This might be the most valuable Pokemon card ever made, and it just sold for over $1m

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Only a handful of "Pikachu Illustrator" were ever made

Knocked-out Pikachu beside an Japanese Illustrator Pokemon card
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

It isn't news to say that Pokemon cards are absurdly popular. However, it is more noteworthy when one of them sells for a mere... oh, let's say, $1.4 million. You know, pocket change. Poke-change.

Late last week, one of the only "Pikachu Illustrator" cards in existence from the early days of one of the best card games sold for $1,406,250 at Heritage Auctions (as spotted by our friends at Dexerto). With only 39 copies ever distributed as part of a series of contests, it's amongst the rarest Pokemon cards around. Indeed, the only version graded with a higher quality than this sold for an absurd $16,492,000 according to Heritage Auctions. That marks this as "the most valuable card ever sold at auction."

Gotta catch 'em all (if you can)

Pokemon cards lying on a red surface

(Image credit: Future/Cathering Lewis)

Although the most recent cards aren't anywhere near that kind of value, they're still frustratingly difficult to find. For the latest set, Perfect Order, you're better off heading to Miniature Market - that has stock at the time of writing. As for the upcoming Chaos Rising, TCGPlayer has a lot of listings at the moment.

Awarded to those who entered an illustration contest for Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic in 1998, this card is apparently the only one "to bear the pen symbol in the bottom right corner and the only card to feature the word 'Illustrator' at the top." When you throw in the fact that it was illustrated by Atsuko Nishida (who designed a number of original Pokemon, including Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle), this card becomes even more desirable.

While the majority of us are unlikely to have one of these kicking around in the loft, there's still just as much buzz surrounding the value of Pokemon cards now as there ever was. The latest sets are incredibly hard to get hold of, for example, with most items fetching a ridiculously inflated cost.

For recommendations on what to play next, why not check out the best board games or the best tabletop RPGs?

Benjamin Abbott
Benjamin Abbott
Tabletop & Merch Editor

I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, but these days you'll find me managing GamesRadar+'s tabletop gaming and toy coverage (I spend my time here handling everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news). I've also been obsessed with Warhammer since the 1990s, and love nothing more than running tabletop RPGs like D&D as a Dungeon Master.

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