The “Holy Grail” of Pokémon has officially dethroned the kings of the hardcourt.

In a historic auction closing Sunday night (2/15/26) at Goldin, Logan Paul’s PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator sold for $16,492,000, shattering the world record for the most expensive trading card ever sold.

The sale surpasses the short-lived record held by the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant card, which sold for $12.932 million in August 2025.

The “Mona Lisa” of Pokémon

The Pikachu Illustrator is widely considered the most valuable and exclusive Pokémon card in existence. Originally distributed in 1998 as a prize for a CoroCoro Comic illustration contest in Japan, only 39 official copies were awarded. Of those, this specific card is the only known copy to achieve a perfect GEM MT 10 grade from PSA.

“To be one of the Holy Grails of the collectibles industry, a card needs to embody certain indelible qualities,” said Goldin in a statement regarding the auction. “This incomparable Pikachu Illustrator fits this description to a ‘t’.”

From Dubai to WrestleMania: A Card with a Resume

The card’s journey to this record-breaking night is as colorful as the holographic foil on its surface.

Logan Paul originally acquired the card in a private transaction in Dubai in July 2021. To seal the deal, Paul traded a PSA 9 version of the same card (valued at $1.275 million) plus $4 million in cash, bringing the total acquisition cost to $5.275 million. That purchase earned him a Guinness World Record for the most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale.

But Paul didn’t just lock it in a vault. He turned the card into an icon, wearing it in a custom diamond-encrusted pendant during his WWE debut at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. The card made another ringside appearance in December 2025 at the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight in Miami.

Logan Paul personally handed the card to the new owner upon completion of the auction. The lot also included the “wearable” PSA slab casing, a custom pendant crafted from gold and set with approximately 35 carats of diamonds, appraised at $75,000.

The Buyer: A “Planetary Treasure Hunt”

The man behind the record-breaking $16.49 million bid is A.J. Scaramucci, a venture capitalist and the son of financier and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

Scaramucci, the founder of Solari Capital, revealed that the Pikachu Illustrator is merely the opening move in a much larger strategy. He is launching a new company, Treasure Trove, dedicated to acquiring the world’s most significant cultural artifacts.

“My ambition for the card is just a small story. The real story is that I’m on a planetary treasure hunt,” Scaramucci said following the sale. “I’m planning to buy a T-Rex dinosaur fossil, the Declaration of Independence, and I’m not stopping there. This is only the beginning.”

Scaramucci’s entry into the market highlights a growing trend among ultra-high-net-worth individuals and investment groups who view rare collectibles not just as hobbies, but as alternative, non-correlated assets. By targeting “blue-chip” items, from fine art and luxury watches to Pokémon cards, these investors are hedging against inflation and market volatility, betting that the scarcity of “cultural property” will drive returns that traditional markets cannot match.

A New Era for Collectibles

For decades, the “mountaintop” of the hobby was reserved for names like Mantle, Jordan, and Wagner. Tonight’s sale could signal a changing of the guard.

The Pikachu Illustrator’s ascent to the top spot proves that the “kids’ game” of the late 90s has matured into a blue-chip asset class capable of outperforming the most legendary sports artifacts in history. Now, a yellow electric mouse stands alone at the top.

“No card in the hobby can boast the same prestige and elite place at the very pinnacle of the Pokémon hobby like this unimaginable Holy Grail piece,” Goldin noted in the auction description.

As the final timer ended tonight, one thing became clear: The future of high-end collecting isn’t just about batting averages or championships anymore, it’s about IP, global brands, and the nostalgia of a generation that is finally flexing its spending power.