The Goldin Pokemon 30th Anniversary Auction heads into its final night with a PSA 8 Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu on a current bid of $2,525,000, which Goldin shows as $3,080,500 with its buyer’s premium. That is a bid, not a sale: no lot has closed, and the final phase only opens on Sunday night, October 25, at 10 p.m. Eastern.
As of October 24, 2026 (about 11 p.m. ET): Lot 1, the 1997 Japanese Trophy Pikachu, had 32 bids. Lot 2, an Art Academy Mudkip PSA 10, stood at $243,000. Lot 3, a Gold Star Mudkip PSA 10, stood at $205,000. A sealed EX Deoxys booster box was at $210,000. Every figure on this page is a live bid and will change.
What the Goldin Pokemon 30th Anniversary Auction is offering
Goldin, which is owned by eBay, built this sale around the franchise’s 30th birthday. Its headline lot is a Japanese promo awarded at the first official Pokémon TCG tournament, held at Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba in June 1997. The card shows a round Pikachu raising a trophy on a podium and was illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita, the artist behind the Base Set Charizard.
Prize cards like this were never sold in packs. They were handed to tournament winners, and Goldin’s own description calls this one an almost never encountered card.
Behind the Pikachu sit modern contest promos and vintage sealed wax. The table lists the lots that had passed six figures when we read the auction, with Goldin’s own lot numbers.
| Lot | Item | Current bid (read Oct 24, ~11 p.m. ET) | Bids | Shown with premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997 Japanese Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu, PSA 8 | $2,525,000 | 32 | $3,080,500 |
| 2 | 2015 Japanese Art Academy Mudkip (Daisuke Ochiai), PSA 10 | $243,000 | 20 | $296,460 |
| 5 | 2005 EX Deoxys sealed booster box (36 packs) | $210,000 | 12 | not recorded |
| 3 | Gold Star Mudkip from 2004’s EX Team Rocket Returns, PSA 10 | $205,000 | 17 | not recorded |
| 98 | 2011 Call of Legends sealed booster box (36 packs) | $170,000 | 28 | not recorded |
| 31 | 2015 Japanese Art Academy Pikachu (Y. Fujishima), PSA 10 | $125,000 | 7 | $152,500 |
“Not recorded” means we read those bids from Goldin’s list and search pages, which show the bid but not the premium-inclusive figure.
When bidding closes, and why the end time moves
Per Goldin’s lot pages, the open phase begins Sunday night at ten Eastern daylight time and runs in 30-minute extended bidding intervals. In practice, a lot stays open until half an hour passes without a new bid. Quiet lots end close to the start time; a contested lot like the Trophy Pikachu can run into the early hours of Monday.
That also explains a date mismatch in the coverage. ICv2 described the sale as running through October 25, while Screen Rant wrote that it ends on October 26. Both can be right: 10 p.m. EDT on the 25th is 2 a.m. UTC on the 26th, and extended bidding pushes the true close later still.
Goldin also says open extended bidding is available to everyone, with no prior bidding required, so the field is not limited to those who placed pre-bids.
The premium: what $2,525,000 really costs
Goldin displays two numbers on each lot. On the Trophy Pikachu, the gap between the $3,080,500 premium-inclusive figure and the $2,525,000 bid is $555,500, or 22% of the bid. The Mudkip and Raincoat Pikachu lots show the same ratio. That is our own arithmetic on Goldin’s displayed figures, not a rate printed on the page.
Which figure gets reported after the close matters. Fanatics Collect’s sold-items pages, for comparison, list prices with the buyer’s premium included. Setting a Goldin hammer bid beside a Fanatics premium-inclusive price would leave that 22% out of the comparison.
One of eight, or the only copy? The census conflict
Reports disagree on how scarce this card is in PSA holders. Goldin’s lot description says it is one of eight copies in PSA’s census, and adds that PSA has graded 56 Illustrator Pikachus, seven times as many. The Mudkip lot description repeats the eight-copy figure.
ICv2’s October 7 report said the opposite: “This is the only copy of this card in the PSA census.” Screen Rant’s October 17 article also called it the only card of its type in the census. We did not read PSA’s population report for this card, so we cannot settle the conflict. Goldin notes that population information in a lot description is accurate when the lot is posted and can change. Our guide to reading a PSA population report covers what those census counts do and do not show.
How the bid climbed, and a claim we could not confirm
The price path is visible in the press coverage. On October 7, ICv2 reported that pre-bidding was already over $1 million with the premium added. Screen Rant put it at $2,425,000 on October 17, and the lot sat $100,000 higher a week later when we checked.
Screen Rant’s headline said the card “fetches” $1 million, and its body said the card had sold, but the same article clarified that its figure only reflects the pre-bidding stage. Screen Rant also wrote that the same card changed hands at Goldin a few months earlier for $982,100. We could not find that sale on Goldin, so treat it as Screen Rant’s claim, not a verified price.
