You might already know about the legendary shadowless CharizardPokémon Trading Card Gamecard that sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact, lists of the most expensivePokémoncards tend to skew heavily toward the final evolution of the first fire starter in the franchise, with other popular cards frequently raking in huge prices at auctions.
But Charizard isn’t the onlyPokémonthat holds a high value in the world ofPokémoncard trading. Other expensivePokémonTCGcards includeunique promotions, rare printings, and other oddities you might not know about.These cards are the most expensiveTCGcards in the history of the game, fetching eye-watering prices at sales.
Sold For $132,000 In 2023
Some of the most expensivePokémoncards have a high value due to their rarity. As such, it’s not surprising to finda lot of promo cards selling for the highest prices in the history of theTCG.This card is an excellent example of this in action.
The special Neo Summer Battle Road National No. 2 Trainer features anillustration of Ho-Oh with a photo of Takahiro Ikeda, the second-place winner of the 2001 Summer Battle tournament. The three top winners of the tournament received a unique card featuring themselves, making the three cards some of the rarestPokémoncards in existence. The single existing copy of the card sold onFanatics Collectfor $132,000 in 2023, making it one of the most expensive cards ever.
9Japanese Toshiyuki Yamaguchi World Summer Challenge Secret Super Battle-Best No. 2 Trainer (2000)
Sold For $137,000 In 2023
There aren’t manyone-of-a-kind cards in theTCG,but this World Summer Challenge Trainers card is one such case. Like the Neo Summer card, the World Summer Challenge card wasissued to the three lucky winners of the 2000 summer tournament.This rare card depicts the second-place winner of the World Championship, Toshiyuki Yamaguchi.
The card includes a photo of Yamaguchi putting two thumbs up, withChansey, Growlithe, Doduo, and Pikachu in the backdrop. The sole copy of this card was sold in 2023 onHeritage Auctionsfor $137,000.
8Japanese Promo Bronze 3rd-2nd Tournament #3 Trophy Pikachu (1998)
Sold For $216,000 In 2023
An official Pokémon card tournament was held in 1997-8, with winners once again receiving special limited-print cards. Instead of creating special trainer cards for each winner, this earlier contest hadspecial Pikachu cards made for each winner,for each level of winner (gold, silver, and bronze).
You might recognize this promo card’s art style, since it was done by legendary card illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita—who’s been illustrating cards since the very first Base set and has worked on nearly 700 cards to date.
The third-place promo carddepicts an adorable round Pikachu with a broad smile, proudly holding up a bronze trophy. There were several of these cards made, but they’re still incredibly rare. A PSA NM-MT 8 graded card fetched an impressive $216,000 in a 2023Goldinauction, a price which would surely have been even higher had the card been in even better condition.
7Pokémon Blastoise #009/165R Test Print “Gold Border” Foil (1998)
Sold For $216,000 In 2021
Today,Pokémoncard printings are handled directly by The Pokémon Company, but when the company was first dipping its toes into the world of card printings, it turned to a company with experience printing high-quality playing cards: Wizards of the Coast. Known to this day as the company behindMagic: The Gathering,Wizards of the Coast was responsible for printing Pokémon cards from 1998 to 2003.
When it first acquired printing rights, WotC ran a few test prints thatfeatured Blastoise on the face side and theMagic: The Gatheringcard backing.There are only a few versions of this odd combination card, which, of course, means they sell for quite a lot when they surface. The last authentic copy to appear in auction sold for $216,000 onHeritage Auctionsin 2021.
6Japanese Kangaskhan Family Event Trophy Card #115 Promo (1998)
Valued At $225,000 (And Higher)
Unlike other rare tournament promotional cards, there was a fairly large number of Kangaskhan Family Event Trophy cards made, with over 90 rated byPSA. The card was given out to teams of parents and children whowon a certain number of battles in the 1998 Parent/Child Mega Battle Tournament. The holo card depicts aKangaskhan and its babyin a field of stars, illustrated by the legendary Ken Sugimori.
Since this card is so rare, it’s hard to give it a specific price.PSAvalues a GEM - MT 10 card at $225,000, whilePrice Chartinghas it listed for $465,360, with prices rising to astronomical rates at better qualities. It seems that good-condition versions of this card are few and far between, as I could only find sales at lower prices oneBay($66,000 in 2025) andGoldin(43,000 in 2024).
