Rare Pokemon card sells for $195,000 in New York

Recently, a Pokemon TCG collector sold a rare Pokemon card for $195,000 at an event conducted by Weiss Auctions, an auctioneer based in New York.

Tech Deal recently reported on the sale. The card in question, the illustrious "Pikachu Illustrator," is one of only 20-39 limited edition copies in existence, having never gone on public sale. Instead, these cards were awarded as prizes to a select group of individuals who participated in one of three 1998 art contests organized by Japanese magazine CoroCoro.

Prior to the auction, this particular Pikachu Illustrator card had to go through a rigorous inspection process conducted by specialists in order for its legitimacy to be verified and corroborated. Apparently, more than a few conniving scoundrels have succeeded in making impressively detailed fakes, and dropping 200 grand on what you thought was a rare Pokemon card would probably ruin your weekend.

It's not unusual to see rare Pokemon cards selling for astronomical sums of money. Another Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $55,000 in 2016, while a sealed case of first edition cards fetched $70,000 earlier this year.

They might only be pieces of plastic, but consider it like this: an average Pokemon card weighs about 1.69 grams, which, if you convert to carats, clocks in at about 8.5. If you plug this information into Diamond Registry, you'll see that it's possible to get a diamond that size for slightly over $100,000. So, the most recent Pikachu Illustrator card sale, which, again, raked in a whopping $195,000 at final call, is almost twice as valuable as that. Mad, isn't it. Maybe they should put these cards in engagement rings.

Obviously this card absolutely smashed the record for the most expensive Pokemon card in history. The previous bearer of that honor was also a Pikachu Illustrator card that sold for just over half that price ($100,000) back in 2013. Naturally, because these cards have only ever been owned by private vendors, their value continues to increase. Ditch your gold, invest in TCG.