Of course, are thousands of one-of-a-kind Pokemon either because they are incredibly miscut which would technically be the “most rare” Pokemon cards. However, there is no realistic way we can track down every error and miscut card that random people around the world have pulled, so, for this list, the first 90 cards will be the most valuable cards according to TCGPlayer. We will also include the graded value of the cards according to pricecharting.com but this isn’t representative of the market price of the card. The final 10 cards will be the objectively most expensive graded cards sold at auctions. 

Now that that’s all out of the way, let’s get into this list.

Below you can find a list of the most valuable Gold Star cards of all time.

This holographic 2002 Neo Destiny Tyranitar is first edition, meaning that it was part of the very first print run of Neo Destiny making it extremely rare. This makes the Dark Tyranitar’s market price a grand $247.85 and roughly $3000 in a PSA 10.

This entry of beloved third-generation legendary Pokemon comes from the 2005 set Unseen Forces. It gets its name from the little star next to Entei’s name on the card much like a lot of the other star entries soon to come. Entei Star usually sells for $1100 in a PSA 10

This icy Eevee evolution comes from the 2008 Diamond and Pearl set: Majestic Dawn and makes use of the Level X mechanic that debuted not too long before the release of this set in the Diamond and Pearl base set. This Glaceon, in a PSA 10 can sell for up to $7700.

This card comes from a slightly stranger 2002 set of Pokemon known in Japan as the e-Card era of Pokemon expansions. With this set came a holographic Blastoise that is now for some reason fairly difficult to get a hold of in good condition. This card sells for about $2400 in a PSA 10.

This Ultra Rare, holographic Suicune is the first one to make use of the “ex” mechanic and comes from the 2004 set Team Magma vs Team Aqua. However, do not be fooled by the price tag as in a PSA 10 this card has previously sold for $10,000.

Yet another “ex” entry on this list, this Ultra Rare Milotic comes from the 2005 set simply known as Emerald. Like the Suicune, despite this card’s relatively low market price, it has been known to sell for around $10,000 in a PSA 10.

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Finally a card worth a bit more than $249.99. This Gyarados is simply a holographic rare from the 2003 set Skyridge but has racked up quite a price tag for its unique art of the now cherished roaring Gyarados. This card sells for roughly $2400 in a PSA 10

A less beloved legendary among the Pokemon community; the Registeel Star comes from the 2006 set Legend Maker. This card sells for roughly $3000 in a PSA 10.

You may not have expected to see Kingdra even make this list because let’s be honest, who really cares about Kingdra. Well, here we are, but, unlike the previous entries, the holo Kingdra from the 2003 set Aquapolis doesn’t sell for nearly as much in a PSA 10, coming in at around $1800.

This first-generation starter from the now notorious vintage 2000 set Team Rocket is one of the better-known cards on this list. This set introduced “Dark Pokemon” and saw the addition of a Dark Charizard and Blastoise. In a PSA 10, this card sells for about $3500.

This may be one of the first times a shiny Gyarados appeared on a Pokemon card and it clearly did it in spectacular fashion. Coming from the 2006 set Holon Phantoms, this card has sold for $11,000 in the past.

If this was any other rare Pokemon from the Base Set of Pokemon it would likely be worth more because almost any first edition, shadowless card is going to immediately sell for a lot just because of how rare they are. Nidoking is unfortunately on the lower end of this price spectrum but when it’s in a PSA 10 it suddenly shoots up to $6800.

Bet you didn’t expect to see a card that wasn’t a Pokemon let alone an Ultra Ball make the list. However, this fairly recent, golden Ultra Ball has been doing the rounds since it was released in 2013 in the set Plasma Freeze. It currently sells for $2000 in a PSA 10.

If you couldn’t already tell but these gold stars and the fact that the Pokemon is made shiny by it can starkly increase the value of a Pokemon and this is no different in the case of Vaporeon. Gold Star Vaporeon from the 2007 set Power Keepers sells for roughly $2550 in a PSA 10.

