First Edition Holographic Mewtwo
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $2,000
A member of the exclusive and powerful Legendary Pokémon group, Mewtwo is considered to be one of the best Pokémon of all-time.
Instantly recognizable, the psychic-type Mewtwo was created when a scientist altered its original DNA via gene-splicing techniques that transformed the creature into one of the most vicious and savage of all Pokémon.
Harnessing its psychic energy, Mewtwo unleashes physical damage on its enemies via its signature more, Psystrike.
Blastoise Wizards Of The Coast Presentation Galaxy Star Holo
- Release Date: 1998
- Grading: CGC 8.5
- Pokemon card value at auction: $360,000
The Pokemon Trading Card Game community was stunned when this insanely rare Pokemon card was discovered by the public for the first time in 2021. Originally commissioned by Wizards of the Coast in 1998, the Blastoise Presentation card was supposed to give stores an idea of what the TCG line would look like in its final print run.
While there are varying reports about its history, its currently believed that only two are known to have ever existed, with only one currently accounted for. Its essentially is one of the earliest known Pokemon cards to exist, at least for the North American release. It was so early that one of the copies had a Magic: The Gathering backside to it, while the other is simply blank.
The historical Nintendo artifact went up for sale at Heritage Auctions in January 2021, and sold for a whopping $360,000, making it the third most expensive collectible just an inch behind the Base Set Charizard. Given that only two of these exist, it could one day take the top spot as the most valuable Pokemon card of all time. If nothing else it may be the rarest Pokemon card in the world.
Dragon Frontiers Gold Star Holographic Charizard
Despite being released in 2006, this shiny black Charizard has become an incredibly valuable Pokémon card. According to PSA, only 59 of these cards have been graded a perfect 10, and these mint condition copies have regularly sold for between $20,000 and $30,000 at auction.
This cards highest recorded sale to date took place on eBay for upwards of $60,000 in 2020. Impressively, this Delta Species Charizard competes in value for some of the rarest first edition Pokémon cards.
This chonky boy is worth some serious green.
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No 1 Trainer Super Secret Battle
- Release Date: 1999
- Grading: PSA Gem Mint 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $90,000
In 1999, The Pokemon Company hosted regional contests in Japan. Winners received a No. 1 Trainer Pokemon card which granted them access to the final that took place in a secret location.
Named Super Secret Battle, the special TCG tournament had a lot of mystique surrounding it. The rare Pokemon card features a silhouette of Mewtwo which has made it all the more desirable to fans.
In July 2020, the Japanese promo sold for an astonishing $90,000 making it one of the most valuable Pokemon cards to ever exist.
Pokmon World Championships No 1 Trainer
Every copy of this rare and valuable promo card is one-of-a-kind
Sold for $31,200 in April 2021
The first of two rare and valuable Pokémon cards called No. 1 Trainer on this list, this particular card was awarded to winners of the regional Battle Road Spring tournaments held in Japan during early 2002.
The regional tournaments were held as qualifiers for the Pokémon World Championships, with the small number of No. 1 Trainer cards produced for the few winners making them some of the rarest Pokémon cards in existence.
Adding to the card’s rarity is the fact that each No. 1 Trainer card was customised with the name of the tournament winner printed onto the card, making each card one-of-a-kind. According to auction house Heritage Auctions, the personalised aspect of the cards also mean that they rarely appear at auction, making them an even rarer sight in the world of Pokémon cards.
The 2002 No. 1 Trainer card was illustrated by Ken Sugimori, best known as being one of the original artists and designers for Pokémon’s first generation of 151 Pokémon. The text on it reads: “The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament Battle Road Spring 2002 champion is recognised here, and his honour is praised.” Sugimori’s No. 1 Trainer artwork – featuring fan-favourite Pokémon such as Pikachu, Chansey and Marrill – is exclusive to the card, making it especially unique.
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Find The Set Number Of The Pokemon Card
Look at the bottom right or bottom left corner of the card for a number, typically in the format ###/###.
In this case, the set number is RC21/RC25. Note that the set number does not normally contain letters, but it can sometimes. As long as theres a / symbol, or a number on its own, then thats the set symbol.
How To Research Pokmon Card Prices
If youre looking to maximize your return on selling your Pokémon cards, you will need to do your research. Blindly selling individual cards without doing the legwork on Pokémon card value could end up selling yourself short and giving a collector a great deal.
