Internet bidding was facilitated by and. Some copies had pages that were in the wrong order due to the amateurish nature of the printing from Siegel and Schuster, still in high school at the time.įollowing are additional highlights from the auction. Two of the issues were signed by Siegel, one as “Jerome Siegel” in blue pencil on an editorial page and one as part of a pencil note to a subscriber. It was just the third time that Weiss Auctions had ever offered the set in its entirety. The runner-up top lot was a genuine Superman rarity: the complete five-volume set of Science Fiction Fanzine #1-5, including The Reign of Superman (1933-1934), by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ($44,070). The rest of the auction had 500 interesting, fresh-to-the-market lots, in categories that included sports, cards, comic books, comic art, animation, Disney memorabilia and more. The card carried a pre-sale estimate of $125,000-$175,000, which some believed was high, but determined bidders thought otherwise. The artwork is by Japanese illustrator Atsuko Nishida.
The card sold is the only card in the long-running collectible card game series to say "Illustrator" at the top of a trainer card, and the only one to bear the pen symbol in the bottom right corner. It isn’t known exactly how many surviving copies are still around however, only 10 PSA certified copies are known. With cards awarded in two more contests that year, there were a maximum of 39 copies released. In the January 1998 issue, three first place winners won a copy of the card, as did another 20 second place winners. The card was created specifically for the contest. What makes it so rare is that it wasn’t sold but awarded as a prize at the illustration contest thru CoroCoro Comic.
Although the technical name for the card is "Pokémon Illustrator", it is known as "Pikachu Illustrator" due to the image.
A Nintendo Pokémon “Pikachu Illustrator” trainer promotional hologram trading card, graded in Mint 9 condition and given to a winner at the 1998 CoroCoro Comic illustration contest in Japan, soared to $224,250 (a new world auction record) at an auction held October 23rd by Weiss Auctions, online and in firm’s Lynbrook gallery at 74 Merrick Road.įan-favorite Pikachu starred on what is inarguably the most valuable and rarest Pokémon card in the world, accounting for the dizzying selling price.