The man behind Pikachu Illustrator
Atsuko Nishida produced the artwork for The Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator Card. It is the only Trainer Card in the long-running valuable card game series that states “Illustrator” at the peak and has a pen symbol at the base right corner.
Why is it rarer?
In an illustration contest, a limited number of Pikachu Illustrators were made available as prizes. In 1997 and 1998, the Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic hosted this event.
Officially, the winners received 39 copies. Nonetheless, one of the card game’s creators claimed to have discovered two pieces. The total number of copies of Pikachu Illustrator in existence is 41.
The number of surviving copies is unclear. Only 10 PSA-certified copies are known, which is risky given the popularity of counterfeit copies. Furthermore, the fact that the card was once a prize makes it even rarer.
You must catch all of the Pokémon if you want to be the best in the world of Pokémon. The total number of Pokémon now stands at a staggering 898. However, achieving this goal is becoming more complex. To get every Pokémon card, you’ll need to collect over 10,000 different cards.
What is the Pikachu Illustrator card worth?
Per the Guinness World Records, a near-flawless copy of the card certified Mint 9, one grade in near-perfect condition, sold for $195,000 at auction in 2019. That was the highest-priced at that time. A few years after, another rarer sold in the auction.
Likewise, PSA has resold a print of The Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator Card rated at Near Mint 7 at sell-off in February 2021 for $375,000. Because of the astronomical cost, Pikachu Illustrator is the most valuable Pokémon card of all time. And a veritable Holy Grail of Pokémon cards.
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