The Pokémon card auction 'Pokémon: A Decade of Masters', held on October 21 by British auction house Ewbank's, totaled £1,561,237 including buyer's premium. The collection centered on a master set stored in an attic for 15 years by a retired painter and decorator. The highest prices were £130,000 for the Legendary Collection master set and £97,500 for the Skyridge master set.
Market
One box (retail price 70,000 won) of the Korean-language edition of the Pokémon Trading Card Game MEGA expansion '30th CELEBRATION' was traded at recent closing prices of 115,000 to 123,000 won on the resale platform KREAM on October 13. Cumulative trades stand at 3,926 cases. 30-box bundles were traded at 3,650,000 to 3,990,000 won between October 7 and 10.
According to data released by second-hand marketplace Bungaejangter, Pokémon card transaction values grew 7.6-fold compared to January 2025, accounting to 47.1% of trading card transactions. Transaction value on September 16–17, when the 30th anniversary expansion was released, reached 2.8 times the daily average of September 1–15, and 40.1% of Pokémon item sellers during the 12 days following the release were new sellers.
The 2015 Japanese Pokémon Art Academy contest promo Pikachu (PSA 10) sold for $8.4 million including buyer's premium at a late September Fanatics Collect auction. It marks the second-highest publicly traded price for a Pokémon card, following the Illustrator Pikachu in February.
US auction house Goldin is holding the '2026 Pokémon 30th Anniversary Auction' through October 25. The marquee lot, a 1997 First Official Tournament 1st Place Trophy Pikachu (PSA 8), reached $1,925,000 ($2,348,500 including buyer's premium) just one day into pre-bidding, surpassing the highest public transaction price for a Trophy Pikachu ($1,769,000).
Following the September 16 release of the Pokémon Trading Card Game 30th-anniversary set '30th CELEBRATION', the median market price for English single cards on US TCGplayer dropped by 74.2% through October 12. Boxed products such as Elite Trainer Boxes also declined but remained above MSRP. Japanese boxes saw their lowest asking price drop by 63% during the two weeks prior to release. Public data from three sources are compared by baseline dates.
Japan's secondhand trading app Mercari banned the listing of unopened expansion packs and nine types of card sets for the Pokémon Trading Card Game '30th CELEBRATION' starting at midnight on September 16. No end date has been set. Opened single cards can still be listed. Mercari cited concerns over transaction disputes and slander immediately following sales.
Trading card manufacturer and distributor Fanatics Collectibles will open its second global flagship store on Rue Saint-Lazare in Paris, France, on October 23. At 5,500 square feet, the same size as the London store opened in April 2025, the company reported that its sales in France grew by 55% last year.
