NEW JERSEY – A rare Pokemon card fetched a record US$16.49 million (S$20.8 million) including the buyer’s premium on Feb 16 in New Jersey, making it the most expensive Pocket Monster trading card ever sold in a public auction.

The Pokemon Illustrator card, which depicts the iconic cartoon character Pikachu, has a hobby card authenticator rating of 10, the highest possible grade. It is one of only 39 of the illustration cards given to winners of a 1998 drawing contest held by the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic.

The card was consigned to the New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions house by Logan Paul, an American social media influencer with millions of fans. He bought the card in 2021 for US$5.27 million, earning the Guinness World Record title for “most expensive Pokemon card sold at a private sale,” according to the Guinness website.

The successful bidder, who won the Pikachu card with a diamond necklace it hangs from, appeared at a livestream watch party for the auction on Paul’s YouTube channel to collect the item. However, the auction house did not reveal his identity on the morning of Feb 16 when the auction ended.

In recent years, prominent social media influencers have engaged with fans by opening boxes containing multiple packs of Pokemon cards, hoping to find rare cards that could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Ahead of the online auction that started on Jan 5, Mr Ken Goldin, the founder and owner of the auction house, told Kyodo News that he thought the price of the card had appreciated since 2021 and “wouldn’t be surprised” if the lot reached over US$10 million. KYODO NEWS