Whether it’s booster packs you got from your local supermarket last week or 20 years ago, the price of Pokemon cards has soared over the last few years, with the most valuable card(s) in the world exceeding the seven figure threshold.
Research from Esports.gg recently revealed the most valuable pokemon cards of all time, and the numbers may shock you. Below are the 20 most expensive cards on the planet right now – with actual sales as the data. So there are people out there driving these prices, it’s not theoretical.
- Trophy Pikachu No. 1 Trainer – £2,220,000
- Prerelease Raichu – £407,000
- Topsun Blue Back Charizard – £364,990
- Trophy Pikachu No. 2 Trainer – £328,560
- First Edition Base Set Holo Charizard – £310,800
- Presentation Blastoise – £266,400
- Signed Japanese First Edition Holo Charizard – £239,760
- Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer – £239,760
- Pokemon Snap Contest Pikachu – £199,800
- Ishihara GX Promo – £182,950
- Test Print Gold Border Blastoise – £159,840
- 2005 Play Promo Holo Umbreon – £133,200
- Family Event Trophy Kangaskhan – £129,500
- 1999 Secret Super Battle No. 1 Trainer – £115,440
- First Edition Neo Genesis Holo Lugia – £106,782
- 2000 Super Secret Battle No. 2 Trainer – £101,750
- Pokemon Snap Contest Magikarp – £100,640
- 2001 Neo Summer Battle Road No. 2 Trainer – £97,680
- Disco Holofoil Charizard Test Print – £84,271
- 2006 World Championships No. 2 Trainer Promo – £81,474
Why are they so expensive?
Most of these cards are promotional and very scarce. You can’t get them in packs: They were handed out at events or given to winners of worldwide tournaments. So for a lot of this list, only 10 or so of that card exists. That’s not the case for No. 15, the First Edition Neo Genesis Holo Lugia, however. Released back in 2000, the holographic card was not only hard to find at the time, but supply of them in legitimately good condition has become incredibly scarce over the last 26 years. And Lugia is a fan-favorite Pokemon, which means the demand for this classic is quite high. There simply aren’t many left with a perfect “10” grade due to how old the card is and how easy it is for the dated holographic patterns to scratch just by handling them.
Much of that also applies to No. 5, the First Edition Base Set Holo Charizard. Except that Charizard is even older, having come from the very first set of Pokemon cards ever made, and Charizard is even more popular than Lugia as a Pokemon. Any and every Charizard ever printed will fetch a premium penny compared to other cards of similar rarity.
But if you’re opening packs currently in stores and curious if there’s big money to be found… There is.
The Special Illustration Rare Mega Lucario EX out of the Mega Evolution base set goes for over £200 online with consistent sales – and that’s without it getting graded. The Special Illustration Rare Mega Charizard X EX from the second Mega Evolution set, Phantasmal Flames, goes for a whopping £660 ungraded. The PSA 10 version, which means one in perfect condition, sells for over £2,000. And that’s something you could pull out of a pack from your local supermarket today. If, of course, you can find any sealed packs in stock. The Pokemon craze is so wild that most stores sell out of them on the same day of receiving stock – even while enforcing a per-customer limit. Scalpers, people who buy out entire shelves just to resell online for a premium, are a major reason why sealed packs are so hard to find for the casual fan, and why those limits are in place at most stores.
So if you have an old collection in your house somewhere, it may be worth looking through. Because cards that were a couple pounds back in the day can be worth hundreds now. And that’s no exaggeration.