The best way to research Pokémon card prices is to look at real life selling history. After all, Pokémon cards are only worth what someone is willing to pay. Check out these three resources to see what your Pokémon cards are worth:
- eBay has the largest collection of Pokémon cards for sale online
- Pokemonprices.com is regularly updated with eBay and Amazon card selling data to reflect the average price of specific cards
- TCGPlayer is an online store for buying and selling trading cards, with card prices that reflect the average sale price of said cards within the TCGPlayer store
If you have a lot of Pokémon cards but dont want to go through the hassle of selling individual items, there are places where you can sell Pokémon cards in bulk. Just know that youll be leaving money on the table if you choose to go this route.
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Skyridge Holographic Crystal Charizard
Besides having arguably the best artwork of any Charizard card, 2003s Skyridge Holo Crystal Charizard is notable for being a part of the last set produced by Wizards of the Coast when interest in the game started to wane. Due to the lessened interest in the game at the time, fewer sets were produced, making this card even rarer.
As of writing, there are just 211 mint condition copies of this card graded by PSA. The value of this card has skyrocketed with the recent surge in interest around the hobby .
To date, the highest sale of this card was for $28,100 in November 2020.
Is there a chans-ey you have this card in a shoebox somewhere?
Why Are Pokemon Cards Suddenly Popular Again
Pokemon card collecting has always been popular, as evidenced by the 34 billion cards now in circulation.
But even the makers of Pokemon cards were caught off guard when demand began skyrocketing in mid-2020. In addition to being fun, addictive, and nostalgic, collecting Pokemon cards during the pandemic even promised a potential form of economic relief each $4 booster pack could contain a Charizard GX SV 49 worth $1,800.
Soon, celebrities and influencers picked up on the resurging popularity of Pokemon cards. In early October, Logan Paul live-streamed an event where he opened a rare box of cards worth $200,000 in front of his 22 million subscribers. Pokimane and other influencers quickly followed suit, offering a Pokemon-flavored version of the ever-popular unboxing videos.
Things came to a head on October 13th, 2020 when rapper Logic bought a first-edition, holographic Charizard for an eye-watering $220,574.
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Pokemon Players Club Shiny Espeon: $2000
If you ever wanted proof about how much a Pokemon cards price can change just because of the Pokemon on it, you need to look further than the Pokemon Players Club Shiny Espeon. This card is almost identical in story to the Umbreon card you saw just a moment ago, but required only 40,000 experience points instead of 70,000.
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Despite being more available, Troll and Toad has this card for a slightly higher price of just under $2000. This is likely because Espeons shiny form is more noticeable than Umbreons, since the bright neon-green fur is a lot more distinctive and Espeon has its own unique degree of popularity.
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Video Of Me Looking Up How Much My Pokemon Cards Are Worth:
If you get too many results that include cards NOT like yours, use the checkboxes to pick the ones just like yours. Choosing a few comparable items by using the checkboxes gives you a much more accurate estimate of what your Pokemon card is worth.
What to do next:
Once youve gone through and searched for what your Pokemon cards are worth using mavin.io, you have several options:
If your Pokemon cards are worth a lot of money You could hold onto the cards and collect them, as most collectors do, and hope they appreciate in value over time. It may be a good investment to get them professionally graded by PSA, this will dramatically increase their value.
You could sell your Pokemon cards to a local card shop, knowing full well what theyre worth . Keep in mind dealers will buy them from you at wholesale prices they have to make a profit after all, and selling a large collection takes a considerable amount of time and resources so dont expect to get 100% of what youd get online.
Selling your Pokemon cards online will get you the highest prices, but it can be time consuming: taking pictures, writing descriptions, responding to customers, packing, shipping, returns its a lot of work. If you have the time and patience, selling them online is a great way to make money. Read our guide to selling on eBay.
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How To Find The Value Of A Pokemon Card
To determine what a specific Pokemon card is worth, there is an easy process you can follow.
Often, Pokemon card price lists and websites are out of date, so its important to look at what the card is actually selling for right now to see what its really worth.
Below, well show you how to perform a Pokemon card valuation using this Shaymin EX Pokemon card as an example.
Most Old Pokemon Card Collections Arent Worth Anything
The only rare Pokemon card I can distinctly remember having was a holographic Blastoise, which I destroyed in the YMCA pool.
I cringed when that memory resurfaced. Surely that card is worth more than a used car today
Turns out, you can actually buy a collector-condition Blastoise on Amazon for about $100.
