Why a Pikachu Illustrator Card Sold for $16.5 Million

A Guinness record for a single card

In February 2026, a Pikachu Illustrator card graded PSA 10 sold through the auction house Goldin for $16,492,000. The auction closed on the night of February 15, Eastern time, after extended bidding, and Guinness World Records dated the result February 16, 2026, recognizing it as the most expensive Pokémon trading card ever sold at auction. The sale also broke the overall record for any trading card sold at auction.

Two details matter when reading that number. It includes the buyer's premium, which Guinness pointed out is standard at auction houses. And it was the price of the full auction lot, which included extras beyond the card itself, so the card on its own accounts for somewhat less. Rounded, it is the $16.5 million figure that circulated after the sale.

A prize you could win but never buy

The Pikachu Illustrator never went on sale. It was a prize. According to the grading company CGC, the cards were released in 1998 through three illustration contests announced in the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic, and the winning entrants received the card. Guinness likewise lists it as a contest prize that was never originally sold.

Every winner got the same card, and two features set it apart from every other Pokémon card. Where a Trainer card normally says Trainer across the top, this one says Illustrator. And in the bottom right corner, where cards carry a set symbol, it shows a small pen. According to CGC, it is the only card with that pen symbol and the only Trainer card with Illustrator printed at the top.

The pen fits the purpose. The card was made to reward people who drew, and its design says so. It is also the clearest visual marker of everything else that makes the card rare.

Thirty-nine cards, one perfect 10

Only 39 Pikachu Illustrator cards were given out, the figure cited by both Guinness and CGC. Some press reports round it to about 40. Given out is not the same as surviving: after nearly three decades, some copies may have been lost or damaged, and the ones that remain vary widely in condition.

That is where grading comes in. The copy sold in 2026 is the only one PSA has graded GEM MT 10, its highest grade. For a buyer who wants the top PSA grade, there is exactly one option, and two determined bidders can push that single copy far above every other example. Lower grades sell for a fraction of the price: CGC reported that a copy graded Near Mint 7 sold for $375,000 in February 2021.

Demand has also climbed fast. According to Guinness, the seller had bought this same copy in a private sale in 2021 for $5,275,000. Its 2026 auction price was a little more than three times that. A jump of that size suggests deep demand from adult collectors for a card that nobody could ever pick up in a store.

Putting $16.5 million in perspective

For scale, the price is more than twice the $6.95 million list price AVweb reported for the HondaJet Elite II, a small business jet, in 2022, and nearly three times the $5.85 million AOPA reported for the Cessna Citation M2 Gen2 in 2021. Larger private jets cost much more, so the comparison only holds at the small end of the market, and jet prices have risen since those reports.

What the Illustrator shows is how price builds when several factors stack on one object: a supply fixed at 39 that can never grow, a design detail no other card shares, Pikachu on the front, a contest origin that kept it out of stores, and a perfect PSA grade on the only copy to receive one. The tiny pen is not worth $16.5 million by itself. It is the visible sign of all the reasons the card is scarce.

Questions people ask

How many Pikachu Illustrator cards are there?

Guinness World Records and CGC put the number given out at 39, all distributed in 1998 as prizes in illustration contests announced in CoroCoro Comic. Some reports round it to about 40. That is the number given out, not necessarily the number that survives.

Why does the Pikachu Illustrator card have a pen on it?

The card was a prize for illustration contests. It says Illustrator where other Trainer cards say Trainer, and it carries a small pen symbol in the bottom right corner. According to CGC, it is the only Pokémon card with that pen symbol.

Does the $16.5 million price include fees?

Yes. The $16,492,000 figure includes the buyer's premium, and it was the price of the full auction lot rather than the card alone.

Sources

1. Logan Paul's rare Pokemon card becomes most expensive ever sold in record-setting auctionGuinness World Records · 2026-02-16
2. Most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auctionGuinness World Records · 2026-02-16
3. Pokémon IllustratorCGC · 2021-04-14
4. Honda Announces HondaJet Elite IIAVweb · 2022-10-17
5. Textron adds two more Citation Gen2sAOPA · 2021-10-12

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