Apart from being a first edition card like many other cards are, there’s nothing really special about this Tyranitar. It’s a holographic rare at most but for some reason, it caught the attention of collectors around the world. Because of this, the card is now worth roughly $2300 in a PSA 10.

Finally the second of the three gold star legendary dogs. This card accompanied the aforementioned Gold Star Entei in the 2005 set Unseen Forces but seemed to take favor over its fiery counterpart. Although this electric dog sells for roughly the same as the Entei, clocking in at about $1100 in a PSA 10.

This secret rare Charizard from the 2003 set simply known as EX Dragon or sometimes even “Dragon” is the first of many Charizards to come on this list. This is the cheapest of the lot however coming in at about $2000 in a PSA 10.

This holographic Magneton from the 1999 Base Set of Pokemon is incredibly difficult to get a hold of these days and with good reason. Due to its extreme rarity, regardless of whether or not it’s a Magneton, this card is worth about $12,000 in a PSA 10.

One of the newer, but certainly not the newest, entries on this list, this card, simply known as “Champions Festival” was a promo released in celebration of the Pokemon World Championships in 2019. It became an annual release back in 2013 and they have continued making them since. In a PSA 10, the card is worth around $1300.

This version of Rocket’s Mewtwo was a foil promo released in 2003 and made quite some buzz in the Pokemon TCG community. This card sells for roughly $1200 in a PSA 10.

Yet another one of the shadowless first edition base set entries on the list and certainly not the last, this Chansey is pretty justified in its value. You can pick one of these up for about $32,000 in a PSA 10 if you’ve got change to spare.

This menacing-looking Gengar from the 2000 set Gym Heroes gets its value yet again from being a first-edition, vintage card. Because of that little stamp on the bottom left corner of the art, this card sells for nearly $4000 in a PSA 10.

This legendary Pokemon made its debut in the Gold and Silver Pokemon games for the Gameboy Color and has since been a staple legendary in the franchise. This first edition Celebi from the vintage 2001 set Neo Revelation sells for $2350 in a PSA 10.

The second Mewtwo to make it onto the list also comes from a set that has already appeared on this list: Expedition. This holographic Mewtwo released in 2002 is still making waves today, selling for $3100 in a PSA 10.

Coming from the sequel set to Team Rocket: Team Rocket Returns, this Snorlax ex is an Ultra Rare that was, and even more so now, extremely difficult to pull. It is also the second Rocket’s Snorlax to exist, the first one coming from the original Team Rocket set. The card is now worth about $1500 in a PSA 10.

Here is another holographic, shadowless, first edition entry in the form of a little old Clefairy. Making its debut in the base set of Pokemon, this Clefairy in the current day and age can go for up to $7300 in a PSA 10.

This is a card from the less vintage 2012 set Dragons Exalted in the Black & White era of Pokemon. It’s a Secret Rare that features its very own shiny Rayquaza on it. The card is now unfortunately worth about $900 in a PSA 10 but this may be due to how recent the card is.

Told you there would be more gold star cards. This one comes from the same set as the previous Gyarados: Delta Species. It of course features a shiny yellow Groudon and currently sells for around $4250.

Let’s jump straight into the next Gold Star pull because it’s another banger. This Gold Star Suicune from Unseen Forces completes the trilogy of the legendary dogs in Unseen Forces and tops it off by coming in at $1200 much like the previous two.

This is a first edition pull, yet again from the Neo Revelation set and this one is pretty crazy for how much it is worth ungraded. This Entei has previously sold for $16,000 in a PSA 10 despite just being a Holographic rare.

This in all honesty is pretty low for a Lugia. Being one of the relatively OG legendaries of the game, they are typically a lot higher than this but this one isn’t exactly cheap. In a PSA 10, you can expect to pay about $3400 for this Unseen Forces Lugia.

Another card coming from the Unseen Forces set of Pokemon, this Secret Rare is pretty hard to come by these days and as a result, is worth around $2417 in a PSA 10.

This Rayquaza comes from the set simply known as Deoxys and is yet another vintage Rayquaza and is one of the first Rayquaza “ex” cards. You can pick one of these up for about $3000 in a PSA 10.