In fact, holographic Charizards arent selling for much more than that:
So what gives? Why are some Charizards worth $100 and others worth $200,000?
Well, unlike the $110 eBay Charizard, Logics prized Charizard is a:
- First Edition.
- Shadowless.
- PSA Gem Mint 10.
Any card falling short of those high standards wont be worth even 5% as much. So whether youre looking to start investing in Pokemon cards or simply selling your old collection, lets cover how to spot and appraise valuable Pokemon cards!
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Shiny Secret Rare Charizard V: $500
If you want to get into Pokemon pack opening, but dont want to shell out for the older packs, there are tons of new cards with similar record-setting prices that have come out in just the past two years. One of the recent premium TCG sets in the game was Champions Path, and certain cards in it were especially rare since you could only get packs through special products like Elite Trainer Boxes and Pin Collector packs.
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The absolute highest value cards in this set are both Charizards, one being a rainbow foil V-Max card and the other being a shiny Charizard V with black scales. Both quickly reached prices around $500, and sites like TCGPlayer still remain at the same $500 price tag.
Psa 10 Holo Rayquaza Gold Star Ex Deoxys: $37420
If Charizard is the king of Pokemon, Rayquaza is definitely up there in the royal family. It tends to value highly in any set it appears in, but none are as rare as EX Deoxys’ Rayquaza Gold Star, which only has 56 verified PSA 10 quality cards in circulation, putting it on par with the famous Holo Base Set Shadowless Charizard.
The PSA values PSA 10-grade Gold Star Rayquazas at an incredibly high $40,400. Auctions can swing wildly either side of that price, too. In 2021 alone, there were three up for sale by Goldin Auctions, with the highest selling for $44,280 and the lowest for $34,440.
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Reasons Not To Invest In Pokemon Cards
Theres a potential upside to investing in Pokemon cards, but as with all unique investments, the cons deserve to be heard:
- Pokemania may end soon. As with any investment, hype, and influencer marketing drive up the price of investments. So, prices may quickly deflate.
- Appraisal is difficult and expensive.If you plan to invest in a card worth $5,000+ one day in the future, youll have to pay PSA $300 just to reappraise it and if the markets hot enough to sell it, theres a chance the company will become overwhelmed again and suspend services, jeopardizing your timing.
- Cards could get lost, stolen, or damaged.Pokemon cards only hold their value if they remain in 100% pristine condition. If a PSA 10 Charizard drops to PSA 9 while its in your possession, it loses 80% of its value.
- Demand for rare collectibles is extremely fickle. Sure, demand for rare Pokemon cards may be high right now, but it could easily disappear overnight as young investors and collectors turn to something else. The same thing happened with Beanie Babies, some of which sold for $10,000 in the late 90s and are worth less than $10 now.
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.
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Most Valuable First Edition Pokemon Cards
Originally released in Japan as a video game, Pokémon later transformed into a trading card game that began hitting store shelves in the U.S. in 1999.
Today, these trading cards are some of the hottest non-sports cards in the hobby.
And with a catchphrase like Gotta Catch Em All., it’s easy to understand why.
On top of common and rare cards in the base set, there are variations such as Shadowless and First Edition Pokémon cards needed to complete an entire run.
Those First Edition cards are especially some of the rarest and some are even considered to be among the most expensive Pokémon cards in general.
And in this guide, we take a look at the 25 most valuable.
Let’s jump right in!
More…
Summer Battle Road 2002
It’s not too often that a card graded below a 9 sells for more than a few thousand dollars, but that’s exactly what happened with one copy of the No.2 Trainer Battle Road Summer promo in March of 2021. The card in question, which had actually been mislabeled by Beckett, received just a 7.5 rating, though still sold for an impressive $34,100.
The card was given out to winners of the Kanto Summer Battle Road tournament in 2002 and came in male and female variants. Not many of them have made their way west in the two decades since then, with only two of them ever being graded by the PSA. One did receive the elusive GEM-MT 10 rating, however, so may well end up selling for considerably more if it ever goes to auction.
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Are Your Old Pokemon Cards Worth Money
If you collected Pokemon cards in your youth, chances are you have an old shoe box storing your collection somewhere in moms basement. Rare Pokemon cards have been known to sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, but how can you tell if your cards are actually worth money? Heres how to determine if your Pokemon cards are valuable collectors items or just a pile of cardboard nostalgia.
Were going to cover the two main factors that go into determining Pokemon card value and then explain how to learn a cards worth and where you can exchange it for money.
