If you’re a Millennial, you probably fondly recall kids trading Pokémon cards at school during lunch or on the playground during recess.
The most sought-after of the original Pokémon Trading Card Game cards was a holographic Charizard. And if your parents told you that you were wasting your money buying all of those cards, let them know that a mint condition Charizard just sold for $311,800 on eBay. The auction just ended this past Sunday.
Kotaku has more on why the card went for so much (and actually sold for less than other similar auctions):
Why so much? First, it’s possibly the highest-quality version of the card that’s been made public, earning a “virtually perfect” rating of 10 GEM MINT from trading card grading service Professional Sports Authenticator. Second, it’s what’s known as a “shadowless” card, meaning it’s from a first-edition printing that didn’t include a drop shadow behind the artwork box.
In short: this is one of the rarest, most pristine Pokémon cards in the world.
Surprisingly, this sale is a little low compared to previous auctions of the same card. In December 2020, two similarly graded cards sold for $350,100 and $369,000. Other notable, recent auctions include a Pikachu Illustrator, a limited card awarded to Japanese contest winners in the late ‘90s, going for $250,000 in July 2020. A unique test print Blastoise with a blank backside also auctioned for $360,000 earlier this year.
Sure wish I still had my old cards!
