Good morning collectors. It’s Saturday, February 28, 2026. The day after Pokemon Day. And we have lots on the Pocket Monster empire as its celebrates 30 years. Plus everything else a collector needs to know today. Launching daily soon. Sign up for free here.
** Breaking News
Change at the top after Louvre heist
Laurence des Cars has resigned as director of the Louvre museum in Paris, and been replaced by Christophe Leribault, director at the Palace of Versailles.
In October, eight pieces of French royal and imperial jewellery were stolen from the Louvre. Despite arrests, none has been recovered. The museum’s security was out of date, Ms des Cars admitted. The French culture ministry said Leribault must secure the museum’s collections and a “climate of trust” in the institution.
£2 million per barrel for last of Japanese distillery’s whiskies
Two casks of whisky believed to be the last unbottled from Japan’s shuttered Karuizawa distillery are expected to make as much as £2 million apiece at Christie’s on March 10.
Sukhinder Singh of Whisky Exchange and Elixir Distillers is selling them. Karuizawa was Japan’s smallest distillery. Founded in 1955 on the Mount Asama volcano, it closed in 2011. Its small output and unusual techniques make its surviving liquid diligently hunted. Single bottles have made over $600,000.
This precious pair await a buyer at Tormore distillery in Scotland. Each could produce around 420 bottles of whisky or be aged to the buyer’s tastes.
Frazetta boom continues with expected $1 million sale
A “Quintessential” Frank Frazetta painting will auction at PropStore in March with a $1 million top estimate. Captive Princess (1973) was the cover art for a paperback edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The People That Time Forgot, and is typical of the Brooklyn-born fantasy artist’s style.
Last year, three Frazetta pieces made over $1 million. Man Ape, a Conan the Barbarian cover painting, realised $13.5 million to set an artist record. Frazetta straddles pulp fiction, art, fantasy, movies, comics and heavy rock (Metallica’s Kirk Hammett is a fan) and stars here in a movie-focused sale.
** In the Know
Selling This Week
Spidey sense: 1970 Amazing Spider-Man #84 cover art by John Romita Sr has a bid of $320,000 ahead of a March 1 close at Heritage Auctions.
Red menace: Andy Warhol’s 1977 painting Hammer and Sickle could make $5 million at Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary auction on Wednesday. Lots by Francis Bacon and Lucio Fontana both have $12 million estimates.
Sold Last Week
Led’s choice: A Victorian print of a photograph of a Wiltshire thatcher called Long Lot has sold for £16,000 at Denhams. A version of the image appears on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV.
Intoxicating: A Macallan 50-year-old whisky in a Lalique bottle from a 2005 release of 470 decanters made $50,000 at Bonhams.
Events & Exhibitions
Who signs: London Comic Con Spring is on this weekend at Olympia, with 15th Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa, top of the bill for meet-and-greets.
Timely Freud: Lucian Freud’s work is well represented in London’s spring art sales, and the National Portrait Gallery has the first UK museum show focusing on his works on paper. Closes on May 4.
Spot new fashion stars: Weaving, Embroidering, Embellishing at Palais Galliera, Paris’ fashion museum, explores specialist techniques with pieces from the museum collection and new works from young designers.
** A-Z
Baseball cards: A T206 Honus Wagner card sold for over $5 million last Saturday at Goldin. Another is due to go this weekend at Heritage where it’s up to $2 million days in advance of the sale.
Cars: Ayrton Senna’s 1986 John Player Special Lotus 98T Formula One chassis is auctioning by sealed bids at RM Sotheby’s on March 11 when it is predicted to sell for up to £9 million.
Comics: Bleeding Cool report that DC Comics will launch a range of collectible pins and badges later this year. Styled “All-Pin” after the All-In title, the badges are expected to launch in time for this summer’s conventions.
Coins: The Hambleden Hoard will be sold on April 17 at Spink London. Called “the most important trove of Black Death coins ever found”, the coins were unearthed in 2019.
Fine Art: Henry Moore’s monumental sculpture King and Queen is selling at Christie’s on Thursday, when the last example in private hands could realise £15 million.
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.
Stamps: The Tomasini Collection sales at David Feldman on March 26 include “the largest mint multiple of the Penny Black in private hands”: a marginal block of 24 with an £800,000 top estimate.
Trading cards: A college basketball One Piece card promotion has been cancelled at St John’s in New York because the cards are selling for so much at secondary sites a similar event was burgled.
Watches: Reporting in GQ states the Rolex Watchmaking Training Centre in Dallas claim the 18-month technician’s course is now rejecting applicants at a similar rate to Harvard. .
A Quick Dip Into…
Pokemon’s 30th birthday
- Pokemon was born in Japan from a video game concept called Pocket Monsters by the Game Freak team
- The first game was released in February 1996, the first cards in October 1996
- A 1997 Japanese cartoon show was broadcast in the US in 1998 and sparked a global Pokemania
- As of Pokemon Day, February 26, 2026, there are 1,025 species of Pokemon in nine generations of issues
- 75 billion Pokemon cards have been printed in total, nearly 60% of them since 2020
- Early cards are precious: a full set of the first US base set costs at least $100,000, single cards up to $40,000
- Numerous limited editions go for more: a Charizard 1st edition holo sold for $550,000 last year
- On February 16, 2026, Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $16.5 million
- Paul had bought it for $5.3 million in 2021, the previous record sale
- Read the full Pokemon story here (https://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/blogs/most-recent/a-collector-s-guide-to-pokemon-trading-cards-part-1)
** The Secret Auctioneer: Tales from the Saleroom
A gentleman I met at a recent stamp fair told me a story that I find runs true for many collectors. He had been compiling his collection for over 60 years. And his path was set before he was 10. With a single stamp. That one gift ignited a passion that took up a considerable part of his life.
For all the talk of trading and investments, values and returns, most collecting is driven by this particular type of obsession. It is enabled by but transcends financial concerns (usually). And to buy from or sell to collectors you need to bear that in mind: with no sentimentality, no passion, there would be no collecting, and my 70-year-old friend wouldn’t still have that first, humble stamp in his album.
Whatnots
Monster prices?
Top 10 valued Ascended Heroes cards at PokeDATA Pokem
- Mega Gengar 284 – $903.14
- Mega Charizard Y 294 – $597.78
- Mega Dragonite ex 290 – $574.33
- Pikachu 276 – $480.83
- Mega Dragonite 295 – $386.02
- Pikachu 277 – $350.08
- Team Rocket’s Mewtwo 281 – $319.55
- Lillie’s Clefairy 280 – $228.70
- Mega Feraligatr 274 – $162.37
- 10 N’s Zoroark 286 – $157.45
Quirky: Since 1955 all Oscar winners have signed an agreement that they will not sell their awarded statuette without first offering to sell it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the price of $1.
Anniversary this week: March 4 was Inauguration Day for US Presidents from 1793 to 1933, starting with George Washington’s second ceremony. There were just four exceptions to keep Sundays holy, including March 4 1849, which is claimed as the one-day presidency of Senator David Atchison. Scholars (and Atchison) dismissed the notion, and technically, the US had no president at all for 24 hours.
“Star Wars will do very nicely for those lucky enough to be children or unlucky enough never to have grown up.”
John Simon in his 1977 Review of Star Wars for New York Magazine
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