How Much Are Rare Pokemon Cards Worth
As you could expect, on the basic scale common will normally be priced for less and depending on the cards usefulness in competitive battles or difficulty to obtain that price will increase. Once you start getting into the Holographic Pokemon cards and higher it can start getting more complicated. At its base level a Reverse Holo doesn’t add much rarity to the base card but as soon as you start getting to Rare Holo and into GX or V cards they can start accumulating more worth. Another large aspect of a Pokemon Cards worth will be in its usefulness in the competitive scene of Pokemon.
Taking a look at the Secret Rare Pokemon from the Chilling Reign expansion depending on the Pokemon and its state a Secret Rare might vary from $9 all the way up to $100. Another factor that goes into the sale of these cards is the quality that the card has been kept in. You might have a card that’s extremely expensive in pristine condition, but if you left it under a couch for years and it’s folded in half and dog-eared that value will begin to drop rapidly. Some other recommended sites for purchasing and reselling are ChannelFireball and Card Kingdom.
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.
How Can I Buy Rare Pokemon Topps Cards
We want our collectors to have an easy time when they are searching for rare Pokemon Topps cards, so weve done some of the hard graft for you.
Simply click on the title above each card, the card picture, the Buy Here button, or the name of the card in the text, and youll go through to an official buying page.
Adding these cards to your collection couldnt be any simpler!
First up on our list of the best Rare Pokemon Topps cards is the legendary Fire Bird, Moltres.
I can still remember my first encounter with Moltres on Pokemon Red back on my Yellow DMG, but I certainly never get hold of one in a Pokemon Topps packet!
Rated at 10, this GEM MT card has been graded as being in the best possible condition known to card-collecting-kind. Its sealed in a clear case and ready for you to show off to your friends and family.
If youve got a spare $1,000 lying around, then it could well be yours. If you already have one and have been sitting on it for years hoping that it might be worth something, then I suggest you go and get it graded IMMEDIATELY.
What a piece to add to your collection, and what a great way to kick off this list!
When the Johto gang started appearing on the Topps scene, we started seeing new characters creeping into the ranks of rare Pokemon Topps cards doing the rounds.
Any you cant get much rarer than the legendary Lugia!
You cant get any better than that!
The guys a legend, and this card would look great in your collection.
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Tournament And Promo Cards
Not all Pokemon cards come from booster packs. Some of the rarest Pokemon cards were only given out as tournament prizes or promotional giveaways. These cards usually bear a stamp on the art to identify where they came from or have a special promo star in the bottom corner, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for these sorts of markings on your cards.
Some of these special cards were quite commonplace back in the day–such as the promotional Mew card given out in 1999 to those who bought tickets for Pokemon: The First Movie– so theyre not worth more than a few dollars now.
Card image courtesy of PKMNcards.com.
But some, like the 2011 and 2012 Tropical Beach card from the Pokemon World Championships, can easily fetch hundreds of dollars.
Card image courtesy of PKMNcards.com.
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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Umbreon Gold Star Holo
- Release Date: 2005
- Grading: BGS 9.5
- Pokemon card value at auction: $70,000
Eevee and its evolutions are some of the most popular characters in the Pokemon franchise. It makes sense then that a Gold Star Umbreon would quickly become one of the most coveted Pokemon cards in the TCG.
The story behind this Pokemon card also makes it unique as players had to accumulate over 70,000 XP points by the end of the Pokemon Players Clubs fourth season to obtain it. Trainers not only had to physically go to events, but they had to win a lot of matches.
Due to its low population, not a lot of these Pokemon cards have actually gone up for sale. All of that changed in June 2021 when the Gold Star Umbreon sold for $70,000 at auction. Its BGS grade of 9.5 makes it all the rarer, as only two in the whole world have received a grade this high.
What Makes The 1999 Super Secret Battle No 1 Trainer Card So Rare
- Although only seven regional tournaments took place, 8 graded copies exist in thePSA registry meaning there must have been a few extras printed for backups
- There are 6 PSA 10s and 2 PSA 9s
- The card says The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournaments champion is recognized here, and this honor is praised. By presenting this card, you may gain preferential entry into the Secret Super Battle.
