How Many Pikachu Illustrator Cards Exist That Influence Price Narratives
If you collect Pokemon cards, you have probably heard about the Pikachu Illustrator. It tops lists as one of the rarest and most valuable cards ever made. People often ask how many of these cards exist because that number drives the price story big time. Fewer cards mean higher demand and sky-high prices for collectors.
The Pikachu Illustrator comes from a 1998 art contest in Japan run by CoroCoro magazine. Winners got these special promo cards as prizes. Experts believe only about 39 of them were ever printed. Out of those, just a handful have shown up in the market over the years. Some sources say between 13 and 39 total copies might exist today, but no one knows for sure because not all have been graded or sold publicly.[2][4]
Why does the exact number matter so much? Scarcity is the king of card pricing. When Logan Paul bought a pristine PSA 10 graded Pikachu Illustrator for over 5 million dollars in 2022, it made headlines. That sale proved how low supply pushes values up. Only a few have reached top grades like PSA 10, making perfect copies even harder to find. Collectors chase them like gold because another one might not surface for years.[2][3][4]
Grading adds to the price narrative too. Services like PSA check centering, edges, corners, and surface quality on a scale of 1 to 10. A Pikachu Illustrator in near mint might fetch thousands, but a PSA 10 can hit millions. Print flaws from back then make high grades rare. The story of “how many perfect ones are out there” keeps prices climbing as hype builds.[4]
Compare this to newer Pikachu promos like the 2024 Illustration Contest #214. Those sell for 15 to 140 dollars depending on grade and condition, with sales happening weekly. Plenty exist, so prices stay steady and low. The old Illustrator has no such luck, with maybe just dozens total influencing every auction bid.[1]
Owners keep most Illustrator cards hidden in vaults, adding mystery. Rumors of lost or destroyed copies float around, which pumps up the value even more. For buyers on sites like PokemonPricing.com, tracking sales data helps spot trends. When a new one pops up graded high, watch the price charts explode because the supply stays tiny.[1][2]
This low count creates endless talk in collector circles. It turns a simple promo into a legend that shapes the whole market for rare Pokemon cards.
