Which Japanese Pokemon Cards Are Worth Money

If you were a Pokemon fan back in the 1990s, y'all probably have a fair few old Pokemon Trading Carte du jour Game cards stashed somewhere in the dorsum of your closet. We all had a few Caterpies and Rattattas lying around from this tendency, and if you managed to collect a coveted card like a holographic Charizard, yous were the talk of the schoolhouse playground and truly got lucky.

New Pokemon cards are still existence produced to this day, making many of the oldest Pokemon cards fifty-fifty harder to detect. As long as Pokemon remains a pop video game franchise, the Pokemon Trading Card Game will keep on producing new types of cards, but none of them can attain the heights of the rarest and most valuable Pokemon cards in the history of the franchise.

Updated April 25, 2022 by Joe Parlock: Since the last update to this article, a few cards completely obliterated previous sale records. Charizard and Pikachu Illustrator sold more ever before, and a few new copies of other cards have been identified.

27 Gilt Star Pop Series 5 Umbreon: $27,000

The Japanese version of the Shining Umbreon Pokemon card is pretty highly desired, with its unique coloring and gorgeous frame-piercing artwork making it fittingly cute as i of the first shiny Pokemon to appear on a card.

All the same, its toll is and then high considering of much more than but its looks and popularity. The Shining Umbreon card only saw a very limited release through the Japanese Pokemon Players' Club for hitting the maximum number of experience points through attending organised play events between 2005 and 2006, making information technology 1 of the rarest cards out there. In 2020, PWCC Auctions sold a PSA-x copy of it for $20,000, showing just how in-demand it is. Notably, this card was reprinted for the starting time fourth dimension always in 2021, as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations set. Though that version is worth manner, way less, it's still the third most valuable card in the expansion.

26 Tamamushi Academy Magikarp: $66,100

Produced as a promotion for magazine publisher Shogakukan's Celadon Academy campaign, this Magikarp card was awarded to those who successfully became "Pokemon Professors". By mailing in the Entrance Test, Professor Test, Super Professor Test, and Hyper Professor Examination (all found in different magazines aimed at schoolchildren published by Shogakukan), 1000 Magikarps were up for grabs.

Though so many were printed, but 91 have been identified past the PSA so far. PSA x-graded cards fetch a much higher cost than any other status, getting $66,100 at sale.

25 Trade Please!: $1900

It wouldn't be unreasonable to think this was a prank, or a fake card, just nope. This is a real card that was function of 1998 promotion for the Pokemon-themed anthology Trade Delight by Suzukisan. By sending in the flier that came with each album, entrants could receive an evolved Kanto starter of their choice (Venusaur, Blastoise, or Charizard) every bit well as this… unique… trainer card.

The starter Pokemon that came with are also quite rare and valuable cards, only sites similar PSA Card show that the original Trade Please menu can attain prices every bit high every bit $1900 if it's been preserved at a high enough quality. This carte du jour actually did get a reprint just a few years agone for a like upshot in Japan during Pokemon's 20th Anniversary, but these ones were printed in much higher amounts and aren't most equally high-value.

These cards were given to employees at The Pokemon Company to celebrate its founder and president Tsunekazu Ishihara'southward 60th Birthday.

We don't know exactly how many of these cards were produced, but one specific copy of it fetches a much college cost than the others. In April 2021, Goldin Auctions sold a copy of information technology that had been signed by Tsunekazu Ishihara himself for an eye-watering $247,230. The wildest matter? It wasn't fifty-fifty PSA 10-graded, and managed to sell for that much with just a nine rating.

23 Misprinted Fossil Krabby: $2,200

While misprints might exist irritating for the normal player or casual collector, for the hardcore they tin be very large coin. If a menu runs through the printer incorrect, is miscut, has a typo on it, or annihilation else, it can increase the value significantly. One groovy example of that is this Fossil Krabby,

The difference between these multiple miscuts and a normal bill of fare is that part of a fossil symbol to the bottom-left of its art is missing. This seemingly small-scale difference has driven upward the cost of these cards immensely, and despite going for under two dollars in its normal state, Pokemon Prices has the card record of a misprint selling for over $2200 dollars.

This is undoubtedly 1 of the near recent rare cards, featuring the Masked Royal character from Pokemon Sun & Moon and released as recently as 2017. This is essentially a promotional card that was given out to players in an invitation-only prerelease in Tokyo for the new Shining Legends set, where only 100 copies were made.

Even though this is a relatively normal card by most standards, this short print run means it's incredibly hard to get, peculiarly since it was handed out in such a restrictive outcome. Equally a upshot, in that location are actually preserved tweets of players kickoff opening information technology in places similar Pokeboon, while Japanese trading sites like Miyabi Hobby accept past listings of the carte at ¥2,000,000, which currently is equal to effectually $18,000 USD.

