The rising tide of Pokémon card sales is fast approaching the $1 million mark. A rare Pocket Monsters Japanese promo Pikachu Holographic Illustrator card PSA 7 recently sold for $900,000 through Goldin Auctions. The sale, which ended on February 23, 2022, drew 34 bids on its way to breaking the record for most expensive Pokémon card sold at auction.

The Pikachu Illustrator is one of the rarest Pokémon cards. They were originally given out as part of an illustration contest held by Coro Coro Magazine in 1997-1998. Featuring art by the first Pikachu illustrator Atsuko Nishida, they are the only cards with the Illustrator heading and the pen logo on the bottom right corner.

According to Goldin, there are only 23 copies of the Pikachu Illustrator card on the PSA population report and of those, only two are graded the PSA Near Mint 7.