Well, it seems Pokémon cards are still as popular as ever. I mean, how else do you explain one of them selling for nearly $250k at auction?

A picture of the Pokémon card in question.
Who’s that Pokémon? It’s…Tsunekazu Ishihara?!

Goldin Auctions, a top auction house for selling trading cards and other memorabilia, just reported that this month in April, they sold an extremely rare Pokémon card to a very lucky bidder. The exact bid? $247,230 USD. When someone is willing to pay nearly a quarter of a million US dollars for a single Pokémon card, you know this is a rare find. You might even say that they’ve got a shiny legendary Pokémon now.

$250 Grand Pokémon Card: The Details

Tsunekazu Ishihara and his very own Pokémon card.
The rare Pokémon himself in his natural habitat.

So exactly why is this Pokémon card so valuable? Well, for starters, you might’ve noticed that this is one bizarrely human-like Pokémon. That’s because this isn’t a Pokémon at all (yet). Rather, the guy on the front of the card is none other than Tsunekazu Ishihara himself: the president of The Pokémon Company. The card itself is loftily named the Tsunekazu Ishihara GX Promo Card, with card art by Mike Cressy showing Ishihara with a Rotom in one hand while reaching for a Master Ball with the other.

The Pokémon Company actually distributed this “Pokémon card” to employees back in 2017 to celebrate Tsunekazu Ishihara’s 60th birthday. You literally can’t get them anywhere else, which perfectly explains why it’s so valuable. And to top it all off, this particular card has Ishihara’s distinct signature right on it. You can tell it’s him from that little Pikachu doodle to the left of the autograph, which he adds to all of his signatures. Yeah, now it’s easy to see why someone was willing to pay nearly a quarter million USD for it, isn’t it?

Tsunekazu Ishihara's signature on a very lucky person's invitation.
I’m pretty sure the president of The Pokemon Company gets to use Pikachu on his signature.

Conclusion

Someone paid nearly $250 grand for a Pokémon card at auction. An ultra-rare collectible Pokémon card with The Pokémon Company’s president’s likeness on it, and with his autograph right on it. It’s practically a shiny legendary Pokémon in terms of rareness. Now you can see why that lucky person would bid so high on it. Just goes to show you: Pokémon is still going strong even after 25 years.

Source: Comic Book