Hobbies tend to range in price, from cheap, casual practice to hardcore, enthusiast-level spending. All levels of hobby enjoyment are, of course, valid, but the price some people pay for the things they love can be seen as…questionable.
Like whoever it was that just dropped $900k on a Pokémon card in a recent auction. They’re living their best Pokémon life and smashing records while doing so.
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Pokémon card fever swept the world in 2021.
It was hard to find packs for sale anywhere that a scalper hadn’t gotten their hands on first. It was a massive internet craze, watching people open packs and collect the rarest cards of the series. There were even a few notable sales of Pokémon cards that happened last year.
It seems to have carried into 2022 as well given some recent news.
A single-card sale recently shattered previous auction records.
At an auction held on February 23, a single Pikachu card sold for $900k.
It was a rare, holographic ‘illustrator’ card from 1998 that was given out to winners of an art contest held by CoroCoro Comics.
There are a few other features that helped jack that price up.
Like the fact that only 41 of these cards exist worldwide, not to mention that it was drawn by Pikachu’s original designer, Atsuko Nishida.
However, this isn’t the first time this exact type of card has sold in auction.
And looking at previous auction prices shows just how big this Pokémon card bubble has gotten.
The first time the 1998 Pikachu illustrator card held the ‘most expensive Pokémon card ever sold’ title was in 2019, when one sold for $195k. Still a ton of cash, but small beans compared to the more recent sale.
Then again just last year, in February of 2021, a less impressive mint of the same card sold for $375k.
People are simply counting down the days until we see a single card go for over a million, but who knows, maybe the bubble will go ‘pop’ before that happens.
h/t: Polygon
