Two Pikachu Illustrator Cards Sell for More Than $7.8 Million Combined

Two Pikachu Illustrator cards fetched $5 million and $2,806,271, leading the biggest trading card game sales of September 13–20, 2026. SI Collectibles reported the results using Card Ladder data. Even a Black Lotus sale above $2.2 million only reached third place that week.

Two Illustrators, two separate sales

According to SI, the PSA 9 copy sold through Heritage on September 18, while the CGC Mint 9 copy sold through Goldin on September 19. The cards share a name, but the reported results belong to distinct copies sold through different auction houses.

Pikachu Illustrator began as a prize awarded through illustration contests held by Japan’s CoroCoro Comic. It was not available in booster packs or through ordinary retail sales—a very different route into a collection from most Pokémon cards.

Black Lotus takes third; a sealed box takes fourth

Each of the remaining sales also exceeded $500,000. SI Collectibles reported the following results from Card Ladder:

• Third — Black Lotus: A PSA 10 copy from 1993 Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition Alpha sold for $2,208,200 through Goldin on September 19.
• Fourth — a sealed Pokémon booster box: A 1999 1st Edition Base Set box sold for $750,000 through Heritage on September 18. The product contains 36 unopened booster packs.
• Fifth — Charizard: A PSA 10 2002 Legendary Collection Charizard Reverse Holo #3 sold for $575,000 through Heritage on September 18.

The five sales totaled $11,339,471. That is a snapshot of the week’s highest-value completed transactions, not a price guide for the wider market. The two Illustrators also differed in grading company and auction house; their sale-price gap alone does not establish how much either factor contributed.