How Much Are My Pokmon Cards Worth
Many former collectors are asking themselves How much are my Pokémon cards worth?, but if you know much of anything about collectibles, you already know the answer will vary substantially from one card to the next. Anything from the physical condition of the card, to the prominence of the character it depicts, to minor details such as misprints could mean the difference between a card going for a few dollars or a few hundred thousand.
As of this writing, the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold was a Japanese promotional Illustrator Pikachu card. Only 39 copies of the card were produced in 1998and were given away to the winners of a drawing contest. A near-mint specimen sold for $900,000 at auction in February 2022.
Unless you were a Pokémon fan artist in Japan in 1998, you probably dont have an Illustrator Pikachu. But if you liked big, tough, and dragon-esque Pokémon, you might have a Charizard. The fearsome Pokémon has been turned into dozens of different cards over the years, but a pristine 1999 Charizard took the record for most expensive of its kind when it sold for $420,000 in March 2022.
While were on the subject, lets get into what those condition grades mean for how to value Pokémon cards.
How To Value Pokmon Cards Worth
As you start to determine potential prices for your Pokémon cards, you can follow many of the same practices behind valuing baseball cards. How rare or sought-after a card is only accounts for half the equation. The other half is its condition, which is expressed in familiar terms such as mint and fair. When done by grading firms such as PSA and Beckett, the grades fall on a 10-point scale: 1 is extremely poor condition and 10 is virtually perfect condition, with ideal assessments for even minute considerations such as how centered the print is on the card.
The catch is that having a card professionally graded is expensive, and since card collecting overall has boomed in the last few years, its common for graders to have extensive backlogs. You may end up waiting months to get back a card only to find its worth less than what you paid to have it graded. Still, as Jesus Riveras 2003 Pokémon Skyridge #146 Charizard Holo PSA 10 proved when it dropped on Dibbs back in January, high grades can make all the difference for in-demand cards. Selling on Dibbs fractional market helped Jesus get the most possible return on his card, and it also meant more collectors than ever before now have a chance to own a piece of it.
Topsun Charizard Blue Back No Number Error
Sold in January, 2021 for $493,230
As with the other Topsun cards mentioned earlier on this list, Top-Seika didn’t distribute them until 1997, even though their copyright date reads 1995.
And since they weren’t part of the official Pokemon Trading Card Game, they are considered more in the realm of novelty collectible cards.
Still, an early Pokemon card is an early Pokemon card…
And, whether you’re talking about the prism holos, green-backs, or blue-backs, collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars for several of the Topsun cards when graded in PSA 10 condition.
But a price tag of thousands of dollars turned out to be quite an understatement in January 2021 when Goldin Auctions sold the most desirable of them all, the only “no number error” blue-back Charizard on record in a PSA 10 holder, for a whopping $493,230.
The blue-back checklist contains 150 numbered cards in total, but for some reason, about 50 of the characters were also printed with no number on them by mistake.
So, while the standard blue-back Charizard should contain a “006” on it in the upper-left of the front of the card, the “no number error” will be blank.
If you can find one and are lucky enough to have it graded PSA 10, you could be looking at life-changing money.
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Where The High Values Came From
It started with resellers camping out all night for the cards, so McDonalds employees put a one-per-customer limit on the Happy Meals in order to stave off any violence should the first person in line buy everything in stock and leave everyone tired, hungry, and cardless:
But by allowing everyone a buy-in for the market, trades could be made. Value has since gone up by taking into account the sentimental value of the Pokemon, the look of the card, and the leveraging power each collector had with their own hand of four.
This left lucky owners of certain holographic cards with highly collectible McDonalds Pokemon cards on their hands.
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The $88000 Pokemon Card: Japan Speculators Drive Up Trading Card Prices Freeze Out Kids
TOKYO — What on Earth is going on in the world of Pokemon trading cards?
There are lines snaking out of games shops selling the cards in the Japanese capital. Rare cards are selling for over 10 million yen apiece. And they have transcended collectors’ item status to become investment properties.
Tokyo’s Akihabara district is sacred ground to many a subculture, perhaps especially to lovers of gaming and anime. And it is there that I went looking to buy some Pokemon cards in late September. I went to several card shops, but all were sold out. I was told that there are shops giving out numbered tickets to lineups of some 500 people. At one place, shiny rare cards locked tight in glass display cases — cards priced at 100 yen each or less by the manufacturer — boasted price tags of 250,000 yen, 500,000 yen, 1 million yen , and on and on.
“It’s basically a feeding frenzy,” one person in the trading card business told me. And prices are soaring to extraordinary heights.