21 PSA ten Charizard Gold Star Delta Species Holo Dragon Frontiers: $25,400

The first of three Aureate Star cards on this list, and surprisingly just one of 2 Charizards. Dragon Frontiers' Charizard Gilt Star was one of the first times it was seen in its iconic blackness shiny colouring, which lone is usually enough to brand a menu shoot up in value.

In Feb of 2021, PWCC Auctions sold a PSA 10-graded Charizard Golden Star for a massive $25,400. Other sales tend to come a bit lower, although copies have sold for equally much as $60,000 in unverified Ebay auctions.

20 PSA ten Base of operations Set up Holo Shadowless Charizard: $420,000

In that location are a lot of factors that make this card worth so much compared to any other Charizard card. Specifically, the lack of a shadow means information technology isn't just a beginning edition, it'south the commencement print run of the start edition. While virtually base of operations set up cards have a shadow on the right side of the art frame, the very offset cards Wizards of the Coast printed lacked it, giving them an extra level of value.

Second, though shadowless Base of operations Set Charizards are fairly common and number in the thousands, a PSA ten-graded 1 (meaning it is in mint condition) are incredibly rare. Only 56 have always been identified by PSA.

These Charizard cards have become i of the prime reasons for the Pokemon Card trend of the by two years, with YouTuber Logan Paul opening one as recently every bit Feb 2021 that was estimated past auction site owner Ken Goldin to sell for upwardly of $500,000. In auction information technology tends to sell for significantly less, though: last year one sold for $264,000 through Heritage Auctions. In March 2022, Charizard bankrupt its ain tape, and sold in a PWCC auction for a new loftier of $420,000.

19 PSA x Holo Rayquaza Aureate Star EX Deoxys: $37,420

If Charizard is the rex of Pokemon, Rayquaza is definitely upward there in the royal family. It tends to value highly in any set it appears in, only none are every bit rare as EX Deoxys' Rayquaza Gold Star, which only has 56 verified PSA ten quality cards in circulation, putting it on par with the famous Holo Base Set Shadowless Charizard.

The PSA values PSA 10-grade Gold Star Rayquazas at an incredibly high $forty,400. Auctions can swing wildly either side of that price, too. In 2021 alone, there were three upwardly for sale by Goldin Auctions, with the highest selling for $44,280 and the lowest for $34,440.

18 PSA 10 Neo Genesis First Edition Holo Lugia: $129,000

Neo Genesis is effectively the Base of operations Set up of the 2d generation of Pokemon. It was the starting time fourth dimension Pokemon from Silver, Gold, or Crystal appeared in the TCG, and it was too marred past a big number of misprints and mistakes in its very first run. Alongside it being the mascot of Pokemon Silver, that'southward mainly why a mint condition, holo, get-go edition Lugia from Neo Genesis is and so highly desirable. The PSA has only given a PSA10 grade to 43 of these.

Prices for this carte are incredibly unstable, even between cards with the same status. In November 2020 PWCC sold a copy for $129,000, while less than a twelvemonth afterward in September 2021, Goldin sold one for "simply" $47,970.

17 PSA x Southern Islands Reverse Holo Mew: $5950

When the second Pokemon movie was released in Japan, the makers of the Trading Card Game decided to release a special edition gear up of cards to mark this occasion. The Southern Islands card series was born, featuring merely 2 sets of 9 cards apiece that were unique to any other set in the game.

Total sets of these cards tin sell for a lot (which is annoying considering my dad bought two of them for £20 a slice at the time and and so I lost them because I was seven…), but the absolute highest value is undoubtedly the Southern Islands Mew, which has a rare opposite foil treatment where the frame effectually the fine art is the just function that's shiny. In 2020, PWCC Auctions sold a copy of information technology for $4,155, and more contempo auctions push it up as high as almost $6000. There have only ever been 19 copies given the PSA ten course, though other conditions are slightly more common.

16 PSA ten Torchic Gold Star Holo EX Team Rocket Returns: $50,000

In the early-to-mid 2000s, popularity in Pokemon was waning. "Pokemania" was on the way out, and that meant a lot of the Pokemon TCG expansions at the fourth dimension suffered from lower sales and smaller print runs. With Pokemon back on top over again now, cards from that era ofttimes see higher values than cards older than them. A great example of this is the Gold Star Torchic from EX Team Rocket Returns.

Gilt Star Pokemon showcase Pokemon in their shiny forms and have the Pokemon breaking out of the frame as an early case of the many alternate styles the TCG would later on experiment with. Why Torchic specifically is worth and then much is anyone's guess, simply with merely 17 verified PSA 10 grade copies out there, the PSA values them at $50,000 each. Actual auction prices are a flake lower though, as in 2020 PWCC Auctions sold a copy for $25,400.

15 PSA ten Kangaskhan Holo Family Event Trophy Carte du jour: $225,000

Frustratingly for many people, some of the nearly valuable cards today are those that were given away as cheap, disposable rewards back in the '90s and early on '00s. A practiced example of this is the family event trophy prize Kagaskhan, which was given away to parent/kid teams who participated in the 1998 Japanese Mega Battle tournament. An of import reason behind its value is the expansion symbol to the bottom right of the art; this logo was simply used on the earliest of Japanese cards, making cards with information technology, like Kangaskhan, exceedingly rare. The PSA has only always identified 45 copies of the card, and just eleven given the illusive PSA x grade.

