Pikachu Illustrator cards are among the rarest Pokemon treasures, with only about 39 known to exist in total, but no one knows exactly how many of those have been poorly stored over the years.
This special card comes from a 1998 Japanese illustration contest run by CoroCoro magazine. Kids entered drawings, and the top 39 winners got these promo cards as prizes. They feature a cute Pikachu in artist Atsuko Nishida’s style and were never sold in packs. Most stayed hidden in personal collections for decades.
Poor storage hits these cards hard. Think bent corners from rubber bands, faded colors from sunlight, or creases from being stuffed in binders without sleeves. Pokemon cards need cool, dry, dark spots to stay mint. Heat, humidity, or rough handling drops their grade fast when checked by PSA or BGS. A perfect PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator sold for over 5 million dollars in 2022, owned by Logan Paul at the time. Lower grades from bad storage sell for way less, sometimes just thousands.
Experts guess 13 to 100 copies might still be out there ungraded, based on old reports. Some collectors think more exist but sit in attics, poorly kept and unknown. Graded ones show the damage: only a handful hit high scores like PSA 10, meaning most survivors faced years of neglect. Recent sales of other Pikachu promos, like the 2024 Illustration Contest version, go for 15 to 140 dollars even in near mint, but poor condition ones drop quick.
If you find one, check its state right away. Yellowed edges or scratches scream poor storage and tank value. Get it sleeved and graded to know for sure. Hunt smart at shows or online, but verify sellers. These cards spark dreams for collectors chasing that big score.
