For nearly three decades, Pokémon cards have been a sensation in the hobby.
In 2025, Pokémon still rules the Trading Card Game space and has a dominant place in the hobby overall, with 97 of the top 100 graded cards, by volume, at PSA in June.
With Pokémon cards continuing to soar in value, cllct looks back at the 10 most expensive cards in the series:
1. 1998 Pokémon Japanese Promo Pikachu Holo Illustrator CoroCoro Comics PSA 10 Gem Mint
In a part-cash, part-trade deal, which valued the card at $5.275 million, Logan Paul acquired the Pikachu Illustrator in July 2021.
“To obtain the PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card, Paul exchanged a PSA Grade 9 Pikachu Illustrator card worth $1,275,000 ... plus $4,000,000,” according to GuinessWorldRecords.com.
Just 51 examples of the card, which was awarded to winners of the CoroCoro Comic Illustration contest in Japan in 1998, have been graded by PSA. This is the only PSA 10. Paul made headlines in 2022 when he wore his card around his neck in a gold chain at a WWE Wrestlemania event.
2. 1997 Pokemon Japanese Topsun Charizard Blue Back PSA 10
At the time of its sale for $493,230 in January 2021 at Goldin Auctions, it was a record for any Pokémon card ever sold publicly.
The card comes from one of the earliest Pokémon cards ever released. Top-Seika placed them in packs of chewing gum in 1997, though some believed it was closer to 1995. The Blue Back variant are the earlier printing compared to the Green Back type.
This card also holds the distinction of the largest loss in the history of Pokémon, as less than five months later, it was flipped for $192,000 — a loss of more than $300,000.
3. 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Silver Second Tournament No. 2 Trophy Pikachu PSA 10
Awarded as the second-place prize for the Japanese Lizardon (Japanese name for Charizard) Mega Battle Pokémon tournament events in 1997-98, copies were extraordinarily limited.
The Lizardon tournament was just the second official Japanese tournament. PSA has graded a total of eight copies of the second-place card. It last sold for $444,000 in 2023.
4. 1999 Pokémon Base Set Shadowless First Edition Holo Charizard No. 4 PSA 10
The most famous Pokémon card on this list and the centerpiece of any high-end collection, the 1999 First Edition Shadowless Charizard has been graded more than 5,000 times by PSA with 124 PSA 10s. Its highest-ever sale came in March 2022 for $420,000.
In 1998, as Wizards of the Coast was looking to win Nintendo’s approval to print Pokémon cards in English, the company commissioned Cartamundi to print two cards as “presentation” pieces. The other’s whereabouts are unknown. This copy fetched $360,000 in January 2021.
6 (tie). 1998 Pokémon Japanese Promo Third Tournament Bronze Third Trophy Pikachu PSA 10
Another trophy card, this Bronze Pikachu Promo was awarded to third-place finishers at one of five 1998 Kamex Mega Battle regional tournaments in Japan.
It sold for $324,000 in November 2024
6 (tie). 1996 Pokémon Japanese Base Set Holo Charizard NO RARITY, ARITA AUTO #6 PSA 10
The “No Rarity” examples from the 1996 release are already significant as among the first Pokémon cards ever released, a full two years prior to its English counterpart.
This example was signed by Mitsuhiro Arita, the artist responsible for the original Charizard card. In April 2022, it sold for $324,000.
8. 1997 Pokemon Promo Japanese First Gold First Tournament Trophy Pikachu No. 1
The first-place trophy card from a Japanese tournament in 1997 fetched $314,707 in April 2025.
This card was never made available to the public, instead provided to attendees of Pokémon CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara’s birthday party at the 2018 Pokemon World Championships in Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s believed less than 200 were produced. The top sale came in 2021 for $247,230.
10 (tie). 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Family Event Trophy Card Holo Kangaskhan #115 PSA 10
One of the most coveted trophy cards ever produced, winners of a side event at the 1998 Lizardon Mega Battle Tournament in Japan, called the Kangaskhan Parent/Child Tournament, received copies of the card. It was never produced again.
In 2022, one copy sold for $216,000
While different in type from the rest of the entries on this list, the Pokemon test print featuring the Blastoise character on the card front and a Magic: The Gathering on its back, produced during initial printing tests by Wizards of the Coast in 1998 are among the rarest and most obscure TCG cards in the hobby.
One fetched $216,000 in 2021.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible content.