Non-sports cards have enjoyed a significant amount of appreciation over the years. The market for collectibles has seen its share of ups and downs over time, and many of the skyrocketing prices seen during late 2020 and early 2021 have come back down to less stellar levels.

Pokemon has managed to remain relevant and thriving for much longer than some early watchers may have ever expected, and Pikachu is the Pokemon character that every person seems to know even if they do not watch or follow Pokemon. While Pikachu is not at all the most expensive collectible and card from the multitude of cards, the more rare and tournament cards are still priced very high. Is it fair to ask if $10,000 and higher is still the going cost to buy some of the lower population Pikachu cards?

Collectors Dashboard analyzes and evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class, using many of the same metrics that investors should use when they are buying stocks, bonds or real estate. That analysis does not include future price targets and never assumes there are guaranteed price gains. Investors cannot ask for guarantees in traditional investments, so they can’t expect that in collectibles either.

What is now undeniable is that collectors who have a passion for sports cards or non-sports cards are routinely having to compete for the exact same asset against investors who buy collectibles solely for the belief that they think the price today will be significantly higher in the future. That does not alter the issue of no guaranteed profits in life.

Several factors have to be in place for determining the more valuable Pikachu cards valued in the thousands of dollars versus the cards that may be worth $50 or $100 or $250. The price of $10,000 was first mentioned because that is what some recent sale prices have been selling for in auctions. And we have to consider that Pikachu is still not even the most valuable of all the character cards from the Pokemon series.

There is already an assumed demand that sets the floor for collectors and investors alike, and that leaves the condition and the supple as the major issues to consider. Common or base Pikachu cards will need to come with the top grades from PSA, Beckett, SGC or CGC to carry much value.

Auction giant eBay has a list of sold card varieties of the Pikachu character. One of the most rare Pikachu variety cards is the 1998 Pikachu 1st place trophy card only given to 1st place winners of Lizardon (Charizard) Tournament from 1998 in Japan. Only 14 examples were given away to contestants and on June 20, 2021 Pokemon PSA 7 NEAR MINT 1998 Pikachu 1st Place Trophy Card Charizard Tournament sold for $128,900.00.

There are still many of the rare Pikachu cards that have sold for closer to the $10,000 level because there are more of them. The bidding war for the top sale had a total of 78 bids and started at $0.99. It jumped to $20.04 then to $69.69, then straight to $10,000.00 for the third bid. That’s a clear indication of someone adding a large price to the automatic bid feature. PSA 7 is of course not a top grade by any measure for modern era cards, but the price is based on the scarcity for the classic supply vs. demand in the economic equation.

Similarly, available on eBay is a 1998 Pokemon Japanese 2nd Tournament Pikachu No. 3 Trophy PSA 9 Mint for a buy it now price of $524,999.99. One person views this card per hour and it seems obvious the seller is hoping to set a new record. It may be completely unrealistic, but that is for a buyer to decide what they want to pay and what real level a seller will accept.

Focusing on selling prices from eBay is not 100% consistent in the Pikachu character because there are 11 different variations from 1999 alone. One high price is also a set rather than one card, but here are some of the fresh sales that have been recorded on eBay:

• February 25, 2018 1999 Pokemon Shadowless Ultra Hi-Grd Comple PSA 10 set, Pikachu Machamp (PWCC) sold at auction for $31,300.00
• February 3, 2021 2016 Pokemon Card Game 20th Anniversary 24k Gold Pikachu Ginza Tanaka sold at auction for $27,372.00
• October 27, 2020 1995 Pokemon Japanese Topsun Holofoil Pikachu #25 PSA 10 GEM MINT sold at auction for $15,000.00
• June 28, 2020 2016 Pokemon 20th Anniversary 24k Gold Ginza Tanaka Japanese Pikachu #25 (PWCC) sold at auction for $12,655.10
• May 28, 2019 1999 Pokemon Game 1st Edition Non-Holo Complete PSA 10 Set Pikachu Machop (PWCC) sold at auction $11,100.00

The most popular Pikachu card based on its graded population is the 1999 #58 Red Cheeks-Shadowless card comes with 1,918 graded examples in the PSA population reports. That handily beats the Yellow Cheeks and Yellow Cheeks-Shadowless (1,686 and 1,150 examples, respectively) and handily beats the 1st Edition counts of Red Cheeks (1,374) and Yellow Cheeks (1,416). The recent sales have been coming back under the $1,000 level after having been above $2,000 earlier in 2021.

Scott Pratte is the collector who found a holy grail of Pokemon cards. The card is a 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card which was awarded to CoroCoro Illustration contest in Japan in January 1998. According to Pratte only 20 to 39 copies were handed out. The series of special run cards featuring Pikachu holding a trophy are limited.

The good news for collectors is that they do not have to spend $10,000 just to own a high-grade Pikachu card from the key 1999 year. Then again, the investors who are competing for the same assets are going to almost always go after the more scarce examples — and the proof is already there that the more limited editions can easily cost $10,000 or more.