So, is there any place someone can get Pokemon cards at the price suggested by The Pokemon Co., which actually makes them? When I asked this of a male customer at one shop, he told me the first thing I needed to do was collect information. I retired to a coffee shop and began searching Twitter for shops that sold the cards at a reasonable price. Two hours later, I found one, and managed to buy five 165-yen packs of five cards each.
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How To Buy Pokmon Trading Cards In Japan
Pokémon is the craze that never went away. Whether its Pokémon memorabilia, the ever popular games on Game Boy, DS and Switch or the famous Pokémon Trading Card Game , its amazingly accessible for people of all ages. In the early days of the Pokémon TCG youd find kids with giant stacks of the highly collectible cards who knew little about the game itself and simply wanted to trade the likeness of Pikachu and friends.
Over the years since, the trading card game has only grown in popularity, with every new generation of Pokémon adding a wave of new and exciting cards into the game. Youll find cards for legendary Pokémon like Shadow Lugia through to mega-evolutions like Mega-Rayquaza or the latest Eevee evolutions.
And now, more than ever, there is a thriving competitive community with extensive collections, looking to get their hands on the most powerful cards. Building a competitive deck is tricky and ordering new additions, whether its Awesome Kyogre or just your favourite shiny, from Japan is one of the best ways to do it.
We see numerous card games coming through our Japan forwarding warehouse every day, so were here to help you get your hands on the best cards Pokémon TCG Japan has to offer.
Trophy Pikachu Trainer Card: Between $75000 To $100000+
Trainer cards are extremely rare. They were awarded to three winners at the Pokémon tournament in Japan in 1997. It is believed that only four copies of each card were given to each of the winners. The front of the cards has a picture of Pikachu holding a gold, silver, or bronze trophy. In Japanese, it says, The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournaments champion/runner-up winner/third place winner is recognized here, and the honor is praised. By presenting this card, you may gain preferential entry into the Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament.
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Pokemon Japanese Play Promo 50000 Points Espeon Gold Star
Sold in June, 2021 for $25,700
Earlier, we had a look at the 2005 Pokemon Japanese Play Jolteon gold star card that required 20,000 EXP Points to redeem and explained how difficult it was to achieve.
As Pokemon Players Club members completed specific actions, such as attending an event, winning a battle, or placing in a tournament, they could accumulate experience points.
As if accumulating 20,000 EXP points for the Jolteon wasn’t hard enough, those who had the endurance and capability to press on even farther could unlock the Espeon after earning 50,000 EXP points.
The holographic element mixed with the gold star designation and incredible design from Masakazu Fukuda resulted in a breathtaking card that few ever have the chance at holding.
Psa 10 Neo Genesis First Edition Holo Lugia: $129000
Neo Genesis is effectively the Base Set of the second generation of Pokemon. It was the first time Pokemon from Silver, Gold, or Crystal appeared in the TCG, and it was also marred by a large number of misprints and mistakes in its very first run. Alongside it being the mascot of Pokemon Silver, that’s mainly why a mint condition, holo, first edition Lugia from Neo Genesis is so highly desirable. The PSA has only given a PSA10 grade to 43 of these.
Prices for this card are incredibly unstable, even between cards with the same condition. In November 2020 PWCC sold a copy for $129,000, while less than a year later in September 2021, Goldin sold one for “just”$47,970.
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Neo Summer Battle Road Number 2 Trainer Trophy
- Release Date: 2002
- Grading: BGS 7.5
- Pokemon card value at auction: $34,100
Kicking off in Sapporo Japan, the 2002 Neo Summer Battle Road tournament saw some of the worlds best TCG players competing against each other in a series of contests across the country. Those who managed to place second place in their division received the highly coveted Number 2 Trainer trophy card.
Like all trophy cards, the population of them is incredibly low given that only a handful of participants who ranked at the top of these contests received them. Despite its scarcity, one of the 2002 Summer tournament prizes went up for auction at PWCC in March 2021.
What makes this item special, is the fact that it has the name of second-place winner Fukunishi Tomoki written on it. According to the auction house, the player took the 2nd prize in the Junior Division during the Kanto region tournament. The personalized nature of the reward truly makes it one of a kind.
Unlike other Number 2 Trainer cards, the Neo Summer Battle Road has Ken Sugimoris iconic artwork printed on the E-Series format during the 2002 era of the TCG.
/10 Lugia ~ Call Of Legends
With this card, it’s important to make sure a collector has the right art for it to be as valuable. The rare holofoil card with art done by Ryo Ueda is not the valuable one the shiny rare holofoil version with art from Hideaki Hakozaki is the card that brings home the bacon. It was extremely hard to get, though Japanese players had a special opportunity to get them as part of a raffle that took place between two months in 2010.