The Mudkips and the Raincoat Pikachu: bids versus September sales
Two of the six-figure lots are cards that set records at Fanatics Collect a month ago. Fanatics lists an Art Academy Mudkip PSA 10 at $3,720,000 on September 25 and an Art Academy Fujishima Pikachu PSA 10 (the “Raincoat Pikachu”) at $8,400,000 on September 27, both with premium.
The Goldin bids on other PSA 10 copies of those same cards are, so far, a fraction of those prices: $243,000 on the Mudkip and $125,000 on the Pikachu. Goldin says only three PSA 10 Art Academy Mudkips exist in the census, and that each winning contest artist received 100 copies of the card. Bids often jump in the final hours, so the gap may narrow. Our Raincoat Pikachu and Mudkip price breakdown tracks every recent sale of both cards.
Sealed boxes in six figures
Two factory-sealed booster boxes cleared six figures before the close. The 2005 EX Deoxys box, which Goldin notes could hold Gold Star Rayquaza, Latias or Latios, stood at $210,000 on 12 bids. The 2011 Call of Legends box had the more active bidding, with 28 bids taking it to $170,000. Goldin lists both with an X-Ray Authority letter of authenticity.
What to watch on Sunday night
Three things will decide how this auction is remembered. First, whether the Trophy Pikachu’s final premium-inclusive price finishes above the $3,080,500 Goldin displayed on Saturday night. Second, how close the two Art Academy bids get to their September sales at Fanatics. Third, where the Gold Star Mudkip and the two sealed boxes finish once bidders who held back show their hands.
We will update this page with final prices after the lots close. For the rest of this month’s big results, see our October 2026 high-value Pokémon card news roundup, and for the week’s other seven-figure card, the 1st Edition Charizard PSA 10 that sold at Fanatics on October 23.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Goldin Pokemon 30th Anniversary Auction end?
Goldin moves every lot into open extended bidding on Sunday night, October 25, at 10 p.m. Eastern (2 a.m. UTC on October 26). From then on each lot closes only after 30 minutes pass with no new bid, so the most contested lots can run well past the start time.
Has the Trophy Pikachu sold yet?
No. When we read the lot page on the night of October 24, 2026 it carried a current bid of $2,525,000 from 32 bids, which Goldin displays as $3,080,500 once its buyer’s premium is added. Nothing is sold until extended bidding ends.
How many PSA-graded Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu cards exist?
Goldin’s lot description says eight copies appear in PSA’s census. ICv2 and Screen Rant both called it the only copy. We did not read PSA’s population report for this card, so the figure remains Goldin’s.
What is the buyer’s premium at Goldin on these lots?
On the lots we checked, the with-premium figure Goldin shows is 22% above the current bid. That is our arithmetic on Goldin’s two displayed numbers, not a rate quoted on the page.
Can anyone bid in extended bidding?
Goldin’s lot pages say open extended bidding is available to everyone and that no prior bidding is required. Bidders still need a Goldin account and a bidding limit high enough for the lot.
Sources
- Lot 1: 1997 Pokemon Japanese Promo Gold 1st Place 1st Tournament #1 Trophy Pikachu, PSA NM-MT 8 — Goldin, lot page read about 11 p.m. ET, October 24, 2026
- Lot 2: 2015 Pokemon Japanese XY Promo Art Academy Daisuke Ochiai Mudkip, PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin, lot page read October 24, 2026
- Lot 31: 2015 Pokemon Japanese XY Promo Art Academy Y. Fujishima Pikachu, PSA GEM MT 10 — Goldin, lot page read October 24, 2026
- 2026 Pokemon 30th Anniversary Auction, lot list — Goldin, read October 24, 2026
- Goldin search results: sealed booster boxes in the 30th Anniversary Auction — Goldin, read October 24, 2026
- First Place Promo Pre-Bids Over $1 Million at Goldin’s ‘2026 Pokemon 30th Anniversary’ Auction — ICv2, October 7, 2026
- Pokemon Card Fetches $1 Million At 30th Anniversary Event — Screen Rant, October 17, 2026
- Sold items: Art Academy Mudkip PSA 10 — Fanatics Collect, read October 24, 2026
- Sold items: Art Academy Fujishima Pikachu PSA 10 — Fanatics Collect, read October 24, 2026
Auction bids are not sales until a lot closes; any bid on this page is labelled with the time we read it. Sale prices are as reported by the auction house or outlet named, and say whether they include the buyer’s premium where the source does. This article is collector news, not investment advice. Pokémon and all card names are trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc.; Pokemon Pricing is not affiliated with them or with any grading company.