The Pikachu Illustrator Promo Card is considered “the most valuable and rarest Pokémon card in the world”. It even features art by Atsuko Nishida - the original illustrator of Pikachu itself. Don’t start rummaging through your old boxes of video game tat just yet, however - this particular Pokémon card only ever had 39 copies released, and only 10 of which are certified by the PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator). This isn’t the first time one of these cards has fetched a crazy price at auction, though. In 2016, one was sold on ebay for $54,970 (about £43,000) - yet the newly auctioned card somehow managed to triple that value. “What makes it so rare is that it was not sold, but awarded as a prize in an illustration contest through CoroCoro Comic,” the card’s description on the auction site reads. “This unique card was created specifically for the contest. In the January 1998 issue, three first place winners won a copy of the card, as did another 20 second place winners, with cards awarded in two more contests that year.” This particular card is graded a PSA Mint 9, meaning it’s in “superb condition” with only one very minor flaw. Impressive for a 21 year-old piece of card. “This is the only card in the long-running collectible card game series to say ‘Illustrator’ at the top of a Trainer Card,” the description continues, “and the only one to bear the pen symbol in the bottom right corner.” $195,000 works out at just over £150,000 - regardless of what currency you view it in, that’s an expensive pika paper. And while you might not have a Pikachu Illustrator sitting up in your attic, you might find some other fortune making cards in our sister site’s guide to the most expensive Pokémon cards.
