Despite a truly eye-watering price tag, and connection to an NFT controversy, Logan Paul's most expensive Pokémon card has finally sold at auction. The PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card was already sitting as the Pokémon TCG's most highly-priced single - with a value just north of $5 million - but it has now more than tripled its 2021 sale, rocketing up to over $16 million dollars. A Guinness World Record adjudicator was on the scene to declare it the world's highest TCG sale.
After 97 bids, Logan Paul's valuable Pikachu sold for a record total of $16,492,000 with Buyer's Premium at Goldin, a 22% charge on top of the final bid. In reality, without the 'final hammer' price, laying down some hefty fees, the final price was $13,300,000. Considering fees are taken into account when you purchase an item, I'd say this Pokémon TCG card has certainly breached the $16 million figure.
I don't know how I'd tell my wife if I had spent that much on a card. I think I'd focus on the diamond-studded necklace that came with it, which presumably costs a sizable chunk of change.
The card was purchased by A.J. Scaramucci, son of financier Anthony Scaramucci, who infamously served as White House communications director for just 10 days during Trump's first term, and later became an outspoken critic of the President.
A.J. Scaramucci appeared on Logan Paul's livestream to accept the card, where he announced his plan to start a "planetary treasure hunt". He claims his mission is to "collect the uncollectible" and - along with the Pikachu Illustrator - he wants to buy a T-Rex skeleton and the Declaration of Independence.
The Pikachu Illustrator card was previously wrapped up in a strange NFT-based drama when Paul decided to put it up for auction. You can read our article for further insight into the issues, but the gist is that Logan Paul's co-founded Liquid Marketplace, which reportedly sold fractional shares of the Pikachu Illustrator card. This meant Paul's card was technically part-owned by other people when it went up for auction, and he would need to buy back full ownership before selling it.
Even putting aside the strange NFT-related shenanigans, it's still an eye-watering figure. $16 million. I still can't imagine that level of cash going to a piece of cardboard encased in a PSA slab. Of course, that's putting it lightly - it's a true collectible, and a neat bit of history, but the second-place on our expensive cards list is just $3 million, and when you say just before a number that large, you know we've reached new levels of premium pricing.
What does that mean for regular collectors or players like you and me? Well, nothing, really. It's a monumental figure that is a casualty of the ongoing Pokémon hype, and it's likely not going to further fuel stock shortages. Most fans like ourselves will still be looking for modern boxes, and the fraction of people making enough money to even consider buying cards like Paul's Pikachu Illustrator are on an entirely different level. However, what a way to start the 30th Anniversary celebrations!
If your brain is as fried reading those figures as I am writing them, join the Wargamer Discord to discuss how absolutely out-of-this-world $16 million for one card is. Honestly, my mind is blown. Or, if you're the final bidder, join in and share your new possession, and also maybe consider buying us a T. Rex.