Overview
- Logan Paul’s PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator sold at Goldin for nearly $16.5 million, a Guinness-certified auction record, with Goldin identifying AJ Scaramucci as the buyer.
- Reports detail a wave of crimes, including an armed robbery at a New York meetup that seized over $100,000 in cards and California break-ins such as a $180,000 theft through a store wall and an $80,000 hit on an Anaheim shop.
- Industry experts say the cards’ high value in a small footprint and broad resale ecosystem make stolen inventory easy to fence across online marketplaces, card shows, and informal networks.
- The 30th anniversary has reignited demand and pricing, with Card Ladder data showing popular Pokémon cards up about 6,208% since 2004, far outpacing the S&P 500 over the same period.
- Authenticators urge verification and third-party grading to counter fakes and price accurately, emphasizing condition factors like centering, surface, edges, and corners, with pristine base-set first-edition Charizard known to reach six figures.