At sale, Kangaskhan'south received between $50,000 and $150,000, for those coveted PSA10-graded copies.

14 PSA 10 Holographic Shadowless Beginning Edition Chansey: $1,100

Despite not being one of the iconic starters or legendaries, Chansey is nonetheless one of the most valuable cards from Pokemon's Base Set. Similar every other base of operations fix carte, the Shadowless version gets a much higher price at auction.

There are 48 PSA 10-graded holo, shadowless Chanseys verified by the PSA. Despite that, they don't tend to fetch every bit high a toll as their slightly more than common expansion mates, like Charizard, probably because it is a less popular Pokemon. The last verified auction sale of a PSA 10 Chansey was in 2021, when PWCC Auctions sold 1 for $27,412.

13 Pikachu Illustrator: $5,275,000

While Pikachu Illustrator (technically it's "Pokemon Illustrator", only most auctions list it as Pikachu) is frequently seen as one of the rarest Pokemon cards in existence, there are actually 41 verified copies of it in being, and just 39 officially distributed.

Identified by the unique fountain pen expansion symbol, and the ii stars in the lesser correct corner, this card was awarded to winners of a 1998 CoroCoro illustration competition. It'southward the only carte du jour ever printed to replace the "TRAINER" text at the top of the card with "ILLUSTRATOR"

While many of the cards listed are related to game events and easier to rails, perchance the rarest Pokemon card to ever be sold is the Pokemon Illustrator trainer card. This is hardly a legal card in the game, instead resembling a Trainer support card and beingness given out as a bays to winners of an illustration contest at Japan's CoroCoro convention in 1998.

It'south generally considered the Holy Grail of Pokemon cards, and fetches ridiculous prices at auction. In February 2021, Steve Aoki purchased 1 for $420,000. Only over a year afterwards, influencer and wrestler Logan Paul appear he had 'earned' the earth record for the almost expensive single Pokemon card sale in history, merely buying the but PSA10-graded Pikachu Illustrator for an utterly wild $5,275,000: 131 times more than the previous request price.

12 Main'southward Key: $21,201

The Main Key is another prize card that's seriously sought afterward in Pokemon card collector circles. This card was only produced in Nippon, and had a very express release: only 36 actually exist. The Master Primal menu was handed to those competitive Pokemon players who managed to achieve high ranks in the 2010 Nihon World Title held in Honolulu, Hawaii, meaning no new copies can ever come into the market.

All the same, 1 copy did sell through PWCC for $21,201. It came in pristine condition, complete in the example and frame information technology came with.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, an annual Pokemon Trading Card Game tournament was held in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the 1999 event, just 12 of these Tropical Mega Boxing cards were produced to be distributed to some of the lucky 50 players who attended the issue (who all already had to be regional champions), significant the remaining number of mint copies is especially depression all these years later.

Showing a Psyduck having a nap in a hammock on a tropical isle, this legendary Trainer Carte sells for a whole lot of cash thanks to its rarity. Though it has sold for upward to $65,100 at auction, PSA estimates the carte du jour is worth vary more than than that, at a whopping $147,633.

No. 1 Trainer promo cards are almost always valuable, cheers to them only beingness printed in limited quantities and being awarded to finalists in Earth Championships. What makes the Battle Road Spring 2002 promo special, though, is that every bill of fare is unique.

Each one has the name of its owner, and the region they were the champion of, printed in the card's text. Every bit there were 7 regions for the tournament, it can exist causeless that there were at least seven produced.

Information technology's so rare that PSA doesn't have an appraised value for it, withal information technology has sold at auction in the past for $31,000.

9 1999 Super Secret Boxing No. 1 Trainer: $90,000

These cards were and then cool. Awarded to regional champions in 1999, they served as both the prize for winning a regional heat and equally the ticket to enter the Super Cloak-and-dagger Boxing finals held in an undisclosed location in Tokyo on August 22, 1999.

At that place are estimated to only be seven of these cards in being, all of which take been graded past the PSA. A PSA x copy of the card sold at auction in 2020 for a massive $90,000, just the seller is hoping to get even more for it, as it is now up for offers from a starting toll of $198,000.

Fifty-fifty runners-up get big prizes at World Championships, with all iii finalists at Anaheim, California'southward 2006 championships each receiving a re-create of this massively valuable carte. Winning the card in 2006 automatically granted entry to the finalist in 2007 also, bypassing the whole organised points play system they would otherwise need to piece of work through.

In Feb 2021, PWCC sold a PSA 9-graded copy of the card for $110,100. The fact information technology wasn't even in pristine, PSA ten condition and all the same sold for six figures should go some way to show the value of this card.

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