Whether most people are a collector or not, the value of Pokémon cards is seemingly known across the world. Records are being broken time and time again as expensive cards keep reappearing on the market. Interestingly enough, Pokémon cards have continued to accrue value over the years to the point where it's not uncommon for old Base Set cards to hit five figures.
Pokémon card value is highly determined by rarity and age. The more limited a card is, the harder it is to find, the more people are willing to spend on it. In turn, many of the more expensive cards are often older, as it's increasingly difficult to find high grade vintage cards. Serious collectors are open to spending upwards of $250,000 USD to complete their collection. As demand increases, so does the value, and there will always be someone willing to pay the price to collect them all.
Perhaps one of the most notorious expensive cards on the market is a first edition Base Set Holographic Charizard. Charizard cards in general tend to rack up a good sum, but given the vintage nature of the card, a Base Set Charizard is often sold for about $20,000 USD for a PSA 9 card. However, this is not the most expensive this card can get. A Base Set Shadowless Charizard can sell for well over $60,000 USD. This price spike is caused by the fact that shadowless cards were only printed by one company over the course of about 2 hours, meaning that the amount of shadowless cards produced is very limited. Even less cards ever make it to market, making it an extremely rare find.
The Rarest Cards In The Pokémon Trading Card Game
The super rare number trainer cards often go for quite a bit more than a Base Set Charizard. These cards could only be won during official Pokémon tournaments by the top three finishers. The first prize winner would receive the No. 1 Trainer card while second and third place won the No. 2 Trainer and No. 3 Trainer cards respectively. While variants of these cards are still being produced, the original Pikachu Number Trainer cards from 1997 and 1998 are the most valuable. The No. 1 Trainer card depicts Pikachu standing on a pedestal holding up a trophy. Due to the very limited nature of this card, it often sells for upwards of around $100,000 USD while the other two vintage Trainer cards can average closer to $80,000 USD.
However, this is not the most expensive Pikachu card to date. The title of most expensive and rarest Pokémon card goes to the 1998 Illustrator Pikachu card. Approximately 39 copies of this card were ever made and could only be attained during one Pokémon Illustration contest. The card, which has no value in battle, simply congratulates the contest winner and recognizes them as an official Pokémon illustrator. A PSA graded Mint 9 version of this card recently sold in auction for a whopping $250,000 USD. If that seems insane, it's worth noting that another PSA 9 card is currently listed on eBay at a Buy Now price of $2,000,000 USD. Whether the card ends up selling for that price is unclear, but Illustrator Pikachu has definitely cemented its reputation as the rarest card in the Pokémon trading card community.
With the value of Pokémon cards continuously on the rise, it's likely some of these records will be shattered sooner rather than later. If someone wanted to take the route of being a serious collector, there are a lot of expensive cards out there, including a surprisingly expensive $50,000 USD Magikarp card.
Source: Bulbapedia