Top 10 Most Expensive Pokémon Cards in 2021
Pokémon has managed to sustain its popularity as an overall franchise over the years as discussed over at runrex.com, and the Pokémon trading card game has remained one of the most popular out there. This has meant that rare Pokémon cards have been able to fetch big bucks over the years, with 2021 being no exception so far. As is highlighted in discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, both collectors and players of the game are willing to pay top dollar for rare Pokémon cards, which has made them an excellent investment venture. The following are the 10 most expensive Pokémon cards in 2021.
World Championship Masters Key
A copy of this Pokémon card was sold for $21,201 in November 2019 as covered over at runrex.com. Unlike most cards sold at auctions, this card was not rated by PSA but was sold in the trophy casing in which it was exhibited. Some have argued that the card would have fetched more had it been graded, but given its value, we can’t blame the merchandizer for not wanting to crack the trophy case open to send the card to PSA for grading. This card, as explained over at guttulus.com, was initially allotted to competitors at the 2010 Pokémon World Championships which took place in Hawaii. Only 36 players contested the tournament, and as a result, the card is very rare.
Master’s Scroll
More than $30,000 ($30,100 to be exact) was auctioned on eBay in late 2020 for a GEM-MT 10 copy of the Japanese Master’s Scroll card. The fact that, as discussed over at runrex.com, this is a card that was never available in packs nor was it ever made available outside Japan made it extremely scarce, and very valuable. The only way to obtain this card was through the Pokémon Daisuki Club in 2010, which is the official Japanese Pokémon fan club and regularly offers limited edition cards to members. To get their hands on these limited-edition cards, members can accrue Action Points by completing certain tasks, and can then trade them in for such cards. It’s unclear how many members were able to accrue the 8,600 points needed to obtain the Master’s Scroll card, but since there are only 26 GEM-MT 10 copies in existence, it is extremely rare.
University Magikarp
This Pokémon card rarely comes up for sale, but when it does, it usually fetches a pretty high price, highlighted by the fact that the average price for the card over the years has been around $17,000 from discussions on the same over at guttulus.com. However, the most recent sale was for considerably more as a GEM-MT 10 copy of the card was sold on eBay for an eye-watering $50,100 at the end of October 2020. The card was handed to winners of a competition held by Tamamushi University, and with only 68 of them having been graded by PSA, it is extremely rare.
Tropical Mega Battle – No. 2 Trainer
A PSA Authentic copy of this card sold for $60,000 in 2019 on eBay, which the gurus over at runrex.com argue is only a fraction of what a GEM-MT 10 copy of the same card would sell for. Trainer No. 2 was one of the eight limited-edition cards given to attendees of the Tropical Mega Battle, an annual event that took place at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, Hawaii between 1999 and 2001. There are only 5 copies of the card registered with PSA and only 2 of them are in mint condition, making this one of the rarest cards ever printed.
Tropical Mega Battle – Tropical Wind
October 2020 saw a mint condition of Tropical Wind sell on eBay for a staggering $65,100. This was astonishing since the Tropical Wind is by far the most common of the Tropical Mega Battle set as discussed over at guttulus.com. Because of how rare mint condition copies of some of the other cards are, however, they hardly ever go up for sale. Tropical Wind is another one of the eight cards handed out at the Tropical Mega Battle event as discussed in the previous point, and with only 2 GEM-MT 10 copies of the card in existence, it is extremely rare.
No. 1 Trainer
According to the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, this card is considered by some to be the rarest Pokémon card in existence. A copy of this card sold for $90,000 at auction in July of 2020, and given its supposed rarity, it is perhaps a little surprising that it didn’t sell for more, although $90,000 is still a decent return for a card that was given out for free. The No. 1 Trainer card was awarded to each of the seven regional champions at the 1999 Pokémon World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, with an additional card somehow making its way into circulation. Of the 8 copies of the card to have been graded by PSA, only 6 have achieved the perfect GEM-MT 10 rating.
1st Edition Neo Genesis Lugia
As the experts over at guttulus.com, point out, it is very rare for a card that was released in the West to sell for crazy money unless the card happens to be part of the base set. For that reason, the original owner of this 1st edition Lugia card must have been pleasantly surprised when it was sold by PWCC Auctions for $129,000 in November of 2020. This particular card had received a GEM-MT 10 rating from PSA, making it one of only 41 copies of the card to have done so.
Family Event Kangaskhan
Just four years ago, the Family Event Kangaskhan card was selling for around $10,000, however, in October of 2020, a PSA GEM-MT 10 copy was sold by PWCC Auction through eBay for a staggering $150,100. The card itself was given out in Japan following a parent and child Pokémon tournament held in 1998, and as is highlighted over at runrex.com, there are only 11 GEM-MT 10 copies of the card in circulation, with a combined value of over one and a half million dollars.
Pikachu Illustrator
While the Pikachu Illustrator has held the record for the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold on multiple occasions in the past as is outlined over at guttulus.com, it currently sits in the second spot. In late 2016, a copy of the card was sold at auction for $74,000, and another was sold for $190,000 just a few years later. The most recent copy, however, sold for a mammoth ¥25 million, which is about $233,000, through Japanese marketplace ZenPlus in July 2020. The Pikachu Illustrator was handed out to the winners of an illustration contest held by the Japanese monthly manga CoroCoro Comics in 1998. Just 39 copies of the card were ever printed and only 12 of those are known to be in good condition. Interestingly, all three of the aforementioned copies were rated 9 by PSA, and, therefore, if the only existing GEM-MT 10 copy ever goes to auction, it would likely fetch an astronomical amount and help put the Pikachu Illustrator back at the top spot.
1st Edition Shadowless Charizard
As is covered in detail over at runrex.com, in October of 2020, controversial YouTube personality Logan Paul made headlines when he spent $150,000 on a 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard card. However, this is not the most expensive copy of the card ever sold as the current holder comes courtesy of Goldin Auctions, who sold a copy of the card for an eye-watering $360,000 just a few months later. Unlike most high-value Pokémon cards, however, this one was graded by SGC rather than PSA and received SGC’s elusive GOLD LABEL PRISTINE 10 rating. While SGC doesn’t provide public information on card populations, according to the PSA website, there are just 54 GEM-MT 10 copies of the card in existence, which goes some way to explaining their high value.
These are the top 10 most expensive Pokémon card as it stands in 2021, with more on this topic to be found over at the ever-reliable runrex.com and guttulus.com.