Pokémon and Pop Culture Set Records at Heritage
A “holy grail” Pokémon card electrified a record-setting Heritage auction devoted to trading cards and manga.
Credit: Heritage Auctions
The Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card took the collectibles world by storm earlier this year when a copy graded GEM MT 10 that belonged to YouTube personality Logan Paul sold for $16,492,000, a record for any trading card. Another copy of the card, this one graded PSA Mint 9, didn’t quite reach the same heights, but still set a record for its grade when it sold for $1,406,250 at Heritage Auctions.
The card helped the Trading Card Games and Manga Signature Auction on March 27 and 28 realize $7,620,617, a record for a Trading Card Games auction at Heritage.
The Pikachu Illustrator card was released in 1998 as a prize in an illustration contest by CoroCoro Comics. Only 39 cards were ever distributed. 15 have been graded Mint 9 by PSA, and only one, the GEM MT 10, has received a higher grade.
In a press release, Jeus Garcia, Trading Card Games Managing Director at Heritage Auctions, called Pokémon “one of the hottest collectible markets in the world,” something “that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.” He attributes this phenomenon to nostalgia and the 30th anniversary of the franchise.
The auction saw a few more records for Pokémon collectibles. A complete Master Set of 332 cards from the Skyridge expansion set for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, released in 2003, sold for a record $1,218,750. It is the only known set to receive a Gem Mint 10 grade. An ink drawing of Pokémon trainer Misty with Pikachu, signed in English and Japanese by artist Ken Sugimori and dated for June 23, 1998, sold for $600,000, a record price for original Pokémon art. Sugimori is one of the most renowned artists in the Pokémon franchise, having worked on the original video games and created artwork for some of the most beloved cards.
The auction also showed that demand for Japanese pop culture collectibles extends beyond Pokémon. Another “holy grail” item, a copy of the manga Kagaku Bouken E Monogatari Gojira, published by Shueisha in 1954, sold for a record $81,250. This was a 122-page adaptation of the original Godzilla film, written by Shigeru Kayama, who created the movie’s original story, and illustrated by Abe Wasuke, who designed the iconic monster.
Credit: Heritage Auctions
This was the first Trading Card Games auction at Heritage to also include manga. With its success, it certainly won’t be the last. The auction results demonstrate not only the meteoric rise of Pokémon as a collectible but also the growing power of pop culture and Heritage Auctions' role in these markets.
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