand dollars. Then, in September 2026, a PSA 10 Ochiai Mudkip sold for $3,720,000 and a PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu for $8.4 million; another Raincoat Pikachu brought $1,037,000 on October 11, and on October 25, 2026 one auction sold PSA 10s of the Ochiai Mudkip for $4,880,000 and of iwaiya's Sableye and rina's Gourgeist for $976,000 each. English Art Academy Pikachus sold for $660,000 in PSA 10 in October 2026.
Scarcity in top grade varies widely: by October 2026, PSA had graded 57 Raincoat Pikachus a 10, 17 Gourgeists and three Ochiai Mudkips.
Photo contest and family tournament cards
In 1999, CoroCoro Comic and a second contest under the 64 Mario Stadium name turned players' photos from the game Pokémon Snap into cards, credited "Photo." with the winner's name; CoroCoro's five winners received 20 copies each of their own card. Three sold at one auction in August 2026: a PSA 8 Bulbasaur for $809,943, a PSA 8 Charmander for $640,500 and a PSA 6 Squirtle for $555,100. A PSA 9 Bulbasaur had sold for $200,000 at a fixed price in July 2025.
The Kangaskhan given to parent-and-child teams at the 1998 Parent/Child tournaments sold for $640,507 in March 2026, in CGC Pristine 10, the only copy in that grade.
Bulbasaur (CoroCoro Best Photo Contest 1999)
Charmander (64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest 1999)
Squirtle (64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest 1999)The most expensive card in each category
| Category | Card | Grade | Price | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any Pokémon card | Pikachu Illustrator | PSA 10 | $16,492,000, auction | February 16, 2026 |
| English-language card | Torchic ★, EX Team Rocket Returns | PSA 10 | $2,700,000, auction | September 10, 2026 |
| Charizard, public sale | Base Set 1st Edition 4/102 | PSA 10 | $1,380,000, auction | October 23, 2026 |
| Charizard, any sale | Japanese Base Set, no rarity symbol | PSA 10 | $1.7 million, private | March 3, 2026 |
| Trophy card | Gold Trophy Pikachu, No.1 Trainer, 1997 | PSA 8 | $3,080,500, auction | October 25, 2026 |
| Photo-contest card | Bulbasaur, CoroCoro Best Photo Contest | PSA 8 | $809,943, auction | August 9, 2026 |
| CGC-graded card, public sale | Pikachu Illustrator | CGC 9 | $2,806,271, auction | September 2026 |
| BGS-graded card, public sale | Pikachu Illustrator | BGS 8.5 | $1,006,500, auction | August 2026 |
As of October 27, 2026, from the sales in this article.
PSA 10 sales of the English 1st Edition Charizard since December 2025: $550,000 at auction that month, $954,800 in February 2026 for a copy whose label names the filmed box opening it came from, eight auctions of $456,000 to $579,000 from February 20 to June 26, a $1,000,000 marketplace sale in September and $1,380,000 on October 23, 2026. PSA had graded 123 copies a 10 by October 2026. Our 1st Edition and Shadowless guide shows how to tell the prints apart.
The Gold Stars, three of them in the top 15, have their own page: all 27 English cards, prices by grade and PSA 10 counts in our Gold Star guide. The Japanese prize and promo cards on this list are explained, with the rest of the Japanese catalog, in our guide to Japanese Pokémon cards.
Why these cards cost so much
- Tiny print runs. 39 Illustrators awarded, 100 copies per Art Academy winner, trophy cards for the top three of each division at a handful of events.
- Few perfect copies. PSA has graded one Illustrator and one Kamex bronze trophy a 10, three Ochiai Mudkips (as of October 2026), 19 Torchic ★ (as of September 1, 2026) and 123 1st Edition Charizards (as of October 2026). A grade is one company's opinion of one copy: our guide to what a slab certifies explains it, and how PSA, CGC, BGS and TAG compare shows why the label changes the price.
- A story attached. The record Illustrator came with a diamond necklace and hand delivery by its seller; the February 1st Edition Charizard came from a filmed box opening, named on its label.
- A 2026 surge. 11 of the 15 sold between August 28 and October 25, 2026, around the game's 30th anniversary. Prices this new can still swing: the Raincoat Pikachu went from $8.4 million to $1,037,000 between two PSA 10 sales two weeks apart.
FAQ
What is the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold?
The Pikachu Illustrator. The only copy graded PSA 10 sold at auction for $16,492,000 on February 16, 2026, buyer's premium included, and as of October 27, 2026 it is still the world record for any trading card sold at auction.
Did Logan Paul sell a Pokémon card for $16 million?
Yes. His PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator sold at auction for $16,492,000 on February 16, 2026, in a lot that also included a diamond necklace and his hand delivery of the card. He had bought it privately in 2021 for $5,275,000.
What is the $5.275 million Pokémon card?
The same PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator: Logan Paul paid a PSA 9 Illustrator plus $4 million in cash for it, a total of $5,275,000 and the record for a private Pokémon card sale. The deal dates from July 2021, though some reports place it in 2022.
Is there a Pokémon card worth $1,000,000?
Yes. As of October 27, 2026 we count ten different cards of the game with a public sale of $1 million or more, from the Pikachu Illustrator down to Mudkip ★ and Rayquaza ★ at $1,020,000. Those are prices for exceptional copies, mostly in top grades.
What is the most expensive Charizard card?
At public sale, a PSA 10 1st Edition Base Set Charizard, sold at auction for $1,380,000 on October 23, 2026. Privately, a PSA 10 Japanese Base Set Charizard without a rarity symbol sold for $1.7 million on March 3, 2026.
What is the rarest Pokémon card?
There is no single answer, because most print runs were never published. Among the cards on this list, the best-documented counts are 39 Pikachu Illustrators awarded and 100 copies of each Art Academy card, and the trophy cards of each event went only to the top three players of each division.
Why is the 1999 Charizard so expensive?
Demand for the game's signature card meets few perfect copies: PSA had graded 123 1st Edition copies a 10 by October 2026, and in 2026 those sold at auction for $456,000 to $1,380,000.
What is a Trophy Pikachu card?
A Japanese Trainer card given to the top three of each division at the first official tournament of 1997 and at the Lizardon and Kamex Mega Battles of 1997 and 1998, with Mitsuhiro Arita's art of Pikachu holding a gold, silver or bronze trophy. The highest public sales are $3,080,500 for a PSA 8 gold card (October 25, 2026) and $1,769,000 for a PSA 10 bronze one (May 17, 2026).