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Whether The Pokemon Card Is Useful For Players
Some Pokemon cards have attack/defence stats or special abilities that are especially valuable to people who play the Pokemon trading card game, as they can use them in battle against other players.
This is why certain trainer cards and ultra rare cards sometimes spike in value unexpectedly.
Most often, Pokemon battlers play with the newest cards, so your card will need to be from a recent set if its in demand from Pokemon players.
Blastoise Cd Promo From The Pokmon Song Best Collection
In 1999, Japanese fans were able to buy the Pokémon Song Best Collection music CD. The album featured a compilation of songs from the Pokémon anime. The songs featured on the albums finalized tracklist were actually decided by Pokémon players who got to vote in a magazine poll. What made the album really collectible though, is that it also came packaged with a handful of rare Pokémon TCG promo cards such as Snorlax, Venusaur, and Charizard.
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Pokémon Blue Box mascot Blastoise was also one of the cards included in the album and featured alternate artwork of his iconic Base Set card. The promos artwork is drawn by renowned Japanese artist Ken Sugimori, who created the designs for all the original 151 Pokémon in the Kanto PokéDex. Incredibly, the Blastoise CD Promo sells for just $50 ungraded on auction sites and only goes for around $350 for a perfect graded version. Considering this rare promo is from 1999, and features an alternate artwork from legendary illustrator Ken Sugimori, this is another card that should definitely be worth more in 2022.
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Ichiba Japan Real Experts In Tcg
A large part of our team is made up of what we like to call Ninja Shoppers. They are Japanese anime fans, who have dedicated their lives, both personally and professionally, to their love of Japanese anime. Collectors and TCG players themselves, they are true experts in Pokémon cards. As such, they will make sure to collect the best items for you. You wont find a better selection of official Japanese Pokémon cards, directly shipped from Japan to allover the world, especially not at these extremely competitive prices.
If you have any questions, dont hesitate to reach to our friendly and helpful support staff by email at .
Why The Japanese Pokemon Card Market Is Stronger Than English
Last time, we briefly touched on the Japanese Pokemon card market and why it is a very good idea for collectors and investors to explore it rather than just staying on the English side all of the time.
For those of you who have never really touched Japanese Pokemon cards, this is obviously new to you. But if you are really serious about becoming a shrewd collector or a successful investor in this field, you cannot ignore the Japanese market, which is, at its core, stronger than the English market.
While Pokemon has certainly become a major phenomenon in America and the western world in general, lets keep in mind that its roots are in Japan. It is a Japanese creation. Pokemon Red and Blue, the inaugural video games of the franchise, were released in Japan in 1996. It wasnt until late 98 that they saw their release in the United States. Going even further, Pokemon cards saw their initial release in Japan in 96, but they didnt make it to America until 1999.
Because of that, Japan is always going to be the ground floor for anything Pokemon related. Whether its video games, cards or any other type of merchandise, Japan gets it first. America comes second.
So why wouldnt you want to dabble in the Japanese Pokemon card market to see what it has to offer?
I can understand the apprehension for native English speakers. After all, chances are, you cant read Japanese, so you might find it rather pointless to collect cards with Japanese text.
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Can I Buy Pokemon Cards From Japan
Yes, you can, although you would make a killing if you did so at the opportune moment. So, when is the best time to buy Japanese Pokemon cards? When new cards are released in Japan, their value skyrockets and stay that way until they are released in English. During that time, unplayable Super Rare and Rare Rare are worth enough to increase when purchasing the Japanese Pokemon cards booster box.
After that time, the unplayable Japanese Pokemon cards’ value plunges, while the playable ones maintain their value when sold from Japan. However, when the card leaves Japan, its price plummets due to the diminished markets since its market comprises collectors.
Japanese Promo Master’s Scroll Daisuki Club 8600 Points
Sold in March 2021, for $35,200
This holographic Master’s Scroll card is one of several item cards that were part of the L-P Promotional cards released between September 2009 and August 2010.
Once a player accumulated 8,600 action points, he or she would earn the Master Rank distinction and a prize in the form of this Master’s Scroll card.
Given the difficulty of acquiring such a massive amount of action points, not many members ever received one of these cards, making it one of the rarest promotional Pokemon cards in the hobby.
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Japanese Pokemon Card Buying Guide Recap
Sometimes pricing rare Japanese Pokemon cards can be very hard, but if you follow the simple pricing formula above, you can usually have a good idea of what a card is worth, regardless of whether you are looking to buy or sell.
In some rare cases you might get a cheaper deal from a local seller in your country, especially for extremely playable cards, but for most cards checking a Japanese auction proxy site, will give you cheaper options.
