The $16.5 Million Pikachu Illustrator Sale EXPLAINED

It's over. It's over. >> 60 million $492,000. >> On February 16th, 2026, the world's most expensive Pokémon card sold for $16.5 million. The buyer says he also wants to own a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Declaration of Independence, which feels like a reasonable progression. This card itself, the Pokemon Illustrator, is on its own certainly not worth millions of dollars. Because what actually led to the Guinness World Record sale, wasn't a picture of Pikachu holding a paintbrush. Instead, it was the story of a dinged card in a beatup slab, a failed crypto experiment, and the absurd cultural gravity of one man. Oh, and an all-out bidding war between two ultra-wealthy collectors unknowingly standing in the same room right next to each other. But we'll get to all of that. First, a very brief history for the uninitiated. In 1998, Cororo Comic held a Pokemon Illustration contest in Japan. Kids mailed in their own card designs and 39 winners were awarded a special promotional card known as the Pokémon Illustrator. It wasn't playable. It was simply a commemorative prize for a children's art contest. And that was unfortunately the last wholesome chapter in this card's life. Because over the next two decades, those 39 copies gradually migrated from childhood collections into the hands of serious collectors. And one of the most important copies ended up with a Dubai based collector known as Dubsy. Widely regarded as one of the most significant high-end Pokémon collectors in the world. And eventually that Pokémon illustrator became the lone PSA 10 copy. Now, this is where the whole situation gets a little bit more complicated because there have long been rumors circulating that this card may have previously received a PSA 9 before being resubmitted multiple times and ultimately receiving the 10. There is no publicly released PSA documentation confirming this, but the speculation has never really gone away. What we do know is that the slab carries what's considered an early PSA certification number from an era when grading standards were generally considered less strict than they are now. So, would this card receive a PSA 10 if graded today? Many collectors believe that it would not, which is what makes the PSA 9 versus 10 price gap all the more baffling. According to PSA's population report, there are 14 PSA 9 copies. That number could be slightly inflated if some are resubmitted. But even so, there's a handful out there, but there is only the one PSA 10, and that singledigit difference translated into millions in market value. At this level, buyers are not paying for ink and cardboard. They are paying for population reports. They're paying for a oneofone. And that exclusivity only exists because a grading company says it does. Outside of PSA, things get even more interesting. The tag grading company has publicly showcased another copy of the Illustrator that they have deemed a pristine 10. And many argue it's visually stronger than its PSA counterpart. But in the ultra high-end market, the brand on the slab matters just as much as the card itself. If card value and grading interests you, or if you own a collection yourself, be sure to check out today's sponsor, Collector. Collector is an app and website that makes it incredibly easy to build, sort, and track your collection. You can check out the price history of any card in both raw and graded form. View recently sold listings, and check out current sales. It's completely free to download using the link in the description or the QR code on screen. Start by loading in your collection, or just check out what craziness is going on in the cardboard market today. And thank you so much to Collector for sponsoring today's video. In 2021, Logan Paul then made what might be the most public private purchase in trading card history. First, he acquired a PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator for roughly $1.275 million. Then, he negotiated directly with Dubsy for the PSA 10 copy, adding $4 million in cash on top of the nine. So, the total value of the trade came out to approximately 5.275 million. At the time, it was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most expensive Pokémon card transaction ever. But this wasn't just a collector quietly upgrading his grail. It was a launch event because around the same time, Logan co-founded a blockchain based platform called Liquid Marketplace. But yes, I will be listing this card on a platform that I co-founded called Liquid Marketplace. It allows co-ownership of top tier assets. So instead of one person, me owning this card, we as a collective can co-own it together. The idea was to fractionalize high-end collectibles, allowing people to purchase digital ownership shares of assets like the Pikachu Illustrator. If you couldn't afford a $5 million Pokemon card, you could at least own a digital slice of one instead. Your ownership would then live on the blockchain. It would be tradable, transparent, verifiable in theory. In practice, however, the platform struggled. Trading activity was limited, and liquid marketplace, ironically, turned out to not be so liquid. Over time, the platform's functionality dwindled as the founders slowly and quietly sunset their crypto experiment. With the illustrator no longer being actively traded, Logan repurchased total ownership, an outcome allowed by the company's terms of service. Thing is, some users have publicly expressed their experience with being unable to withdraw funds from the platform, including those used to purchase fractional shares of the illustrator. All the while, Logan was on a marketing campaign the likes of which the collecting world had never seen. He wore his PSA 10 illustrator to Wrestlemania, suspended in a diamond crusted pendant, broadcasting it to millions of viewers who had never before thought about Pokemon cards as high value assets. So, from a Guinness World Record sale to a failed crypto experiment to professional wrestling jewelry, the illustrator wasn't just owned, it was engineered into a marketing masterclass, one that, as we'll see, clearly paid off. It's almost as if everything Logan Paul did was in preparation for what he was about to do next. With some incredible timing and foresight and in partnership with the Golden Auction House, Logan Paul reveals to his massive audience that he will be selling his prize Pikachu Illustrator right in the middle of the largest trading card boom the world has ever seen. And while the illustrator was of