If you couldn’t already tell people are big fans of these “Lv.X” eeveelution cards and as a result, this Leafeon from the 2008 set Majestic Dawn comes in at around $1600 in a PSA 10.

Yet another Charizard fairly low on this list, this one comes from the 2004 set Fire Red / Leaf Green. This Ultra Rare finds itself at roughly $3300 in a PSA 10.

This Lugia comes from the 2011 set Call of Legends. This set is stuffed full of insane pulls but one of the rarest of the lot is the Shiny Lugia. Much like the shiny vault in Hidden Fates and Shining Fates, this card comes from the Shiny Legendary section of the set. In a PSA 10, it is worth around $1800.

The first card on this list to break the $300 mark ungraded comes from the 2007 set Power Keepers and is yet another shiny Gold Star card. This one comes in at around $2300 in a PSA 10.

So we kind of lied when we said that Shiny Lugia was the rarest card in the Call of Legends shiny vault because that slot has to narrowly go to the Shiny Rayquaza from the very same set. This card has been known to sell for $7000 in a PSA 10.

This one is completely out of left-field because I can’t remember the last time a Regice got shown some love on a modern Pokemon set but this Regice from the 2006 Legend Maker set sells for roughly $4000 in a PSA 10.

This is one of many reprints of the now notorious holographic base set Charizard and this one comes from the 2002 set Legendary Collection which was the first reprint of the base set Charizard for those who couldn’t get it in 1999. However, today, even this Charizard is extremely hard to get a hold of, being worth $13,000 in a PSA 10.

If only this were the iconic Pikachu, it would likely be many places higher up on the list, but we’ll have to settle for a Raichu. Although, don’t be fooled by this evolution because in a PSA 10 this little guy is still worth $10,000 in a PSA 10.

Coming in at 59 is another first edition pull from the legendary Neo Destiny set and it comes in the shape of one of the most popular eeveelution: Espeon. In a PSA 10, this card is worth about $5300.

There are several variations of this Charizard including, re-releases, first edition, shadowless, etc, but here we are referring to just a standard base set Charizard with nothing special about it (apart from the fact that it’s a base set Charizard). This usually sells for $9600 in a PSA 10 despite not having any qualities that make it any more expensive.

Unfortunately, unlike Charizard, being a Gyarados just isn’t quite enough to boost this card’s value to one of the most expensive Pokemon cards. However, put a first edition stamp on the card and you got yourself a card that is worth $13,000 in a PSA 10.

What makes this Pikachu so rare is that in some of the print runs of the base set of Pokemon, some of the Pikachus were printed with yellow cheeks and others were printed with red cheeks. The red cheek variant was harder to come by and is now worth around $5800 in a PSA 10.

If I’m honest, this Charizard from the set Dragon Frontiers is surprisingly low considering it is literally a vintage, gold star, shiny Charizard. Regardless, you can find this card for about $20,000 in a PSA 10.

One of the most modern entries on this list so far comes the Latios and Latias GX alternate art from the 2019 set Team Up. This card was extremely rare on release and has become even more so now since Team Up stopped its print run long ago. In a PSA 10, this card is worth nearly $900 but is definitely subject to rising in the coming years.

And the gold stars just keep on coming. This time it’s one of the original three Eeveelutions from the set Power Keepers and honestly, it doesn’t look vastly different from a normal Jolteon. Nevertheless, you can find it selling for about $3250 in a PSA 10.

This card features what looks like a Mewtwo that is pretty mad, to say the least. It’s an Ultra Rare from the aforementioned set Team Rocket Returns and sells for roughly $2300 in a PSA 10.

Yet another entry from this little green guy (well in this case a little red guy), coming from the 2006 set Crystal Guardians is a gold star Celebi. However, it would not be the first time a shiny Celebi as the Shining Celebi from Neo Destiny appeared in 2002. In a PSA 10, these guys are worth around $3510.

