The Pikachu Illustrator card is one of the rarest Pokemon cards ever made, with only about 39 known to exist in total from a print run of just 39 copies given out as prizes in a 1998 Japanese illustration contest. Mint condition means a perfect PSA 10 grade, where the card shows no flaws in corners, edges, centering, or surface. Out of those 39, just one has ever achieved that PSA 10 grade, making it the holy grail for collectors.[2][4]
This single mint Pikachu Illustrator sold for over 5 million dollars in 2022 when YouTuber Logan Paul bought it, and he later put it up for auction as a pristine gem.[3][4] No other copies have reached PSA 10 since, even though a few others are close, like PSA 9s that still fetch huge prices in the hundreds of thousands.[1][2] Experts track graded cards through services like PSA, and population reports show zero additional PSA 10s popping up in recent years.[2]
Why so few in mint condition? These cards were handed out to kids who entered drawings, so most got played with, bent, or stored poorly over 25 years. Printing back then was not as sharp as modern cards, adding tiny flaws that drop grades.[4] Collectors chase unopened packs or fresh finds, but for Pikachu Illustrator, the odds of pulling a mint one now are basically zero since no more exist in the wild.[5]
Recent sales of other Pikachu promos, like the 2024 Illustration Contest version, go for just 15 to 140 dollars even in high grades, showing how the original Illustrator towers above everything else in rarity and value.[1] If a second PSA 10 ever surfaces, prices could explode again, but for now, that lone mint copy rules as the ultimate prize.
