6 events in Passaic County with a date

What makes a Pokemon card valuable?

Collector shares factors to profit from collection

By: Kate Perez
USA Today

..... Fans of Pokemon growing up might have thousands of dollars sitting in storage somewhere.
..... As nostalgic fans marked Pokemon's 30th anniversary, with Pokemon Day celebrated February 27, they might have felt the urge to dive into their past collections of Pokemon trading cards and collections.
..... They also might be surprised to learn those cards could hold more value than just childhood memories, with some rare editions reselling for thousands.
..... Before learning the prices of collectible Pokemon cards, fans need to authenticate and grade them, which means an expert must examine the cards to determine how close they are to "perfect" condition via a designated grading scale that often goes from 1 to 10. the higher the grade, the higher the potential price.
..... Jonathan Holloway, founder of Pokemon card authentication and pre-grading company Validoe, said fake cards are abundant in the market, so the authenticity of the cards should be ensured before grading, which often comes with a price. Real cards should have a vibrant, holographic pattern, he said. After being authenticated, the condition of the cards should be considered.
..... "If someone has Pokemon cards, it's been 30 years, it's been 20 years, sitting in their mom's basement or sitting in their mom's attic, the first thing that I would recommend is for someone to look at the cards," Holloway said. "You want to look at the condition of the cards, because I think that's the biggest indicator around the value that the card can potentially experience."
..... According to Holloway, cards are usually assessed by observing four specific areas during grading: Centering, surface, edges and corners.
( Centering refers to the balance of the borders on the front and the back of the card. The ratio of border to center of the card can determine how high the card is graded.
* Surfaces are examined to determine how clean the card is, including the holographic element the artwork and the text. Imperfections and clarity are also assessed.
* Edges of the card are observed to see if there are any nicks or marks on the back or front.
* Corners are examined to determine whether all four corners of the card are symmetrical, sharp, or if they have any white spots, dings or marks.
..... At some companies, like Holloway's card owners can also get the card pregraded to see whether they are in good enough condition to be sent off for official grading. This helps less-experienced collectors and increases their confidence, he said.

Most sought after Pokemon cards

..... Arguably, the most sought-after Pokemon cards are known as the "baseset," or the first original set of Pokemon cards produced in the late 1990s. there are a few base set editions, including first edition cards. Base set cards can be identified by looking in the bottom right corner and spotting a number out of 102.
..... If the cards were collected in the 1990s. there's a chance those cards could be from the base set, Holloway said.
..... "These are various versions of the same cards. But the key thing, though, is the ones that are the most popular in terms of potential next value would be the base set, first edition," Holloway said. "Because if you can find a base set first edition Charizard that is in pristine condition, now you're talking six figures.
..... Simon Hancox, director of card grading company and marketplace website TC Grader, shared a similar sentiment, adding that original Pokemon Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur are "always going to be the most expensive cards throughout everybody's collection."
..... Hancox, who's been a fan and collector of Pokemon for decades, said the value of base set cards prompted people to go digging back through their collections, starting in the early 2010s. Before that, kids, including himself, would write their names on cards without a worry about keeping them collectible.
..... The Pokemon community experienced a big boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn sent card values skyrocketing, he said.
..... "Now in the industry, people are buying the products, keeping them sealed, and they're hoarding them," Hancox said. "Se whether this phenomenon is going to be the same in 10 or 15 years, because everyone is now collecting them, it's hard to tell."
..... One card, YouTuber Logan Paul's rare PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator Pokemon card, sold in February [2026] at golding auctions for nearly $16.6 million. The sale broker the Guinness World Record for the most expensive Pokemon card sold at auction, making it the second time Paul and this specific card have broken a world record.
..... Paul initially purchased the card in Dubal for $5,275,000 in 2021, setting the Guinness World Record for the most expensive Pokemon card sold at a private sale, according to a Guinness World Records news release.
..... Solari Capital founder AJ Scaramci was the lucky purchaser and is now the owner of the rare card, according to a Goldin news release.

'Can't get away form the nostalgia'

..... Hancox expected the 30th anniversary to spark another spike in card value and cause fans to rummage through their old cards to see how much they are worth. Anniversaries tend to bring back past collectors and inspire them to buy new packs of cards, he said."
..... One hundred percent, you'll have all of those old-school collectors all coming back," Hancox said. "even people who were collecting like five, six years ago, they'll be coming back to regrade their cards purely because there'll be new people coming into the hobby."
..... The nostalgic feeling the cards and Pokemon stories cerate in people also draw them back into the world. Holloway said.
..... "Most of those kids are adults now. They have money, disposable money that they can now go and build when they were younger," Hollway said. "Not only that, but then Pokemon is always reinventing. People can't get away form the nostalgia of the brand."

HOME