/27 Trade Please: $1900
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think this was a prank or a fake card, but nope. This is a real card that was part of 1998 promotion for the Pokemon-themed album Trade Please by Suzukisan. By sending in the flier that came with each album, entrants could receive an evolved Kanto starter of their choice as well as thisâ¦uniqueâ¦trainer card.
The starter Pokemon that came with are also quite rare and valuable cards, but sites like PSA Card show that the original Trade Please card can reach prices as high as $1900 if itâs been preserved at a high enough quality. This card actually did get a reprint just a few years ago for a similar event in Japan during Pokemonâs 20th Anniversary, but these were printed in much higher amounts and arenât nearly as high-value.
Pokmon Card Storage Box
Once youve put your Pokémon cards in their sleeves, youll need to put them in a box for easy safekeeping. One option is clear plastic boxes, which provide great protection and make it easy to see what kind of card you have inside. Another option is the classic 9-pocket page for three ring binders.
Looking for something a little less fancy? There are a wide variety of other options available on online storefronts, and theres always cardboard boxes. Whichever Pokémon card storage box you decide on, make sure that it is elevatedeither on a pallet or on a shelfto guard against spills or other types of moisture on the ground.
Crystal Charizard Holo Skyridge
- Release Date: 2003
- Grading: PSA Gem Mint 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $25,100
In 2003, interest in Pokemon cards had started to wane among core fans who had been collecting since it launched in 1999. As a result, production of the Skyridge set was considerably lower compared to past expansions.
This would also be the last release printed by Wizards of the Coasts and features the iconic e-reader designs meant to be a tie-in for the Game Boy Advance. Its low production has made the retro set one of the most expensive Pokemon cards products to hunt down from the era.
The crown jewel of the expansion is none other than Charizard. Its rare Crystal Holo design variant was extremely limited even at release. In November 2020, a perfectly graded version of the collectible sold for $25,100 at auction.
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What Makes Pokemon Cards Valuable
Over the past two years, online personalities such as Logan Paul have propelled Pokemon card collecting back into mainstream popularity. With some cards being valued at over $300,000, its understandable why theres been an explosion in excitement around the hobby.
But what makes Pokemon cards valuable? It all comes down to the rarity of the card and what condition the item is in. These two factors determine how much collectors are willing to pay and why some cards go for mind-boggling amounts of money. Below we will list the 24 most expensive TCG collectibles ever sold at auction.
/27 The Masked Royal Prize Promo: $18000
This is undoubtedly one of the most recent rare cards, featuring the Masked Royal character from Pokemon Sun & Moon and released as recently as 2017. This is essentially a promotional card that was given out to players in an invitation-only prerelease in Tokyo for the new Shining Legends set, where only 100 copies were made.
Even though this is a relatively normal card by most standards, this short print run means itâs incredibly hard to get, especially since it was handed out in such a restrictive event. As a result, there are actually preserved tweets of players first opening it in places like Pokeboon, while Japanese trading sites like Miyabi Hobby have past listings of the card at Â¥2,000,000, which currently is equal to around $18,000 USD.
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Most Expensive Pokemon Cards In 2022
It should be noted that top lists are almost always up for debate. A cards value can be determined by the highest its ever sold at auction, or what it sells for on average.
A Pokemon cards value can also wildly fluctuate with the market and are largely dependent on the items grading and condition. Our list is based on what the collectible has sold for in the latest auctions, and its position will be updated if another card outsells it and makes a new record.
How To Spot Rare Pokmon Cards
Im going to focus on cards printed from 1996 to 2000, for two reasons. Not only are the rarest cards from this era the most valuable, but theyre also the trickiest to identify.
The Base Set of Pokémon cards, or the OG cards from 1996 to 1999 that we all know and love, actually came in three flavors: 1st Edition, Shadowless, and Unlimited.
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Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Hitmonchan #7
Back to the 1999 base set, where were looking at one of the greatest fighting Pokémon ever.
A homage to the quick fists of Jackie Chan, this humanoid monster sports a pair of boxing gloves, and even throws a jab as a basic attack.
The rarest card weve seen so far, there are just 56 gem mint copies at the current time of writing.
This has translated to sky-high prices, even when compared to many of the other holos seen above.
In any case, its definitely deserving of a place on the list.
Super Secret Battle No 1 Trainer
The answer to “What’s the rarest Pokémon card of all time?”
Sold for $90,000 in July 2020
Its unlikely youve heard of Super Secret Battle No. 1 Trainer, and extremely unlikely youve ever seen a copy in person. When it comes to rare Pokémon cards, there are very few cards rarer than this.
