Most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction

The most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction is a PSA Gem Mint 10 graded "Pikachu Illustrator" card which was sold for $16,492,000 (£12,074,206) by Logan Paul (USA) through Goldin Auctions, on 16 February 2026.

The card is the only known copy graded at PSA's unsurpassable GEM MT 10 tier. It was bought by Logan Paul for $5,275,000 (£3,862,424) in 2021, setting a record at the time for the most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale.

Following this sale, it now becomes the overall most expensive trading card sold at auction (as of February 2026).

Pikachu Illustrator is extremely popular with collectors due to it being designed by Atsuko Nishida (Japan), who is credited as the original creator of Pikachu. It was never originally sold and was only released as a prize in a 1998 illustration contest.

The online auction - which lasted over one month - also included a custom diamond necklace once worn by Logan Paul (worth a reported $75,000) and hand delivery to the winning bidder by Logan himself. The record total includes Buyer’s Premium.