The debut of Ho-Oh in 2001 set Neo Revelation, while not nearly as expensive as its counterpart Lugia, definitely earned itself quite a price tag for its legendary status. In a PSA 10, this card can be found for $3000.

I’m not entirely sure why some of the cards from Aquapolis are worth what they are worth but this holographic Tyranitar is worth quite a bit for some reason. In a PSA 10, you can expect to find this card for about $2100.

One of the most beloved Eeveelutions got its very own first edition holographic card in 2001 set Neo Discovery. This set isn’t home to nearly as many pulls as Neo Destiny but definitely has some hidden gems such as this. This Espeon sells for about $3600 in a PSA 10.

Amidst all the vintage cards you probably didn’t expect to see this. The most recent pull so far on this list, the Rainbow Rare Charizard comes from the 2017 set Burning Shadows and sells for approximately $3000 in a PSA 10.

Neo Destiny just doesn’t stop with the crazy pulls. Granted, anything first edition and holographic will sell for some good money but Neo Destiny just has the greatest pulls and Shining Tyranitar is one of them. In a PSA 10, you can expect to pick one of these up for nearly $5000.

Everyone’s favorite, akimbo, spoon-wielding Pokemon comes in at number 45 for its shiny gold star version from the 2006 set Crystal Guardians. In a PSA 10, this card has previously sold for roughly $3000.

If there was one thing I didn’t expect to be putting on the list of the most expensive Pokemon cards it would definitely have to be a card released in 2021. This Umbreon from 2021 set Evolving Skies has remained one of the most expensive modern cards for about a year now and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be overtaken any time soon. In a PSA 10, you can expect to find this card for about $800 but this is likely to only go up in the future.

You should probably know by this point in the list that if the card ticks all the boxes of being shadowless, first edition, and holographic then it is worth money and there are no exceptions to this rule. This Alakazam is worth nearly $10,000 in a PSA 10.

This might be a Charizard you’ve never even heard of as it comes from the lesser-known set Expedition from 2002. This holographic Charizard has, in the past, sold for $21,000 in a PSA 10 showing just how sought after this Charizard is for a lot of collectors.

If there’s one thing you can count on in the Pokemon TCG it’s that, if there is a Gengar, it’s probably going to have a pretty awesome art. Well, this Gengar is no exception to that rule and it rightfully sells for a whopping $4400 in a PSA 10 because of it.

You might be able to tell that Skyridge definitely has some banger pulls considering it has appeared several times on this list now and still has more appearances ahead but this Holographic Umbreon takes the 40th place for now. It has previously sold for $3800 in a PSA 10.

The last of the gold star “Regi” trio brings the shiny gold star Regirock from the same set as the last two: Legend Maker. This guy has previously sold for $2700 in a PSA 10.

One of the most popular grass starters from the second generation of Pokemon brings the gold star Treecko from Team Rocket Returns. This shiny Treecko, which looks barely different from a normal Treecko, can be found selling for roughly $6400 in a PSA 10.

Promos from tournaments are something you’ll see a lot when browsing some of the most expensive cards and it is no different in the case of the 2012 Tropical Beach Promo. This was released as a promo for the 2012 World Championships and is now worth about $1000 in a PSA 10.

Believe me when I say there are many more Umbreons to come, but for now, we have the Ultra Rare Umbreon ex from the previously mentioned 2005 set Unseen Forces. In a PSA 10, these sell for $2600.

Everyone’s favorite useless fish from Neo Revelation that they have probably never even attacked with takes the 35th spot on this list for its equally popular shiny version. The nostalgia of that golden Magikarp, whether it be because you caught one or you spent countless hours trying to catch one and never succeeded makes this card worth $3750 in a PSA 10.

If you’re into Pokemon cards then you probably already know that these “staff” cards are going to become a recurring theme in the latter end of this list due to just how exclusive they are. This one was released as a promo for the Pokemon TCG Regional Championships and some of them even have a watermark that says “staff” on them as it was only intended for staff of the Pokemon Company. It is now worth around $3000 in a PSA 10.

