Logan Paul just turned a $5,275,000 Pokémon card into a $16,492,000 payday. On February 16, 2026, his 1998 Japanese Pikachu Illustrator card — graded PSA Gem Mint 10 and believed to be the only copy at that grade level — sold through Goldin Auctions after 42 days of online bidding and 97 total bids. The sale, which included a custom $75,000 diamond necklace featuring a pavé diamond Poké Ball, netted Paul an estimated $8 million in profit and earned Guinness World Records confirmation as the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction.
The buyer was AJ Scaramucci, a venture capitalist and founder of Solari Capital, who surprised viewers of Paul’s livestream by already being in the room when the hammer fell. Paul placed the diamond necklace around Scaramucci’s neck immediately after the sale closed. The moment was peak spectacle — part auction, part content creation, part flex — and it captured perfectly how the high-end collectibles market has changed in the last five years. This article breaks down the full story: how the card’s value climbed from $5.275 million to $16.5 million, what makes the Pikachu Illustrator so rare, who AJ Scaramucci is and why he paid that price, what the sale means for the broader Pokémon card market, and whether this kind of return is even remotely replicable for ordinary collectors.
Table of Contents
- How Did Logan Paul Turn a $5 Million Pokémon Card Into a Record-Breaking $16 Million Sale?
- What Makes the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator Worth Millions?
- Who Is AJ Scaramucci, and Why Did He Pay $16.5 Million for a Pokémon Card?
- What Does This Sale Mean for Pokémon Card Values Overall?
- The Debate Over Celebrity Provenance and “Slop Tokenization”
- The Role of Goldin Auctions and Modern Auction Mechanics
- Where Does the Pokémon Card Market Go From Here?
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Did Logan Paul Turn a $5 Million Pokémon Card Into a Record-Breaking $16 Million Sale?
The short answer is rarity, patience, and showmanship. The 1998 Japanese Pikachu Illustrator was originally created for a Pokémon illustration contest in Japan, and only 39 known copies exist. Most of those are in far lower condition. Paul’s copy carried a PSA Gem Mint 10 grade — believed to be the only Illustrator at that level — which placed it in a category of one. When you own the sole example of something at the highest possible grade, you are not really competing with a market. You are the market. Paul purchased the card in 2021 for $5,275,000, which was itself a world record at the time. He then did something that most traditional collectors would never consider: he turned it into wearable content.
He commissioned a $75,000 diamond necklace — red and black pavé diamonds forming a Poké Ball that housed the card — and wore it publicly, including at WrestleMania 38. Every appearance was marketing. Every photo was a reminder that the card existed and that one person owned it. By the time it went to auction through Goldin in early 2026, the card was not just a collectible. It was an artifact of internet culture. Compare this to how most high-value cards change hands — quietly, through private sales or traditional auction houses with muted marketing. Paul’s approach was the opposite. He livestreamed the auction finale to thousands of viewers, turning what could have been a line item in an auction catalog into a media event. The result was a final price that more than tripled his investment.
What Makes the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator Worth Millions?
The pikachu Illustrator’s value comes from a combination of factors that almost never align this cleanly. The card was never sold commercially. It was awarded to winners and runners-up of illustration contests run by CoroCoro Comic magazine in 1998, making it a promotional item with an extremely limited print run. Of the 39 known copies, most have seen decades of handling, storage in less-than-ideal conditions, or outright damage. A PSA 10 — meaning virtually flawless centering, edges, corners, and surface — is extraordinary for a card that was handed to contest winners nearly three decades ago. However, rarity alone does not create a $16.5 million price tag. Plenty of rare cards exist in small numbers without commanding eight-figure sums.
What separates the Illustrator is the intersection of rarity with cultural significance. Pikachu is the most recognizable Pokémon in the world, the franchise itself generates more annual revenue than any other entertainment property, and the card represents the earliest era of Pokémon collecting. It is the most iconic card from the most iconic franchise, in the best possible condition. If even one of those factors were different — say, a PSA 10 of a less recognizable Pokémon from the same contest — the price would be a fraction of what Scaramucci paid. It is also worth noting a limitation: PSA grades, while widely trusted, are not infallible. Cards have been resubmitted and received different grades. The “only PSA 10” status of Paul’s Illustrator is based on current PSA population reports, which could theoretically change if another copy were submitted and received the same grade. That has not happened, but the possibility is non-zero, and any future buyer at this level should understand that the scarcity premium is partly dependent on that population report remaining unchanged.
