An ultra-rare Pokemon card owned by YouTuber Logan Paul sold for a record $16.5 million at auction, certified as the world’s most expensive trading card.

WASHINGTON: An ultra-rare Pokemon card owned by American YouTuber Logan Paul sold for $16,492,000 on Monday.

The sale smashed the record for the most expensive Pocket Monster trading card ever sold at auction.

The unique PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator was purchased by AJ Scaramucci, son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. Guinness World Records, present at the Goldin auction, certified the sale as a new world record.

It is now the most expensive Pokemon card and the priciest trading card overall sold at auction. Paul originally bought the card in a 2021 record-breaking deal, paying $5.28 million to a “mystery” seller in a Dubai hotel room.

After the successful bid, Paul placed the card around the new owner’s neck. The card was attached to what Guinness described as a $75,000 diamond necklace.

The Pikachu Illustrator card is highly sought-after because it was designed by Atsuko Nishida, Pikachu’s original creator. It was never originally sold but was released as a prize in a 1998 illustration contest.

A “PSA 10” grade signifies a virtually perfect card with four sharp corners, sharp focus and full original gloss. The year after his 2021 purchase, Paul famously wore the mint-condition card inside a protective case on a gold chain at a WWE event in Texas.

Trading card values have exploded recently, attracting both fans and new investors. Key factors determining value include rarity, the character featured, and the artist credited on the card.

Popular characters like Mew, Mewtwo, Pikachu and Charizard tend to command higher prices. There are now over 1,000 different Pokemon characters, with new “generations” released every few years.

 The Sun Malaysia