Move over, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Mickey Mantle. There is a new record price for a trading card and it blows away all those prices ever paid for such cards in the past. The new record goes to a Pikachu card, yes, really, a Pikachu card. Unlike the previous record holders, Pikachu doesn't even exist, but no matter. The card still sold for $16,492,000. That is 28% more than any other card has ever brought. The previous record holder was a dual Michael Jordan-Lebron James Logoman card that sold for $12,932,000. Before that, it was a Mickey Mantle rookie card for $12,600,000. This record comes on the heels of a record price paid for a comic book a short time earlier - $15 million. What is going on?
For those not well-versed in the Pokémon fantasy world, Pikachu is, according to Google (which is well-versed in that world), “a renowned Electric-type Pokémon, characterized as a small, yellow rodent with long, black-tipped ears, red cheek pouches that store electricity, and a lightning bolt-shaped tail.” I don't know if there was a real one whether it would bring $16.5 million, but collectors can be a stranger breed than Pokémons. $16,492,000 is a lot of money.
This is not an ordinary Pokémon card. It is a Pikachu “Illustrator” card, created as prizes for the winners of an illustration contest in Japan in 1998. Pikachu is depicted with a paintbrush in his little hand. There were “only” 41 of these made, though that is 41 times as many as there are of the Jordan-James card. Thirty-nine are believed to still exist. However, not all are as valuable, as this is the only one to have a perfect grade of “10,” meaning it is in the best condition.
The winner of the card at the auction held at Goldin on February 15 was AJ Scaramucci, son of Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted ten days as President Trump's Communications Director in 2017. However, the real winner has to be the man who sold it. The seller was Logan Paul, like Pikachu “renowned,” but in a different way. Paul is what they call an “influencer.” He is a blogger and YouTube personality with an enormous following, along with being a sometime professional wrestler. I'm not familiar with what he posts but obviously he is very good at it to have many millions of followers and enough money to have purchased this card in the first place. Paul paid $5,275,000 for his card in 2021, $4 million in cash and a “9” graded card valued at $1,275,000. Logan made at least an $8 million profit on the transaction. Some of the proceeds went to Goldin, though it is not clear whether they took the entire buyer's premium. Paul is an astute investor and may have negotiated a hard bargain. The price before buyer's premium was $13.3 million, so the premium was quite substantial, over $3 million.
There was a bonus with the card, a diamond-studded necklace worn by Paul when he brought the card to a wrestling match. However, as valuable as a diamond necklace can be, it was appraised at $75,000, which meant the card was still worth over $16.4 million.
The bidding followed an unusual pattern, one that looks like bidders may have been swept away in the moment. Bidding opened on January 5. By February 14, it still stood at $5,350,000. The next bid of $5,450,000 did not come until 7:04 p.m. on February 15. But a bid at 7:50 opened extended bidding and then all hell broke loose. Ten minutes later, it shot up to $10 million, with the last underbidder at $13.2 million dropping out after a final bid at 10:24. Twenty minutes later, the hammer went down at $13.3 million.
Winner Scaramucci is a venture capitalist, which presumably is a well-paying profession. He is also a treasure hunter. He has a website – www.treasuretrove.com, but nothing is posted there yet except a place to sign up for their “list.” Scaramucci is quoted by sports card journalist Ben Burrows as saying, “I'm on a planetary treasure hunt right now. I'm on a quest to buy a T-Rex dinosaur fossil — that's on my list. I'm going to buy the Declaration of Independence. And I'm not stopping there. This was only the beginning.” He will need a lot more display space for the T-Rex than for the Pokemon card.
The primary audience for Pokémon trading cards is children age 5-12, but, as with some of those baseball and other sports cards, the best are now owned by adults. Pikachu may have once played with children, but the little rodent has grown up now and plays in the big leagues. Youth is fleeting.