Who Is AJ Scaramucci, and Why Did He Pay $16.5 Million for a Pokémon Card?
AJ Scaramucci is the founder of Solari Capital, a venture capital firm, and the son of Anthony Scaramucci, who founded SkyBridge Capital and briefly served as White House Communications Director. The younger Scaramucci is part of a generation of wealthy investors who view collectibles — trading cards, art, sneakers, wine — not just as hobbies but as alternative asset classes that can diversify a portfolio and generate returns that are uncorrelated with traditional markets. What made the moment memorable was staging. Scaramucci was already in the room during the livestream, a fact that surprised Paul and the audience when his identity as the winning bidder was revealed. Paul walked over and placed the diamond necklace around Scaramucci’s neck on camera, creating exactly the kind of clip that circulates on social media for days.
For Scaramucci, the $16.5 million was not just for a card. It was for the card, the necklace, the story, the content, and the cultural moment. Whether that proves to be a wise investment depends entirely on whether the next buyer someday values those same things even more highly. For context, Scaramucci’s purchase sits at the intersection of several trends: the growing acceptance of collectibles as legitimate alternative investments, the influence of celebrity provenance on auction prices, and the willingness of younger high-net-worth individuals to pay premiums for items with built-in narratives. A Pikachu Illustrator PSA 10 without Logan Paul’s ownership history and the WrestleMania necklace would still be extraordinarily valuable — but probably not $16.5 million valuable.
What Does This Sale Mean for Pokémon Card Values Overall?
The honest answer is: less than most collectors hope. Record-setting sales at the very top of any market — whether art, real estate, or trading cards — have a limited trickle-down effect. A $16.5 million Pikachu Illustrator does not mean your PSA 9 Base Set Charizard is suddenly worth double what it was last week. The ultra-high end of the Pokémon card market operates on different logic than the mid-range and entry-level tiers. Billionaires buying trophy assets do not typically move the needle on cards worth hundreds or low thousands of dollars. That said, the sale does reinforce a broader trend. The Pokémon card market has matured significantly since the pandemic-era boom of 2020-2021, when prices spiked across the board before correcting sharply in 2022 and 2023.
What has emerged since then is a more stratified market: vintage, high-grade cards from the earliest sets have held or regained value, while modern mass-produced cards have largely settled at much lower levels. The Illustrator sale confirms that the top of the vintage market is not just stable — it is still climbing. The tradeoff for collectors hoping to replicate even a fraction of Paul’s return is straightforward. You need to buy cards that are genuinely scarce, not just old. You need condition rarity, meaning a high grade in a population where most copies grade poorly. And you need patience, because Paul held his card for nearly five years before selling. Flipping modern pulls from booster packs is a fundamentally different activity than investing in vintage trophy cards, and confusing the two is how collectors lose money.
The Debate Over Celebrity Provenance and “Slop Tokenization”
Not everyone celebrated the sale. The auction sparked debate in both the collecting and financial communities about what some critics call “slop tokenization” — the idea that celebrity ownership, content creation, and spectacle are inflating the value of physical assets beyond any reasonable intrinsic worth. The argument goes that Scaramucci did not pay $16.5 million for a trading card. He paid for a piece of the Logan Paul brand, and that brand premium is inherently unstable because it depends on Paul’s continued cultural relevance. There is some merit to this concern. Celebrity provenance has always affected auction prices — a guitar owned by Jimi Hendrix sells for more than the same model without that history — but the scale of the premium here is unusual.
Paul’s ownership arguably added millions to the card’s value, and if the next owner is less famous, a future resale could see that premium evaporate. Scaramucci may not care about resale value, but anyone analyzing this sale as a case study in collectible investing should understand that the price reflects factors that are not transferable. The NFT comparisons are also hard to ignore. Paul has been involved in crypto and NFT projects, and critics have drawn lines between the speculative nature of those markets and the dynamics of this sale. Whether that criticism is fair depends on your perspective, but the warning for collectors is real: do not assume that every rare card will follow the same trajectory. The Pikachu Illustrator sale was driven by a unique combination of factors — singular rarity, celebrity narrative, a wealthy buyer with a taste for spectacle — that does not generalize to the broader market.