5Tsunekazu Ishihara Sun & Moon Black Star Promo #TPCi01 (2017)
Sold For $240,000 In 2021
This extra-specialPokémoncard was never released to the public, making it one of themost coveted printingsin the history of theTCG.The card features an artwork of Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of the Pokémon Company, with a Rotom in one hand and a Master Ball in the other, and it wasgiven out at Ishihara’s birthday party in 2018. No one agrees on exactly how many of these special cards were printed, but estimates range between 30 and 200.
Fun fact: Tsunekazu Ishihara is, apparently, a Dragon-type Pokémon.
Copies of this card occasionally surface and sell in the six-digits, but the most valuable versions are the ones that weresigned by Ishihara in black marker across the illustration. Two of these were sold for $240,000 and $230,000 onGoldinin 2021.
4Japanese CoroCoro Comics Snap Promo Cards (1999)
The Pikachu Card Sold For $270,000 In 2023
In May 1999, CoroCoro Comic magazine in Japan held a contest that invited fans tosubmit their favorite shots from the recently releasedPokémon Snap.Five lucky winners had their image printed and received 20 copies of their card. The winners depicted Bulbasaur, Poliwag, Magicarp, Gyarados, and Pikachu, with Pikachu and Bulbasaur pulling in the highest prices.
Today, the five winners aresome of the most elusive cardsin existence. While this makes it hard to find these cards, it also makes it hard to price them. For instance, although the Pikachu promo card is listed by several sites as one of the most expensive cards ever sold, I couldn’t find direct evidence of this fact except a video fromPro Retro Xthat allegesthe card was sold in person for $270,000 to a collector known as Dubsy.A copy of theBulbasaur sold for a similarly high $200,000onFanatics Collectin July 2025. The others occasionally appear at auction for up to $90,000.
3Blastoise #009/165R Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram (1998)
Sold For $360,000 In 2021
TheMagic: The Gathering-backed Blastoise was a unique find, but there’s one other Blastoise card that’s even more special. When Wizards of the Coast was printing samples for The Pokémon Company, theyprinted two copies of a holographic card meant to show what English cards might look like.
The printingfeatured Blastoise on the face side and a blank white back side, and only two copies were ever created. One of these was auctioned off live onHeritage Auctionsfor an impressive $360,000 in 2021. According to aCGCpost at the time, the other card’s whereabouts are unknown.
2Japanese Promo Silver 2nd-2nd Tournament #2 Trophy Pikachu (1998)
Sold For $444,000 In 2023
The Silver second-place card version of the Pikachu promo for the 1997-8 Lizardon (Charizard) tournament has proven to be even more valuable than its bronze counterpart. The card is stylistically similar to the bronze, exceptthe happy Pikachu in this one is holding up a silver trophy.
A GEM MT 10 copy of this card was sold for a record-breaking $444,000 in aGoldinauction in 2023. According to Goldin,only 14 of the Silver Promo cards were ever printed, bringing the card’s value into perspective.
1Pikachu Illustrator (1998)
Sold For $5.3 Million In 2022
Other valuable cards are worth a lot, but only one card’s value goes into the millions.The Illustrator Pikachu card is the most valuablePokémoncard in existence, leaving even the most expensive Charizard card in the dust. The card was given out to select winners of three illustration contests held by CoroCoro Comics between 1997 and 1998, and it continues to break records every time a copy is sold.
It’s thought that only about 41 cards exist, and good-condition cards frequently sell for as much as half a million dollars, like thisCGC GEM MINT 9.5 version sold for $672,000 in 2022onGoldin. The record was broken a few times over in 2022 by none other than YouTuberLogan Paulwhen hebought a PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator for a jaw-dropping $5.3 million. The sale was literally record-breaking, recorded bythe Guinness World Records, making Pikachu Illustrator the most expensivePokémon Trading Card Gamecard of all time (at least, for now).
Sources:Pro Retro X/YouTube, Fanatics Collect (1,2), Heritage Auctions (1,2,3), Goldin (1,2,3,4,5), PSA (1,2),Price Charting,eBay,CGC,Logan Paul/YouTube,the Guinness World Records
