A PSA 9 Illustrator set a new mark for its grade while a PSA 10 Skyridge master set topped $1.2M in a record-setting March event.
By Intelligent Collector Staff | March 31, 2026
Heritage Auctions’ March 27–28 Trading Card Games and Manga Signature® Auction delivered a strong 30th-anniversary signal for Pokémon collecting, posting a record $7,620,617 total for Heritage’s Trading Card Games category, according to the company. The event was led by a seven-figure result for one of the hobby’s most closely watched trophy cards and backed by additional record prices across sealed product, complete sets, original art, and inaugural manga offerings.
The top lot was a Pokémon Pikachu Illustrator Unnumbered Promo CoroCoro Comics card, graded PSA Mint 9, which realized $1,406,250 on the first day of the sale. Heritage described the price as a new public-auction record for the PSA 9 grade. The press release notes that the Illustrator card was awarded as the grand prize in one of the earliest illustration contests promoted in CoroCoro Comic and remains one of the most recognized prizes in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Heritage also cited population context: PSA has certified 15 copies in Mint 9, with only one graded higher.
A second headline lot crossed the million-dollar threshold: a complete master set of 332 Pokémon Skyridge cards, all graded PSA Gem Mint 10, realized $1,218,750. Heritage called it the only known fully PSA-10-graded complete set and said the result set a record for the set. In a modern era where scarcity is often manufactured through serial numbering, a true “complete set in uniform top grade” functions as a different type of rarity—one built through time, survival, and the difficulty of assembling perfect examples at scale.
The auction also produced major results in other Pokémon lanes. Heritage reported that a First Edition Base Set Charizard (PSA Gem Mint 10) realized $550,000, a figure that remains tied to the card’s top-end supply constraint; the release notes 125 PSA 10 examples. On the original-art side, a PSA-authenticated Ken Sugimori shikishi sketch depicting Misty and Pikachu, signed in English and Japanese and dated June 23, 1998, realized $600,000, which Heritage said was the highest price ever paid for Pokémon original art and the highest shikishi result to date. The release also cites record highs for sealed material, including $212,500 for a sealed Pokémon Skyridge booster box and $125,000 for a sealed Japanese booster set.
New to this auction format was a dedicated Manga component, and Heritage positioned it as record-setting in its own right. The sale included the first manga appearance of Godzilla—Kagaku Bouken E Monogatari Gojira—which realized $81,250, setting an issue record price, along with other debut or milestone manga lots such as Dragon Ball and One Piece.
The combined results suggest that the top of the Pokémon market remains liquid and competitive, especially for cards and artifacts with clear award provenance, unusually constrained populations, or “only-known” set-building difficulty—conditions that tend to define lasting trophy status beyond anniversary cycles.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release (March 31, 2026).