The Role of Goldin Auctions and Modern Auction Mechanics
Goldin Auctions has become the dominant platform for high-end trading card sales, and the mechanics of this particular auction are worth understanding. The card was listed for 42 days of online bidding, a format that builds anticipation and allows bidders from around the world to participate without attending a physical event. The price sat at $6.882 million for much of the auction before a flurry of last-minute bids during an extended bidding period — a common feature in online auctions designed to prevent sniping — drove it to a $13.3 million hammer price.
The 24 percent buyer’s premium, standard for major auction houses, pushed the total to $16,492,000. This format matters because it represents how the market has shifted away from the old model of quiet private sales. Goldin’s platform, combined with Paul’s livestream, turned the auction into entertainment. Whether that is good for the hobby long-term is debatable, but it unquestionably maximizes sale prices by creating urgency, audience, and FOMO in real time.
Where Does the Pokémon Card Market Go From Here?
The Pikachu Illustrator sale sets a new ceiling, but ceilings and floors are different things. The most likely trajectory for the high-end vintage Pokémon market is continued strength for genuinely rare cards — early Japanese promos, first edition Base Set holos in PSA 10, trophy cards from official tournaments — and continued stagnation or slow decline for modern product that was printed in massive quantities. The gap between these two tiers will probably widen.
For collectors, the practical takeaway is not to chase the next $16 million card. It is to understand what made this sale possible — true scarcity, exceptional condition, cultural significance, and a seller who knew how to create a narrative — and apply those principles at whatever scale makes sense for your budget. The cards that will hold value over the next decade are the ones that cannot be reprinted, cannot be easily found in high grades, and carry historical significance within the hobby. Everything else is speculation.
Conclusion
Logan Paul’s sale of the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator for $16,492,000 is the most expensive trading card transaction ever recorded at auction, confirmed by Guinness World Records. He turned a $5.275 million purchase into an estimated $8 million profit by combining genuine rarity — the only known PSA 10 of a card with just 39 copies in existence — with five years of brand-building, a custom diamond necklace, and a livestreamed auction that turned a sale into a spectacle. The buyer, AJ Scaramucci, got more than a card. He got a story, and in the modern collectibles market, stories carry premiums. For the rest of the Pokémon card community, the lesson is nuanced.
This sale confirms that the absolute top of the vintage market is thriving, but it does not change the fundamentals for everyday collectors. Focus on genuine scarcity, condition rarity, and historical significance. Be skeptical of anyone who points to this sale as evidence that all Pokémon cards are good investments. Most are not. The ones that are share specific characteristics that the Pikachu Illustrator embodies better than any other card in the hobby.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card?
It is a promotional card created for a Pokémon illustration contest run by CoroCoro Comic magazine in Japan in 1998. Only 39 copies are known to exist, making it the rarest and most valuable Pokémon card in the world. It was never sold in stores or included in booster packs.
How much did Logan Paul originally pay for the Pikachu Illustrator?
Paul purchased the card in 2021 for $5,275,000, which was a world record for a trading card at the time. He sold it on February 16, 2026, through Goldin Auctions for $16,492,000, representing an estimated profit of over $8 million after fees.
Who bought Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator card?
The buyer was AJ Scaramucci, a venture capitalist who founded Solari Capital. He is the son of Anthony Scaramucci, the SkyBridge Capital founder and former White House Communications Director. Scaramucci was present in the room during the livestreamed auction finale.
What was included in the sale besides the card?
The sale included a custom $75,000 diamond necklace featuring a red and black pavé diamond Poké Ball that houses the card. Paul wore the necklace publicly, including at WrestleMania 38. Paul also promised to hand-deliver the card to the winning bidder.
Does this sale mean my Pokémon cards are worth more now?
Not necessarily. The Pikachu Illustrator is a one-of-a-kind trophy card at the absolute peak of the market. Record sales at the ultra-high end typically do not significantly affect prices for common or mid-range cards. The factors that drove this price — singular rarity, PSA 10 grade scarcity, and celebrity provenance — do not apply to most cards in circulation.
Is the Pikachu Illustrator the most expensive trading card ever sold?
Yes. Guinness World Records officially confirmed the $16,492,000 sale as the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction, surpassing all previous records across Pokémon, sports cards, and other trading card categories.
