Collecting Daily: February 21, 2026

Good morning collectors. It’s Saturday, February 21, 2026. We’re newly into the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse, galloping optimistically towards Spring, and we have everything you need to know about collecting. Daily launch coming soon. Sign up for free here.

** Breaking News

Logan Paul’s Pokemon card sets $16.5 million record

Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $16.5 million on Monday. The Goldin sale set a world record for any trading card. That’s a reported $8 million profit for the social media star, who paid a then-record $5.3 million for it in 2021.

The card is one of 39 created for a 1998 competition. The PSA 10 condition grading is unique.

Buyer AJ Scaramucci is on a quest to collect the uncollectibles. The son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is next hunting a T-Rex skeleton and a Declaration of Independence.

Joe Frazier fight gown leads MSG sale

Joe Frazier’s fight gowns from bouts against Muhammad Ali star as the collection of George Kalinsky (official photographer of Madison Square Garden) sells next week in New York. Frazier’s 1975 Thrilla in Manila robe has a $150,000 top estimate. A Fight of the Century robe from 1971 could make $120,000.
Kalinksy died last year and 102 items, largely live sports and music photos, are selling. Also for sale are signed Ali gloves and an original sketch by the boxer. Bidding is live now, closing Wednesday.

** In the Know

Selling This Week

A note of note: A £20,000 opening bid is asked for a 2003 500-Riyal proof note from Qatar Central Bank with alternative design. Believed to be unique, and in “gem uncirculated” condition. At Noonans Mayfair.

High speed, high price: A 1967 Ford GT40 Mk 1 with $8 million top estimate is coming to RM Sotheby’s in Miami. The carmine red beauty was used in celebrated PR shots from 1966. One of just 31 made for the road.

Sold Last Week

Still Pottering: An uncorrected proof edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets made £6,000 at Arthur Johnson in West Bridgford UK.

Tsarist trinkets: A late-18th-century Russian Imperial presentation box by jeweler Jeremie Pauzie auctioned for $774,700 against a $250,000 high estimate at Christie’s in New York. It was almost certainly made for Empress Elizabeth.
Events & Exhibitions

The solitary soul: This highly praised, “once-in-a-generation” show, assembles works from the UK and US by the famously retiring Welsh painter Gwen John. It’s open until June 28 at National Museum Cardiff.

Marilyn clearly seen: “Eve Arnold: Capturing Compassion” is at f³ – Freiraum für Fotografie, Berlin. The show collects around 150 works from the pioneering photographer whose Marilyn Monroe shots are among the best. It’s open now and closes on March 6.

Cracking show Gromit: Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends. Big, child-friendly behind-the-scenes exhibition at V&A in London until November, selling fast and will sell out.

** A-Z

Coins: Treasures of American numismatics are at the 2026 ANA National Money Show in Savannah, Georgia from February 26. The $100 million in rare coins includes a $4 million-insured 1804-dated silver dollar.

Comics: Heritage Auctions list Action Comics #1 (Superman’s debut), Superman #1, and Detective Comics #27 (Batman’s bow) in a single sale on February 26. Potentially over $10 million in three comics.

Fine Art: A Francis Bacon self-portrait, two Lucian Freuds and a Leon Kossoff from billionaire Joe Lewis’s collection promise a blockbuster sale for Sotheby’s on March 3. They’ll make just under £27 million if estimates are right.

Handbags: East Asia fashion media floats handbags as “a new currency” after record-setting sales through 2025. The role of Chanel handbags in the First Lady bribery scandal in Korea is probably, but perhaps not completely, unrelated.

Historical documents: Goldin are running a major semiquincentennial sale with a 1776 broadside Declaration of Independence starring that’s likely to go for over $5 million. Only around 125 are thought to survive.

Pokemon: Yes, there’s another Pikachu Illustrator on the loose. Heritage have (no estimate so far) a one-of-15 9-graded example auctioning in late March with several unique features. Get your millions together now.

Sports Memorabilia: On Thursday, the first Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics torch made it to sale. It realised $27,903 at RR Auction (well over a $12,500 estimate) to set the bar for this year’s Games.

Watches: Olympics mean Omega, and the official timers of the skiers, sliders and skaters have released a 38mm-thin Milano Cortina special that you can get new for around £6,000.

A Quick Dip Into…

Collecting Nirvana memorabilia

• Nirvana now vie with the Beatles as the most collectible modern group
• The two most expensive guitars ever sold belonged to frontman Kurt Cobain
• Cobain painted, drew, scrawled and scribbled on everything. Personal artwork adds value to items
• Signatures of all three of the classic line up are also rare and valuable; a copy of Nevermind made £18,600 last year
• A funky, punky, thrift-store dresser, Cobain’s very undressy cardigans have sold for six figure prices
• Expect a record when Kurt’s 1966 Fender Mustang from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video sells again in March with a $5 million estimate

** The Secret Auctioneer: Tales from the Saleroom

When I was a kid I bought a copy of the Beatles Get Back book from a school jumble sale. I loved it. So I cut it up for posters.

The decision to put a cut-out-and-display poster page in the first Superman comic has been fatal to its survival. Even the Gutenberg Bible – imagine how rare and precious that was from birth – has been ripped up for reuse.

What to learn from this? If you’re a collector, think like a collector all the time. And take a look at what your kids are into. What’s the next Action Comic #1 or Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator, and will it survive in your house?

I just found my Beatles book on eBay for £250.

Whatnots

What do you call?

Arctophile – teddy bear collector

Cartophilist – a cigarette card collector

Deltiologist – a picture postcard collector

Fusilatelist – a phonecard collector

Paranumismatist – a collector of coin-like objects

Quirky: The pound sterling (sterling is an archaic name for a penny) is the oldest currency currently in use, with an 8th century origin. The Russian ruble dates to the 14th century. The Serbian dinar was first recorded in 1214, but was out of use for long periods.
Anniversary this week: On February 23, 1945 the photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was shot. The image has had many lives in all types of art and media. Significant, signed examples can sell for thousands. Its subjects became that rarity: ordinary service men transformed into collectible historical figures.

“For seventeen years, he did nothing at all but kill animals and stick in stamps.”

Harold Nicholson of King George V

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