Logan Paul’s big bet on Pokémon appeared to have paid off Sunday night.
The WWE star and social media influencer broke a world record when he sold his 1998 Japanese Pikachu Illustrator, graded as a PSA gem mint 10, for more than $16.4 million. It was the only card of its kind to receive the high grade by PSA, which graded 52 others. Comparatively, Beckett graded five similar cards, with the highest being a mint 9 grade.
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“Absolute madness,” Paul said describing the auction as it was taking place in a video posted to his Instagram.
Paul bought the card a few years ago in what Guinness World Records said at the time was the “most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale.” Paul would use the card as a prop for his WrestleMania 38 entrance as he turned his attention to pro wrestling.
Goldin Auctions Co. received the auction rights for Paul’s piece. The company described the card as an “unimaginable Holy Grail piece.”
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At the initial height of the Pokémon craze in November 1997, CoroCoro Comic announced a contest for readers called the “Pokémon Card Game Illust Artist Contest.” Readers would be challenged to draw their own Pokémon card and send it into the magazine. The winners of the contest would receive 20 cards featuring their own illustration. Twenty other contestants received an “Excellence Award” in which they received a copy of the Pikachu Illustrator Card.
“The current hobby consensus is that 41 copies of this card were officially awarded and distributed, with this Logan Paul-backed piece the chief among them,” Goldin’s description read. “The card is accompanied by a custom wooden presentation box bearing Paul’s Maverick logo and a plaque that reads ‘Pokémon / Pikachu Illustrator / PSA 10 / 1 of 1.’
“Due to the scarcity, grand value, and pedigree of this Pikachu Illustrator, this is one of the most significant public offerings of a Pokémon card in the history of the hobby and a potentially once-in-a-lifetime sale.”
A.J. Scaramucci, the son of financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, purchased the card.
“Goodbye my friend,” Paul wrote on Instagram before the auction began. “What a privilege it’s been to be the owner of the greatest collectible in the world.”
The item is now considered to be the most expensive trading card in the world.
A 1952 Mickey Mantle card previously held the record. It was sold in 2022 for $12.6 million.
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