- Features Mewtwo artwork by original artist Hideki Kazama
Recent Sales
- PSA 10 $90,000
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Pokemon Snap Trainer Magazine Pikachu
This card goes as far back as 1999, where the creators blended it with a model from the Pokemon snap to exhibit its creativity. As a result, different hilarious-looking creatures were created on the card and highlighted in Japans Pokemon Trainer Magazine.
So, if you were a massive fan of Pokemon back in the days of Nintendo 64, youd probably remember the classic Pokemon Snap card game. Unfortunately, however, the card is quite expensive, and its around $900 other sites will attach a higher amount of $1000 or more.
This price also varies due to the cards condition and quality, so you could also get it at a much lower rate of $300 or a higher rate of $100,000.
Pokemon World Championship Masters Key
- Release Date: 2010
- Grading: BGS 9
- Pokemon card value at auction: $26,900
In 2010, the best pokemon cards players around the world were flown into Waikoloa Village, Hawaii for the World Championships. Upon arrival, contestants were given a Master Keys Pokemon card.
Because the item was only printed for participants at the tournament, only 36 of these in total were ever created, making it technically one of the most rare Pokemon cards to ever exist in the hobbys nearly 25-year history.
Despite only being intended for those at the event, one of these made there way out to the public and was sold for an astonishing $26,900 in August 2020. A pretty sweet reward to receive 11 years later.
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Tamamushi University Magikarp Trophy Promo
- Release Date: 1998
- Grading: PSA Gem Mint 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $66,100
In 1998, Shogakukans Magazines in Japan offered a contest for school students. Fans that took the various tests offered in the publication could send them back to the company to have them graded.
Those studious enough to pass with high scores were then invited to a special conference held in Osaka of that year. Once there, the children got to participate in a unique Pokemon card battle tournament. Winners of the rare contest ultimately received the Magikarp Trophy Pokemon card Promo.
Due to the insane obscurity of how the TCG item was given out, its easily one of the rarest Pokemon cards on our list. It was not very surprising then when the Trophy collectible went up for auction in February 2021 and sold for $66k at PWCC.
Espeon And Umbreon Gold Star Pop Series 5
A pair of Gold Star Pokémon cards from one of the most valuable Pokémon sets of all time
Sold for $22,000 in February 2021
Gold Star Pokémon cards are among the most valuable sets of Pokémon cards in existence and command an incredibly high value as a result. The cards are named after the gold star that appears next to the Pokémons name at the top of the card, which signifies that the card features alternative-colour artwork different from the common version. Only 27 Gold Star cards were released from 2004 to 2007, making them some of the rarest Pokémon cards available.
While all of the Gold Star Pokémon cards are rare, only appearing once in approximately every 88 booster packs for certain Pokémon TCG expansions, the very rarest are the Eeveelutions – the many evolutions into which basic Gen 1 Pokémon Eevee can evolve. And the rarest of the rarest are the original Japanese-language versions of the cards offered to members of the Pokémon Players Club, who could spend points earned by participating in official organised play and tournaments to obtain exclusive cards.
While Eeveelutions Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon could be acquired in the EX Power Keepers set released in 2007 via the Pokémon online store, their psychic and dark elemental siblings Espeon and Umbreon could only be picked up by players who collected enough Pokémon Players Club points. The Espeon 025/PLAY card required 40,000 EXP points earned, while Umbreon 026/PLAY was even most pricey at 70,000 points.
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Rare Pokemon Topps Cards To Complete The Ultimate Collection
If youre a 90s kid who loves collecting the best 90s toys or a budding Pokemon Trainer determined to catch em all, then you need to add these rare Pokemon Topps cards into your life.
I can still remember the excitement of opening up these packets. I can even feel the tension as I wondered whether I would get yet another Diglett or if there would finally be a foil Charizard inside.
Those were the days!
