A very rare Picachu Illustrator Trading Card sells at almost $55,000 in Heritage Auctions event on Monday, Nov 21. The organizers are happy for the turn-out of the auction held in Beverly Hills where an unnamed Hong Kong collector paid for the mind-boggling figure.
According to Yahoo!, this Picachu Illustrator Trading Cards are extremely rare, with only 39 pieces ever made since 1998 and only a handful remains in mint condition. Heritage spokesman Michael Halperin said that these cards were given during a CoroCoro Illustration contest in Jan 1998, thus the name Picachu Illustrator Trading cards.
Over the course of less than two decades, Picachu Illustrator Trading Cards became so rare that only 10 of them is known to be in tip-top shape. Further, most of these are in private collection and very hard to come by. In fact, even just 2 years after being distributed to winners of CoroCoro event, one card sold for $23,000 already, CNBC reported.
It was learned that chief Pokemon graphic illustrator Atsuko Nishida himself designed the Picachu Illustrator Trading Card. This iconic and considered to be the pinnacle of Pokemon card collectors depicts cute monster Picachu holding what looks like an illustrator's brush.
Halperin disclosed that the original owner of the card is a young collector who saw the opportunity after the popularity of Pokemon GO app. Heritage Auctions immediately agreed on the importance of Picachu Illustrator Trading Card and proceeded to auction the palm-sized carton. While Halperin denied naming the owner, he said that there could be other important pieces in his collection since he started the hobby when he was just a teen.
Pokemon was first introduced in Japan during 1996 with manga and anime boom. Then in February of the same year, the first ever game "Pokemon Red and Green" emerged. To commemorate that success, CoroCoro event was held which culminates with the distribution of Picachu Illustrator Trading Cards.