This card from the exclusive POP Series 4 from the 2006 set turned a few heads on its release. The packs were only acquirable as a reward for beating the 15 and over Pokemon TCG champion Tsuguyoshi Yamato making them extremely hard to acquire. This leaves this Chimeco to be worth nearly $5000 in a PSA 10.

Now, this is an entry that I’m still surprised is on this list and that is because it is a CROBAT. Zubat, let alone Crobat has always been that annoying Pokemon that you always immediately run from to continue doing whatever you’re doing, so you could imagine my shock when I saw it make it so high on this list. In a PSA 10, this secret rare is worth around $2000.

This gold star entry was released in the same 2006 set Holon Phantoms as the gold star Gyarados. As you could imagine, it’s worth a bit more than a Gyarados since it’s a Pikachu and everyone loves Pikachu. It’s currently worth approximately $7000 in a PSA 10.

This Lugia, in my humble opinion, isn’t really anything special when it comes to cool vintage cards. However, at the end of the day, it is a Lugia and it is a secret rare, so chances are it’s going to sell for some money. This one sells for $9000 in a PSA 10.

Coming in at number 29 is the most expensive card from the Team Rocket set. There are actually 2 versions of these in the set, one of them being a non-holographic version but the most expensive card in the set just so happens to be the now notorious First Edition Dark Charizard. You can find one of these for nearly $4000 in a PSA 10.

Don’t worry, there is no shortage of shiny Charizards in the Pokemon TCG. You could call it beating a dead horse but The Pokemon Company no what the people like and they know what the people buy so they’ll be damned if they stop releasing those Charizards. This one in particular from the 2013 set Plasma storm can be found for $8000 in a PSA 10.

This card was where Typhlosion made its Pokemon TCG debut in 2000 set Neo Genesis and they did it in spectacular fashion as this card is now worth up to $45,000 in a PSA 10. It’s worth so much due to the terrible quality of the print run of Neo Genesis, making PSA 10 extremely hard to come by with any card from this set.

The Neo Destiny pulls don’t stop just quite yet. This shiny, first edition, Kabutops is probably one of the coolest “shining” card arts as the Kabutops stands triumphantly in front of a sunset with its razor claws extended outwards. This card sells for roughly $1400 in a PSA 10.

Released in 2001, this card was a promo from the Wizards of the Coast era of the Pokemon TCG and has apparently aged like a fine wine. In a PSA 10, however, this card has only sold for around $700.

This Charizard is actually a Charizard that is already in the set, the only difference being a watermark that has the set logo on the card art, but was then released before the set’s release as a promo for it. Some pretty confusing stuff but clearly a lot of people liked it and it is now worth nearly $7500 in a PSA 10.

Coming in at number 23 is everyone’s favorite water-type Pokemon, the holographic, first edition, shadowless Blastoise from the base set of Pokemon. In a PSA 10, you can pick one of these up for $22,000.

Tropical Tidal Wave was a card released initially in 2005 as a promo for Worlds but was then rereleased in 2006 and then 2010. The version we are talking about is the 2010 version but more specifically the “staff” version of the card which was made exclusively for Nintendo staff and thus has a watermark that says “staff” at the bottom of it. This card can be found for $5800 in a PSA 10.

A slightly stranger entry for such a high placement on the list, but this shiny First Edition Steelix from the set that has made this list countless times (Neo Destiny) is worth a hefty wad of cash on its own. Then, get it in a PSA 10 and you have yourself a $1600 card.

Now, this may not be the prettiest card on the list but it certainly was and even more so now is a pain to get a hold of. This card was released as a promo for the prerelease of the Sword & Shield set: Vivid Voltage, but that’s not all. This one, in particular, has a watermark on the bottom right corner of the art that just says “STAFF” as the card was only intended for members of staff at the Pokemon Company. That boosted the card’s value up exponentially now being worth around $1400 in a PSA 10.

You probably could’ve guessed that Charizards are going to predominantly make up the back end of this list as people love Charizards and they, therefore, sell for a hell of a lot of money. This secret rare Charizard from the same set as that Gyarados mentioned earlier in the list finds itself selling for $13,000 in a PSA 10.

