It's been a big week for the world of Pocket Monsters, and as well as us finally getting the world's first Pokemon LEGO set, Logan Paul has put his record-breaking Pikachu Illustrator Card under the hammer.
While there have been complaints about scalpers already selling the $650 set for thousands, and the free pre-order gift going for hundreds on auction sites, that's not the only bank-busting issue the ever-grouchy Pokemon community has right now.
We know that Pokémerch can fetch a substantial fortune, but even beyond retro games being worth $17,000, the world of Pokemon Trading Cards is an altogether more lucrative industry. The record for the world's most expensive Pokemon card unexpectedly goes to Logan Paul, with the YouTube star/boxer shelling out a jaw-dropping $5.275 million back in 2021.
Officially the most expensive collectible card of all time, and honored by the Guinness World Records, the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card is one of only 39 that were ever made and includes artwork from the legendary Atsuko Nishida.
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It's unknown how many cards still exist. However, what makes Logan Paul's even more exclusive is the fact that the professional grading organization Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) awarded it an unheard-of rating of 10.
Adding to the value, he's housed the Pikachu Illustrator card in an $80,000 diamond and gold necklace, adding a Poke Ball that's also made from diamonds and gold. After pulling the trigger on the purchase, Paul explained: "The Pikachu Illustrator is the rarest Pokémon card in the world. Only 39 of them exist, and this is the ONLY PSA 10 (perfect condition). Until this weekend, there were no pictures or videos of this card ANYWHERE."
It's now going under the hammer, although Paul has been accused of running a 'scam'. Paul was previously called out for selling ownership shares in the card as digital assets during the NFT boom via his own Liquid Marketplace platform.
In the midst of legal issues and trouble with token owners getting their money when Paul bought back the shares, the fact that the card is now up for auction hasn't sat well with some.
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Paul turned the comments off on his announcement post, but if you check the quote tweets, there are a lot of similar comments.
Elsewhere, Paul took to X to confirm why he turned down a $5 million irrevocable bid for the card. This means that if an item doesn't hit a pre-placed bid price, it gets sold to them for that. If it goes above that price ($5 million in this case), the person gets 10% difference from the bed and the final sale price.
A disgruntled Paul expanded: "Someone did this with a Birkin bag. They placed a $3M irrevocable bid on the bag, and that bag got sold for $10M. They made $700K in a night just by having the conviction that it will sell above $3M”
In terms of what the card is projected to sell for, Polymarket’s crowd-implied predictions have 83% odds of it fetching over $10 million, with 51% favoring over $12 million. The current price sits at over $6 milllion, and with the auction set to end on February 16, Paul's hopes of this plucky Pikachu becoming a "2-time world record-setting collectible grail" are inching closer.