If like me, you did end up getting 1000 Digletts too many, then you might be interested in adding these 10 Rare Pokemon Topps Cards to your collection.
They will certainly cost a lot more than a pack of Topps cards did back in the 90s, but Im guessing most of the people reading this article will now have grown up jobs.
And when you compare the cost ratio from pocket money against the cost of the cards and a full-time wage against our rare ones, its all pretty relative!
Prerelease Base Set Raichu
The base set is known as the original Pokemon TCG set, the first-ever pack of Pokemon cards to go on sale. Still, to this day Nintendo release prerelease cards that come out before the launch of each set. They do this quite simply for marketing purposes, to hand out to press, media, and influencers, and for internal reviews.
Nintendo also did this with a number of base set cards, the rarest being Raichu, Pikachus evolution. It is rumoured that only 10 15 of these ever made print, and people only recently realised these cards actually came to fruition.
Originally they were unverifiable, meaning neither Nintendo nor GameFreak would mention if they were real or authentic. Fast forward to 2009, and the first one sold for over $10,000.
Unverifiable or not, people wanted these cards, and with more information coming from old WOTC staff it looked as if these were likely real, and verifiable.
To this day, WOTC nor Nintendo has officially stated that these are legit. They were made by WOTC, and thats a fact. Whether or not theyre classed as a certified Pokemon Card is beyond anyone.
The day they become verified will be the day we see a new all-time high for the selling of a single Pokemon card. Whats also interesting is that the boom in Pokemon cards has done nothing to the value of the pre-release Raichu. It seems nobody trusts an unverified, ungradable card!
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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.
St Edition Shadowless Chansey
The popularity of the base set is one of the driving forces behind the skyrocketing prices of Pokemon cards. It may be Charizard leading the charge, but plenty of other holographic cards from the west’s very first set have sold for staggeringly high prices over the last year or so including this GEM-MT 10 Shadowless Chansey.
It was auctioned off by PWCC towards the end of 2020 and sold for more than $35,000. This makes it the most expensive Chansey sold to date and is great news for anybody else currently sitting on a mint condition copy of the card. According to the PSA webpage, there are at least 47 of them out there.
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Pokmon Shining Charizard Card
A “shiny” Pokémon card is a card that depicts an alternate color variation of a standard Pokémon card. They are basic Pokémon but with odds of finding them in a booster pack starting at 300:1, special play features, and a limit of 1 per player deck, lore about these cards spread quickly.
Charizard is always a sought-after character and this shiny card benefits from holographic artwork, which only increases its collectibility. Typically higher valued than their non-shiny counterparts , these cards often trade for several hundred dollars. To say the least, if you see it at a modest price you will want to nab it as this one is only increasing in worth over time.
If you’re looking add one of the rarest Pokémon cards to your collection, expect to pay well over $1,000 USD for this one. For this type of purchase where authenticity matters, we recommend the trusted collectibles marketplace StockX. You can find a direct link to this specific card below.
Pokemon First Edition Raichu
Sold in March, 2021 for $17,100
As Pokemon skyrocketed in popularity over the years, one character became almost synonymous with the franchise as its de facto mascot.
Much of Pikachu’s popularity originates from the first episode of the Pokemon anime series entitled “Pokemon – I Choose You!” when the main protagonist of the series, Ash Ketchum, a trainer, receives Pikachu as his Pokemon from Professor Oak.
However, when exposed to a Thunderstone, the lovable, yellow, furry, rodent-like creature evolves into the final form of Raichu.
Raichu looks quite similar to Pikachu, but with a few distinct characteristics, namely its tail, ears, and dark coloration of the tip of its paws.
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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.
First Edition Shadowless Holographic Blastoise
Although shiny Charizard gets most of the attention , his water-type contemporary Blastoise is still one of the most popular and recognizable Pokémon ever, and this is reflected in his value as a collectible. With only 100 mint condition copies graded by PSA, this squeaky clean shiny Blastoise can easily sell for over $30,000 at auction, with the most recent sale making the lucky owner $31,334.00 richer.
Rare, powerful, and beautiful what more could you ask for?
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