Thanks to the likes of Logan Paul and the pandemic-era hobby boom, Pokemon card collecting is enjoying a big moment right now. Though apparently not big enough for some, as one collector put up a mint condition grail card for $480,000 on eBay, but received zero bids in the process.
That card is Illustrator Pikachu, widely considered the rarest and most valuable card on the current market. The item was offered only as a promo card in Japan, and only 40 copies are currently known to exist. Last year, another mint copy of the card sold for $900,000 in a Goldin auction, shattering the then-record of $375,000. Influencer and sports entertainer Logan Paul said that he spent $5 million to obtain one in 2022 in order to wear it to Wrestlemania.
Ebay sent out press releases to try to drum up interest in the auction. The PR firm representing the auction told Kotaku in an email that the card may be re-listed at some point. This comes at a moment when Pokemon cards are doing quite well in stores, but it’s unclear if the very top-end of the collectors market will continue to bear transactions in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for these beloved cards. Given that multiple notable sales in that range happened just months ago, it seems unlikely to collapse anytime soon.
