Five years ago, Logan Paul set a world record by purchasing a Pokemon card for $5.275 million. It proved to be a sound investment, with the influencer and wrestler selling for an astonishing $16.492 million, along with a diamond-encrusted necklace.
A rare Pikachu illustrator card, one of only 39 made for a Pokemon illustration contest in the late ’90s, was sold at Goldin Auctions on Monday.
The WWE star is believed to have made more than $8 million, excluding auction fees, and he called the sale “absolutely insane.”
The auction, which had been running for 42 days, ended on Monday after hours of extended bidding, and Paul said during a YouTube livestream that he “might have worn someone out.”
“Oh my god, this is crazy,” he added as the auction ended and confetti rained down.
Shortly after, a Guinness World Records official appeared on screen and confirmed that Paul had sold the most expensive trading card ever at auction.
This time, the card was sold in a custom-made necklace worn by Paul at WrestleMania 38, with the promise that it would be handed to the highest bidder.
Pokémon is the world’s most profitable media franchise, surpassing even Disney and Star Wars. After Logan confirmed the cards would be put up for auction, Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin told CNN in December that the cards’ value has increased exponentially, outperforming sports cards over the past 20 years and outperforming the S&P stock market by 3,000%.
“This is the most coveted trading card in the world,” he said.
Goldin said the illustrator is considered the “holy grail of all Pokemon cards,” and Paul’s card is virtually perfect, making it highly coveted and the only illustrator card to be considered a grade 10 card by certification agency PSA.
As bidding drew to a close on Monday, the price was initially held at $6,882,000, but a flurry of last-minute offers during the extended bidding period that lasted several hours brought the final auction total to $16,492,000 out of 97 bids.
Paul has a reputation for taking collectibles to extreme levels and has spent millions of dollars securing some of the rarest items ever produced, including NFTs, which are unique, verifiable digital assets traded on the blockchain.
The WWE wrestling star bid farewell to the card on Saturday, writing in an Instagram post: “Goodbye, friends. What an honor to be the owner of the greatest collectible in the world.”
This card is just one of 20 Illustrator cards graded by PSA.
Paul acquired this ultra-rare Grade 10 card in July 2021 by exchanging $4 million in cash for a previously owned PSA Grade 9 Pikachu Illustrator card (valued at $1.275).
Only eight of the Pikachu Illustrator cards have earned a PSA grade of 9, and Paul’s sale is the only card to have earned a PSA grade of 10, the highest and most desirable grade assigned by PSA.
