The 1998 Illustrator Pikachu is the hobby's reference card, the one every other trophy card is priced against. In 2026 it has sold three times, in three different grades, and the three prices form the clearest grade ladder in the market.
| Grade | Price | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 | $16,500,000 | Goldin (Logan Paul's copy) | February 16 |
| BGS 9 | $2,000,000 | Private sale | July 25 |
| BGS 8.5 | $1,006,500 | Goldin | August 15 |
Reading the ladder
From 8.5 to 9 the price doubles. From 9 to 10 it rises roughly eight times. That second jump is not a condition premium in the ordinary sense: around forty Illustrators are known to exist and exactly one has been graded PSA 10, so the 10 is a unique object with its own buyer pool, not the top of a continuous curve. The 8.5-to-9 step is the real condition premium, and a 2x for half a grade is about where the top of the vintage market has settled this year.
What it does to everything below
Trophy cards are priced relative to each other, and the Illustrator sits at the top of that web. When an 8.5 clears $1 million, dealers re-mark every Illustrator in 7 and 8 that has not traded this year, and then the cards one tier down, the Snap contest cards, the tournament trophies, the No. 1 and No. 2 Trainer promos, get re-marked against those. Monday's two Snap cards, both PSA 8s at $809,943 and $640,500, are that logic one rung down.
The missing rungs
No Illustrator in PSA 7 or 8 has sold publicly this year. Those are the grades most of the surviving population sits in, and the next public result there will tell the market whether the bottom of the ladder has moved as far as the top. Given the 8.5, a 7 under $700,000 would be a surprise.
Sources: Goldin results via CNN (February) and SI Collectibles (August 17); the July private sale via SI Collectibles (July 27).
Chart of the Day ran in The Pack Report, August 20, 2026: Rayquaza Gets a Set: Delta Reign Lands November 6. Published by Rip Station.