Fans and collectors of Pokemon cards must have heard of the famous Pokemon Illustrator card. As one of the rarest collectibles among card games, the Pokemon Illustrator card was given out as a prize in the "Pokemon Card Game Illustration Contest" held by Korokoro Comic in 1998, and only 39 cards were given out in total. It is said that only about 10 cards remain in circulation, making it extraordinarily rare. Recently, someone bought this Pokemon Illustrator card on the Japanese proxy shopping service platform Zenmarket for 772,000 USD, which has also set the record for the highest sale price for a card in the Japanese trading card market to date.
Atsuko Nishida illustrated the artwork for the card. She is credited as one of the creators of Pikachu.
In fact, this isn't the first time someone has bought this rare card; after the game, Pokemon GO became a worldwide hit in 2018. Zenmarket sold another Pokemon Illustrator card for 233,000 dollars back in 2020. As the card becomes less available in the market, Pokemon Illustrator is sure to become more and more expensive in the future.
Source: Game Informer