Pikachu Pokemon
Image via Variety and Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment

First edition Pokémon cards sell for over $100,000 at auction

Extremely rare cards reap huge rewards at auction.

It might be time to clean out your old boxes of Pokémon cards because some of them are becoming hot commodities. A set of first edition rare cards was sold for six figures at the Goldin Auction house over the weekend.

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Trading cards have always enticed collectors, but rarely does a trading card game like Pokémon bring in a return of over six figures on an initial investment. A collection of 103 exceptionally rare first edition (mint condition) Pokémon cards sold for $107,010 over the weekend at Goldin Auctions, according to TMZ.

Related: Top 10 Pokémon TAG TEAM GX cards to grab right now

The Pokémon cards that were sold were released in 1999 and are from the first edition holographic set. Some of the cards in the sale included the iconic and highly-coveted First Edition Charizard holo, said to be worth up to $50,000 on its own. It’s kind of like finding a mint condition Cal Ripken Jr. baseball card in the attic. 

1999 Pokemon Charizard HOLO first edition card sold at auction
Image via The Pokémon Company

Holo cards like Chansey, Alakazam, and Blastoise were also a part of this set. It’s unconfirmed whether a holo Pikachu was included in the 103 cards sold, but every card was rated as a BGS 10, according to TMZ. 

To score a perfect BGS 10 grade, every edge, corner and the surface of the trading card has to be in perfect mint condition. Finding Pokémon cards, or any type of trading card, in this kind of condition is rare, but not impossible. 

Related: How to watch the 2019 Pokémon World Championships

If you have the money to spend, a collection of near-perfect Pokémon holo cards is only $107,010—unless you just happen to have some of your own stashed away. That’d be like winning the trading card game lottery. 


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Danny Forster
Lead Magic: The Gathering/Teamfight Tactics scribe and staff writer for Dot Esports. Danny is a gamer beach bum residing in Spacecoast Florida and has been a journalist for seven years, of which five have been at Dot Esports. Prior media outllets Danny wrote for were Screen Rant and TheGamer. You can typically catch Danny playing TCGs and a variety of strategic games. He also hangs out on Twitter @Dannyspacecoast.