Pokemon's Most Infamous Card Sells For $4,000,000

"Often considered to be the rarest Pokémon card of all, the so-called Pikachu Illustrator (it's proper name is "Pokémon Illustrator" but no one calls it that) was a print of around 41 cards given to winners of a Japanese competition in 1998. It has since gone on to become notorious, not just for being so highly valued and sought after, but for being the card on which one Logan Paul spent $5,300,000 in 2022."

"It's not known exactly how many were handed out, but it's believed 41 were printed, made unique by having the word "ILLUSTRATOR" where "TRAINER" would usually appear. The holographic image shows Pikachu clutching an enormous paintbrush, while the Japanese text underneath congratulates the recipients as having been "recognized as excellent in the Pokémon Card Game Illustration Contest." It's not known how many survive, but of those that do, the condition they're in becomes everything."

The Pikachu Illustrator card was awarded to winners of a 1998 CoroCoro Comic Illustration Contest, with roughly 41 copies believed to have been printed. The card replaces the usual "TRAINER" label with "ILLUSTRATOR" and shows Pikachu holding a large paintbrush with congratulatory Japanese text beneath. Surviving copies are extremely rare and condition determines market value. A PSA 10 example sold for $5,275,000, a PSA 7 failed to receive bids at a $480,000 start, and a PSA 9 example recently sold on eBay for $4,000,000, reinforcing its top-market status.

Read at Kotaku