No. 1 Trainer is a holographic promotional card awarded to finalists in the Secret Super Battle tournament held in Tokyo, Japan in 1999. To earn a place in the competitions finals, which were held in a secret location, players had to first win a regional tournament. Their prize was the No. 1 Trainer card, which granted them access to the finals.
The cards text translates to: The Pokémon Card Game Official Tournament’s champion is recognised here, and this honour is praised. By presenting this card, you may gain preferential entry into the Secret Super Battle. The card features the Japanese logo for the Pocket Monsters Trading Card Game, along with artwork of original generation Pokémon Mewtwo by illustrator Hideki Kazama.
This is a card so rare and valuable that Indiana Jones probably had to escape a crumbling temple with it at some point. Its 1999 counterpart cards No. 2 Trainer and No. 3 Trainer, similarly awarded to winners in Japanese Pokémon tournaments during the late 1990s, are almost as rare and valuable.
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First Edition Holographic Charizard
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $24,000
The #4 Charizard is by far the most desirable of all the first edition Pokémon cards.
Charizard made its first appearance in the Pokémon Red and Blue video games released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color back in the mid-90s and trainers have been relying on the character’s overpowering fire and flying abilities to win battles ever since.
Just how powerful are its fire abilities?
Well, simply refer to the bottom of the card’s front and you can see that Charizard is capable of melting boulders and starting forest fires with ease.
Charizard’s appeal as a dragon and one of the more rare cards certainly adds to its popularity but I think where this card gets an extra boost in value comes from the fact that Charizard appeared on the cover art of the Pokémon Red video game:
That additional exposure greatly increased the character’s notoriety and has driven up the value of this card similar to the effect we see with the Garbage Pail Kids card, Adam Bomb, and its status as the original cover art for that series.
Regardless of why this card is so popular, its value will continue to soar just like the lovable flying dragon creature itself.
Lugia 1st Edition Neo Genesis
- Release Date: 2000
- Grading: BGS Pristine 10
- Pokemon card value at auction: $144,300
Similar to Mewtwo, Lugia was an iconic Legendary for many children who grew up with the series in the 00s. So it should come as no surprise that its debut as a Pokemon card was a major hit.
While a 1st Edition Lugia broke records by selling for a mind-blowing $129,000 in 2020, a Beckett graded 10 version of the item sold for $144,300 at a PWCC auction in May 2021. BGS grades a lot harder than PSA, making this pristine Pokemon card one of only three in the entire world.
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How Much Are Old Japanese Pokemon Cards Worth
The Japanese Base Set was released in 1996, a solid three years before the English version.
Commended in the Pokemon community for their quality, old Japanese Pokemon cards are sought after items for any collector.
However, their value is affected by a couple of factors.
Unlike the English version where booster boxes contained 36 packs and roughly 12 holographic cards. Japanese Base set booster boxes contained 60 packs and the pull rates on holos are known to be as high as 50%.
As youd expect, this drives the value down compared to their English counterparts.
However, there is also a well-known printing error with Japanese base set, where they missed off the rarity symbol from the bottom right corner of the cards.
If youre lucky enough to own these cards, then they are extremely valuable and command a premium.
Pokemon then decided to print future vintage Japanese sets like Jungle, Fossil and Team Rocket with a holographic card in every pack.
Although these were fun to open, it also took away some of the excitement, rarity and value.
The main thing that combats this though, as mentioned above is the quality of the cards.
Card centering, print lines, and edge-wear is less common, therefore its easier to obtain a high score when getting Japanese cards graded. The higher the grade, the higher its value of course.
Look Up Your Card On Ebay
Once you are certain that you have an exact match, you can now “comp” your card, which means that you can use the information you just collected to figure out what your card is worth.
Keep in mind, there is a major difference in value between a card that is gradedmeaning it is encased in plastic and given a score based on its conditionand a raw card that has not been graded. Even if you think that your card is in mint condition, it won’t sell for as much as a card that has been inspected and authenticated by one of the top grading services.
For more information on grading, check out this article we put together!
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Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Gyarados #6
This spot on the list could easily have been taken by the likes of Zapdos or Poliwrath, who are a duo of holo cards from the original set of 102 that just missed out.
The base Gyarados gets the nod instead, as one of the most powerful evolutions from the original trading card game.
Evolved from the otherwise useless Magikarp, the blue foil surrounding the Pokémon gives a nice water effect.
As of now, there are 86 gem mint copies on the PSA registry, so its not especially rare even when looking at pristine copies.
/30 World Championship Master’s Key
A copy of the Master’s Key card sold for more than $25,000 in August of 2020. Unlike most cards sold at auction, this one wasn’t graded by the PSA and was instead appraised by Beckett. Whether or not a copy still sealed in the original trophy case would have fetched more remains to be seen, though, given the card’s value, it’s perhaps a little surprising that the seller opted to open it up.
