Wrestler, YouTuber and influencer Logan Paul has listed his record-breaking $5.3-million Pikachu Illustrator Pokemon card for sale at an online auction house.
Paul is selling the card, along with the diamond necklace on which it hangs, with the promise that he’ll drop it off with the buyer himself.
As we go to press, with 39 days of bidding left, Goldin auctions has the card at $2.1 million ($2.6 million with buyer’s premium).
The card is by some distance the most valuable ever Pokemon card, ahead of another Pikachu Illustrator card also bought by Paul for a reported $1.1 million in 2021.
That card was graded 9 for condition, and Paul used it in a trade for the only known 10-grade example of the card, adding cash to bring the card up to around $5.3 million.
Paul announced the sale on Twitter/X, writing that he was selling the “Mona Lisa of collectibles”, “the most famous card in human history.”
The card’s value is down to its rarity, but also to its extraordinary condition, with a “gem mint, 10” grading. Image courtesy of Goldin auctions.
The Illustrator cards were issued in 1998 and given to 39 competition winners.
Pokemon was born in Japan in 1996 as a video game. Collectible trading cards soon followed the software onto the market and became a global phenomenon.
Paul is certainly heavily invested in the brand, telling a 2022 interviewer that, “Pokémon as an asset class has outperformed the stock market by upwards of 3000% in the last 20 years.”
Last year was a standout year for card collectors, with the $12.9-million sale of a Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant signed basketball card setting a new sports card record.
That card was also bought by investors in the shape of a group including Canadian reality TV star and collector Kevin O’Leary.
For sale alongside the record-setting Illustrator is a 1999 card that Paul opened live online in 2021. That card – a 1st Edition Holo #4 Charizard – is currently under offer for $320,000 ($396,800 with premium).
Paul, whose YouTuber/fighter brother Jake recently fought boxer Joshua Anthony, has promised to add more items to the sale and will certainly do a lot to hype the card, which could easily set a new record next month.
The sale will coincide with the 30th anniversary of Pokemon and a slew of new releases from franchise that will bring even more attention to the auction.
