Rarest Pokémon Card Sells For $360,000 At Sotheby's

One of the rarest and most highly coveted Pokémon cards in the world fetched $360,000 at a Sotheby's auction in New York, Kyodo News reported.

One of the cards, considered the best-preserved, was sold for $5,275,000 in 2021. I Photo: Sotheby's

The Japanese 1998 "Pokémon Illustrator" holographic card, depicting the iconic franchise character Pikachu, is one of only 39 official copies. Additionally, the card auctioned is the only one known to have been signed by Takumi Akabane, one of the three founders of the trading card game, according to Sotheby’s.

The identities of the seller and successful bidder have not been disclosed. These rare cards were initially awarded to winners of a 1998 drawing contest by the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic.

One of the cards, considered the best-preserved, was sold for $5,275,000 in 2021, a sale that earned recognition from Guinness World Records the following year as the most expensive Pokémon card, Mainichi Japan also reported.