There’s nothing particularly special about this Umbreon apart from the fact that it’s holographic and first edition. Most of the value of this card essentially boils down to the fact that people like Umbreon a lot. Because of this, the card sells for nearly $6000 in a PSA 10.

This promo from the Wizards Of The Coast era of Pokemon came as an award for those who competed in the Japanese World Challenge Summer Tournament in August 2000. As you could imagine the card is now extremely hard to come by and sells for about $1600 in a PSA 10.

This baby blue Mew caught the attention of Pokemon TCG fans from around the world when it made its English debut in 2006 set Dragon Frontier. This card can be found selling for roughly $7450 in a PSA 10.

People really do love themselves a good shiny Pokemon and there are few better examples than the Shining Mewtwo. This card, aside from the Shining Charizard is the best card that you can pull from Neo Destiny. When graded in a PSA 10, this card can sell for up to $4000.

Everybody’s favorite water/dragon type Pokemon tops the list as the most expensive card from the first edition Neo Revelation set in all of its fiery (or rather watery) red glory. It comes in at about $6840 in a PSA 10.

This cute little guy burst onto the Pokemon TCG scene in the aforementioned 2004 set Team Rocket Returns. The card features a shiny Mudkip like most gold star cards do and is the most expensive card from the Team Rocket Returns set. It can be found selling for $5500 in a PSA 10.

Coming from the 2000 set of Pokemon: Gym Challenge, this card is the first Charizard to feature the name of the trainer the Charizard belongs to. This idea would later be re-used in modern cards such as Lance’s Charizard. In a PSA 10, this card can sell for $4750.

The final card before we break into the top 10 most expensive cards ever auctioned off this list comes from the Shining Charizard from Neo Destiny. It probably comes as no surprise that this takes such a high place in the list considering how much shiny Charizards usually sell for combined with the fact that this was the first ever shiny Charizard to appear on a Pokemon card. This leaves it to sell for about $11,000 in a PSA 10.

You’ve probably seen the base set Venesaur a million times in your life if you’re into collecting Pokemon cards so you probably also know that it’s a pretty rare card as it is. The standard base set Venesaur in English sells for upwards of $1200 in a PSA 10. So when this error print of the card came along that lacked a star at the bottom to indicate its rarity, people went crazy. Then, the original artist of the card, Mitsuhiro Arita, signed the card, making the card’s value skyrocket even further than before. The card was then graded in a PSA 10 and sold for roughly $55,000 at an auction in 2021.

This promo by the name of Tropical Wind was released back in 1999 and is today one of the rarest cards you can possibly get your hands on. Only 12 of them are thought to exist as that was the number produced in 1999 as a promotional card for the Tropical Mega Battle, a precursor to the Pokemon World Championships. So few were produced due to the prestigious nature of the tournament it was given away at. Only 50 of the best regional players were invited to this tournament in Hawaii, making the card super exclusive. In a PSA 10, the card sold for a whopping $65,100.

1999 seems to be the year of stupidly rare Pokemon cards because as well as the Tropical Megal Battle Promo, 1999 featured one of the rarest Pokemon cards of all time No. 1 Trainer. Much like the previous promo, this card could only be acquired through playing in tournaments in the 90s. No. 1 Trainer is a holographic promo that was awarded only to the finalists of the Super Secret Battle Tournament held in Tokyo. The card would grant its owner access to play in the finals of the tournament which was held in a secret location. In a PSA 10, the card sold for $90,000 at an auction in July 2020.

This is actually the first English entry on the list and is very similar to the previous No 1 Trainer entry before it. This card was only awarded to the finalists of the Pokemon World Championship in 2006 and would grant its owner immediate access to play in the 2007 World Championship. There are only three copies of the card believed to exist and in February 2021, one of them sold for $110,000.

