Pokemon TCG Sale Just Broke An Incredible Record

In August, a rare Gold Star Rayquaza sold for $1 million, taking the crown for most expensive English-language Pokémon card while also becoming the first English-language card to break the $1 million ceiling. Howver, in under a month, that record has already been broken.

The new record holder is a rare 2004 Gold Star holographic Torchic card in Gem MT condition, rated PSA 10, that sold for $2.7 million in a private auction. That means the bar has been raised by $1.68 million, more than doubling the record.

Torchic More Than Doubles The Record

To put into perspective the explosive growth of Pokémon TCG’s value in recent years, here are the top five most expensive English-language Pokémon cards in history:

The last 12 months alone have seen the record rise from an already eye-watering $550,000 with the Prerelease Raichu Erorr to finally crossing the $1 million threshold with Gold Star Raquaza, only to then more than double with Gold Star Torchic less than two weeks later.

However, even at $2.7 million, Gold Star Torchic doesn’t come close to the priciest Pokémon card in history. Earlier this year, in February, controversial influencer Logan Paul sold a Pikachu Illustrator card at auction for nearly $16.5 million, after buying it himself for $5.2 million in 2021 — nearly double the price of the most valuable English card.

English-language cards still have a long way to go to close the gap, but $2.7 million is already raising eyebrows, with comments flooding in on getcollectr’s post all saying the same thing: “Money laundering.” Nobody can quite believe that anyone would pay nearly that much for a trading card. Then again, one financial expert believes that Pokémon cards would be the perfect currency in a post-apocalypse, so maybe they’re just stocking up for the future.

Original Release Date

October 20, 1996

Player Count

2

Age Recommendation

6+

Length per Game

Variable

Franchise Name

Pokemon