Logan Paul’s one-of-one PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card — broadly thought-about the “Holy Grail” of Pokémon accumulating — has formally offered fora complete of$16,492,000 at Goldin Auctions. The public sale closed early Monday morning after 41 days of bidding, with the overwhelming majority of bids coming in throughout an prolonged bidding interval that came about after the public sale ended. The ultimate hammer worth got here to $13.3 million plus a 24% purchaser’s premium, making the ultimate worth greater than triple what Paul paid for it. Paul bought the cardboard for $5.275 million in July 2021, which on the time set a Guinness World Report for the costliest Pokémon card ever offered. He later paid $70,000 for a customized case and necklace to completely home the cardboard, which he then went on to put on as a part of his WrestleMania 38 costume. Bidding opened Jan. 5 for the cardboard (necklace and case included) after the beginning date was moved up from Jan. 12 as a result of “overwhelming world curiosity,” Goldin stated in a press launch on the time. “That is the most important Pokémon and buying and selling card recreation public sale ever held, and the unbelievable quantity of curiosity we’ve already obtained led us to open early,” stated Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin. Paul himself referred to as it “probably the most coveted card on the earth,” including that he plans to hand-deliver the cardboard to whoever wins the public sale.
Throughout the first week, bids escalated from $500,000 to $4.3 million. By Jan. 14, the value had plateaued at $5.1 million. On Jan. 19, OnlyFans content material creator Emmie Bunni posted to Instagram a photograph of her carrying the cardboard whereas standing with Paul, writing that she’d submitted a non-public bid of $10.2 million that Paul rejected. Paul posted a video saying the picture was AI-generated and argued that the false declare concerning the $10.2 million bid negatively impacted the public sale. Bunni later confirmed the picture was a pretend however reiterated her curiosity within the card. It is unclear right now if she was among the many bidders pushing the public sale properly previous the $10.2 million mark. Bidding picked up once more a month in a while Feb. 14. Then, main as much as the public sale’s scheduled finish at 10 p.m. on Feb. 15, dozens of bids got here in earlier than the ultimate was submitted hours later. Goldin has but to publicly disclose the winner.
Why the Pikachu Illustrator card is price a lot
Picture: Goldin
Initially awarded to winners of a 1998 illustration contest held by CoroCoro Comedian in Japan, the Pikachu Illustrator was designed by Atsuko Nishida, the unique illustrator of Pikachu. Whereas roughly 39 to 41 copies are believed to have been distributed, Paul’s is the one recognized instance graded PSA 10, which is the absolute best situation tier. “As a result of shortage, grand worth, and pedigree of this Pikachu Illustrator, this is without doubt one of the most important public choices of a Pokémon card within the historical past of the interest and a doubtlessly once-in-a-lifetime sale,” Goldin wrote on the public sale itemizing.
“My coronary heart sank after I dropped it,” Paul wrote when asserting the sale. “One in all one. The Mona Lisa of collectibles.” He additionally framed the public sale as a celebration of Pokémon’s thirtieth anniversary and claimed that Pokémon collectibles have outperformed the inventory market by 3,000% over time.
When Paul bought the cardboard in 2024 for $5,275,000 (after buying and selling a PSA 9 copy and money), it already broke a world report. He went on to indicate off the cardboard in a December 2025 episode of Netflix’s King of Collectibles: The Goldin Contact (season 3, episode 2), main as much as the public sale’s begin. Now, he’ll hand-deliver a skinny piece of 28-year-old cardboard that’s 3.5 by 2.5 inches and stroll away with tens of millions of {dollars} — which remains to be so much lower than the $40 million he made for preventing Mike Tyson.
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