course the centerpiece, it also went on sale alongside other grails of the hobby. Some of which tied to Logan Paul's infamous 2021 Bay set box break and others that are just incredible items in their own right. We'll talk about many of those and how much they sold for in a bit. But first, Dino Man. The auction lasted 42 days, and for the majority of that time, it held steady at around $5 million, right where Logan purchased it 5 years earlier. But as the auction neared its end, something pretty insane began to happen. an all-out bidding war between two way too wealthy individuals. Back and forth the bids went and with Golden's extended bidding format, each subsequent bid put additional time on the clock for counter offers. The result was an auction that lasted well beyond its intended close. But eventually, one person did back down, and the other was about to be crowned the new owner of this absurd status symbol of a card. But things only get weirder from there because the person that won the auction was actually in the room with Logan Paul as he was placing the bids. And what's even crazier than that, the person he was bidding against was also there in person. An individual that had also purchased 12 packs in Logan's first edition base at Box Break for upwards of 30K a pop. these two very wealthy people standing right next to each other putting millions of dollars on the line all the way until a final bid of $13 million or6.5 million with auction fees. But before we get to who that winner is, there is one other thing to note. Earlier during the auction, PSA reslabed the illustrator with a brand new case and label. Now, I know it would repuls 99% of you watching, but those that actually bid on the card likely won it in large part due to its physical history, including being physically worn to Wrestlemania and physically changing hands with some of the most prestigious collectors in the world. Now, that aspect of it, grimy case and all, are gone. PSA has received a lot of push back for the condition of the card and how awful it looked in that grimy case. So, relabbing it, I understand. It does look a lot better now, but the original item being auctioned in some ways changed suddenly and in a big way. Regardless, to the winner, that clearly didn't matter. The winning bid was placed by AJ Scaramucci, a venture capitalist himself and the son of Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of Skybridge Capital. So, if you were wondering what kind of person spent $16.5 million on a Pokémon card, the answer is a millionaire's son. After the win, Scaramucci described the illustrator as basically the first stop on a much larger collecting journey. >> My ambitions for the card is just it's just a small story here. The real story is I'm on a planetary treasure hunt right now. [music] And I'm on a quest >> what >> to buy a T-Rex dinosaur [music] fossil that's on my list. >> What? >> I'm going to f buy the Declaration of Independence maybe from you. We'll find out. >> Oh, this is crazy. >> And I'm not stopping there. This was only the beginning. >> A T-Rex and the Declaration of Independence that escalated quickly. And I always say, if you're going to embark on a large collection, you might as well start with the biggest and most ambitious purchase. And just looking at it, from children's card game to ancient fossil and 300-year-old foundational document, he's nailing it. And if you're wondering what dad was up to during the auction, Anthony Scaramucci was beginning the hunt for his next big real estate deal, a cardboard box behind the Skybridge office. Of course, Guinness was there to certify the moment, awarding Logan Paul the world record for the highest Pokemon card sale ever recorded. And assuming Logan's acquisition cost was roughly 5 million, he walked away with a cool 8 million in profit. That was one hell of an investment. If you're wondering what comes after a record-breaking sale, Logan made that clear during the live stream. What is up, collector? Rippet is coming soon, and you're going to want to be first in line. So, we're growing our wait list for users to get early access and to give back to the day one collectors who help us grow this thing. Introducing Ribbit, a ribbon ship platform built around remote openings and optional vault style storage. Some viewers may notice similarities to previous ventures with cards you buy but don't touch, secure custody, and the ability to pull out at any time. We don't yet know exactly how the platform will operate in practice. There's still a lot of hype and very few details. And when that happens, it can sometimes be difficult to see the forest for the trees. Like I said earlier, other than the illustrator, there were some genuinely incredible items put up for auction alongside it. So, let's check out what some of those were. First off, all three first edition starters from Logan's 2021 first edition base set box break. All graded at Geminment 10. That Charizard went for a record-breaking 950,000. The Blastoise a respectable 140,000 and Venusaur in third at 75,000. Those numbers might sound insane, and they are. What drove these prices up so much was that each slab carries a custom PSA label, noting that it was in fact pulled during Logan Paul's live stream. Now that's some special treatment. Beyond the starters, the auction included a sealed legendary collection case that sold for roughly 620,000. A Japanese base set uncut holof foil sheet landed in the same range. A Tamushi University Magikarp sold for about $210,000. A PSA 10 poncho Pikachu set reached $120,000. And in non- Pokemon news, this serialized Chocoo printed less than a year ago, sold for more than double the price of a beta Black Lotus. That one hurt my soul. I'll leave a link in the description to the auction so you can check out the rest of the items for yourself. It's definitely worth checking out. The Pikachu Illustrator. There are rare Pokémon cards and there are more historically significant ones, but this is the one the community and Logan Paul have chosen. The Illustrator didn't become worth $16 million overnight. It became worth $16 million because it was positioned, marketed, debated, worn, fractionalized, re-labbed, livereamed, and fought over. The card itself hasn't changed, but the story around it has. And as long as narrative drives markets, we'll continue to see more and more mind-boggling prices for our beloved cardboard rectangles. Thanks for watching, and check out this video next. I'm sure you'll love it.

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