This is the first entry that you can technically still pull in packs. While it would be a Herculean task to even get your hands on some first edition Neo Genesis packs there are likely still unopened Lugias out there in these packs. This iconic Lugia card is one of the hardest cards to get in a PSA 10 due to the terrible print run Neo Genesis had on release, with errors, print lines, and miscuts all over the place. This print run was later corrected by which point the first edition stamp was long gone from the cards. 

When a card has a first edition stamp on the bottom left corner of the card’s art, it essentially means that the card was in the very first print run of the set. They have since stopped making first edition cards but this is what made this Lugia so hard to get in a PSA 10. It is thought that only 41 of these cards exist in a PSA 10 despite thousands being printed. In May 2021, the card sold for an astonishing $144,000.

This was a promo card given out at yet another Japanese tournament. As the name implies, teams at the tournament were comprised of parent and child thus the Kangaskhan promo. Any team who achieved a set number of victories would be awarded the card. 

What makes the card so rare aside from being only achievable by attending a tournament in the 90s is also the fact that it has Pocket Monsters Card Game as opposed to Pokemon Trading Card game on the back which was the original name for the TCG. Authenticators revealed that there have only ever been 46 copies of it graded, leading to one being sold for $150,000 in October 2020.

This is probably my favorite entry on the list because of how unique and new this card is. It is extremely rare you’ll see a card released after 2010 get this much attention but Ishihara GX is an exception to this rule as it isn’t even a Pokemon. Ishihara is the name of the founder of The Pokemon Company and this card was made as a promo to celebrate his 60th birthday. It features a full art portrait of the company’s owner holding a Rotom and is one of the coolest Pokemon full arts in my opinion. The card is already rare as it is but what made this one even rarer was the fact that Ishihara himself signed it, sending the price of the card up to $247,230.

This card was created by Wizard Of The Coast (creators of Magic: The Gathering and the former printing managers of the Pokemon TCG) in a presentation to convince Nintendo that they should let them handle the printing of the English release of the Pokemon Trading Card Game in 1999. This technically makes this Blastoise the first-ever English Pokemon card to be printed. It has no art on the back but instead, a completely blank, white card back and the font of the card is completely different from the font eventually settled on in the official release. In January 2021 the card sold at an auction for $360,000.

If you’re somewhat into Pokemon cards, you might be surprised to not see this at number 1 really because let’s be honest, almost everyone knows about this Charizard or has at least seen it whether they realize it or not. The shadowless, first edition Charizard is a Charizard from the very first print run of the very first English set of Pokemon. However, the issue is this specific print-run printed cards, now known as shadowless cards, that didn’t have a shadow around the border of the card’s art. A minor error I’ll admit but an extremely collectible one for Pokemon fanatics. 

This card ended up selling for $420,000 in March 2022.

If you haven’t heard of this card, I don’t blame you. However, Illustrator Pikachu makes the Charizard from before look puny in comparison. This was a promo released in 1997 and 1998 by a Japanese magazine known as CoroCoro Comic and was awarded to the winners of a competition in said magazine. Only 39 copies of this card were known to be given out to the winners until 2020 when another 2 copies were discovered. It is the only Pokemon card that instead of saying “TRAINER” in bold letters at the top, instead says “ILLUSTRATOR” and even has a one-off pen icon on the bottom right corner of the back of the card to acknowledge the card’s origin. As well as this, the card’s illustrator is also the original designer of Pikachu as a whole. 

The card was purchased in July 2021 by YouTube superstar Logan Paul for an almost inconceivable $5.275 million.

Unfortunately, there is no objective way of telling how rare your Pokemon cards are due to how many rare Pokemon cards there are and how vastly different they all look. Although, there are certain Pokemon that have a tendency to sell for more than most Pokemon. These Pokemon include Charizard, Pikachu, any first-generation starter, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Lugia, Mewtwo, Mew, essentially, if the cards are from an OG generation of Pokemon, the nostalgia factor of the Pokemon plays a big factor. This is why you see The Pokemon Company pumping out a different version of the same Charizard any opportunity they get because that is the Pokemon that’s going to get people buying their packs. Then if you couple this with the card being vintage or just relatively old, there’s a good chance you have a valuable card on your hands.

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