What is the most expensive Pokemon card that has been sold to date in public/private sales?
The Pikachu illustrator. It has always been the most valuable and outsells all cards. The last copy sold for 100k.
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Base set Machop
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It’s good to know that the Illustrator still holds the number 1 spot. A gorgeous card indeed. I just wanted to see if any other scarce card may have beaten it by some chance since the spike in Pokemons popularity. I absolutely enjoy seeing the expression on non Pokemon fans faces when I tell and show them the value of some of these cards. Thanks!
I hear that Machop is a fierce competitor to that paint brush bearing Pikachu, heh.
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Only if it still sealed bro. Super rare. Crazy shit if you ever find one.
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Scott I have a question. Since the # of illustrators is finite and almost every copy is presumably owned by a collector, then is it possible that the card’s value would stall in future years and another card could become more valuable?
For instance, base set first ed charizard is arguably more well known and will keep increasing in value as time goes on with it’s high demand and greater availability. New collectors join the hobby and the hobby ages, so more people specifically search out that card. Is it possible for this card to go beyond the illustrator if it plateaus? Maybe even something equally rare like a “snap” card could sell higher just out of limited availability someday.
Just a theoretical question, not meaning to deflate one of your most prized cards. I wish I could own one after all! lol
That is a good question. The illustrator or comparable trophy cards naturally sell less frequently due to their rarity. However they command a higher premium when sold. No one can predict the future, but since the cards existence, the illustrator has always outpaced the charizard.
Also Pokemon is weird in that charizard is not crazy expensive, only the 10 is a contender. Where in sports a PSA 1 Honus Wagner is half a million dollars. Which is also why the illustrator is more analogous to Wagner.
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A good example would be Honus Wagner with baseball. He was an alright baseball player, but nothing like Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio. His card is the most valuable due to the story associated with him and the scarcity of the card. In short, he did not want to be associated with tobacco products so he pulled his card from production. Few copies exist and it is most valuable baseball card out there.
The Pokemon Illustrator has a similar scarcity factor with an incredible story from back when it came out. I remember as a kid hearing about the card in elementary school. Wagner has only gone up in value, and you would expect something like the Illustrator to do something similar. While the Illustrator is not a Charizard card, it has taken the Honus Wagner place in the hobby.
I think that’s entirely plausible. However, any moment that PSA 10 Charizard sells higher than the previous Pikachu Illustator had sold for, the next Pikachu Illustrator that’s up for sale is almost inevitably expected to be priced at least somewhat higher than the highest sale price for the zard.
In other words, if we go 10 years without an Illustator sale and we have several PSA 10 zard sales that sell in that time for higher than the previous Illustrator 10 years ago, the next Illustrator will almost certainly sell for much higher than the highest sold zard. I can’t see anyone accepting a price lower than what a PSA 10 zard sells for if they are actually going to bring themselves to sell it.
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Any Rayquaza card…
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10 years from now you may be able to get a PSA 10 1st Charizard for 10k to 15k. The 39 illustrators will have settled into collections so their value could hold pretty steady or go up.
What sale was the 100k illustrator?
As for public sales, Cullers No. 3 SSB that sold for $60k would be number 1, if the sale goes through.
Holy sh*t, just realised it was on sold listings 
@smpratte Was the Y!J Illustrator sale not completed? I must have missed if there was a follow up to that deal.
The illustrator I mentioned wasn’t on yahoo. It was graded, I’ll cover it in a video soon.
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i would say the miss cut trophy card that was recently discovered would be the most valuable card in the hobby. doubt there will be another like it ever. would expect it to end for around 120-150k at auction.
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Was it the PSA 10 illustrator that sold for 100k, or a psa 9 ?
I hope you’re right!! I will be adding one to my Charizard collection if this comes true! Please save me one Gary lol.
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