As we mentioned late last month, longtime eBay seller and passionate Pokémon fan, Tomoya Ohno (Shangri-la Inc.) listed a rare, high-value 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card PSA 8. That auction ran until March 6th, 2023 with a starting bid of $480K.
Considered the “holy grail” of Pokémon cards, the Pikachu Illustrator card was given out to 41 winners of the 1997 and 1998 Pokémon Illustrator contests. Roughly only 24 Pikachu Illustrator cards have been certified by PSA, to date.
Now that the auction has come to a close, we’re sad to report that not a single bid came in. We’ve seen a few of these big-ticket cards sell in the past, but for whatever reason, no one was willing to bite this time. It looks like all the major players in the Pokémon TCG market decided to sit things out this time around.
eBay has said that they’re “working closely with the seller of this rare Pokémon Illustrator card,” and should it be listed again, they’ll keep fans informed.