The Master’s Key was originally handed out to contestants at the 2010 Pokemon World Championships. The event took place in Hawaii and was contested by just 36 players. As a result, the card is incredibly rare, with only nine GEM-MT 10 copies – the highest grade that can be handed out by the PSA – in existence.
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Shadowless Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Squirtle Basic Card
While most know that 1st Edition cards from the 1999 Base Set are worth an incredible amount of money, some fans don’t realize just how much even basic cards from the expansion can be worth. A Shadowless Squirtle actually sold for $2,075 in 2021, and the card has recently sold for $1,050 according to PSA. Before the Base Set was mass-produced in North America, Nintendo released a first-print run that had a “Shadowless” border around the artwork. Even though the Squirtle is a common card that isn’t rare, many fans who collected Pokémon cards in its first year may be sitting on a basic item that is now worth a lot of money.
Pokmon Base Set 1st Edition Shadowless Holo Venusaur #15
Now were getting somewhere. The final evolution of the starter Pokémon Bulbasaur, Venusaur had a massive part to play in both the games and the anime as one of the mainstays in Ashs party.
It featured on-the-box art for the original Japanese version of the game, although the Green edition was never released worldwide.
With over 137 PSA 10 copies in existence, the original holo Venusaur is clearly a coveted card.
It may pale in comparison to the likes of Blastoise and Charizard, but its still a member of the original trio that players got to choose from.
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First Edition Holographic Zapdos
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $1,400
Together with Articuno and Moltres, this electric and flying creature is one of the three Legendary birds of Kanto.
Only seen during thunderstorms, Zapdos will create lighting bolts and loud cracking sounds as it flaps its wings when airborne alerting everyone in the area to its presence.
The yellow and black spiked feathers that surround its body make Zapdos look just like the blasts of electricity it creates.
Charizard Holo 1st Edition $20000
Image credit: Jason Koeppel // ONE37pm
This card is the pinnacle of Pokemon collecting. The 1st Edition Charizard has been setting massive records for close to a year. The rarest card in the set, Charizard is also the most graded hologram of any 1st Edition Shadowless holo. Even non-collectors know that the Charizard holo will make you the king of the playground, in any condition.
PSA Pop: 121 – 704
Current Pokemon Card Value: PSA 10 $192,000 PSA 9 $20,000
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Nintendo Power Magazine Venusaur Black Star Promo Card
In 2000, Nintendo Power Magazine created a Pokémon TCG player’s guide for the Game Boy version of the tabletop game. Packaged inside the popular guide was a Venusaur Black Star Promo card. The rare holographic was another collectible drawn by Ken Sugimori, who recently returned to illustrate the Serena Trainer card in the Pokémon Incandescent Arcana TCG set in 2022. Because many fans had the popular strategy guide, the Wizards of the Coast promo was widely distributed. So much so, that stacks of the sealed Nintendo Power promo used to be sold on eBay for next to nothing. According to PWCC, though, a graded 9 version of the Venusaur #13 Black Star Promo has sold for as high as $420, and recently averages for around $320.
/27 Psa 10 Torchic Gold Star Holo Ex Team Rocket Returns: $50000
In the early-to-mid 2000s, popularity in Pokemon was waning. “Pokemania” was on the way out, and that meant a lot of the Pokemon TCG expansions at the time suffered from lower sales and smaller print runs. With Pokemon back on top again now, cards from that era often see higher values than cards older than them. A great example of this is the Gold Star Torchic from EX Team Rocket Returns.
Gold Star Pokemon showcase Pokemon in their shiny forms and have the Pokemon breaking out of the frame as an early example of the many alternate styles the TCG would later experiment with. Why Torchic specifically is worth so much is anyone’s guess, but with only 17 verified PSA 10 grade copies out there, the PSA values them at $50,000 each. Actual auction prices are a bit lower though, as in 2020 PWCC Auctions sold a copy for $25,400.
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Are Your Pokmon Cards Centered
Usually, the artwork of the Pokémon on your card is centered right inside the borders of the card.
Pokémon cards pulled straight from a booster pack will look like they have their artwork perfectly centered, but its actually not that uncommon for the art of a Pokémon card to be slightly misaligned.
Sometimes these cards are classified as Misprints and there are Pokémon card collectors that are willing to pay for cards with printing errors from the factory.
However, if you are looking to get your Pokémon cards professionally graded and valued, then artwork being off-centered will deduct points from the final evaluation score of your cards decreasing its general market value.
Off-centered printings can also occur on the back art of a card as well as the front. The Poke Ball art and logo that are present on the back of the card can also sometimes sit too far left or right of the cards center.
So its best to double-check these factors if you do happen to find a card that you might think is worth some cash!
