A PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu sold for $1,037,000, about 88% below September's $8.4 million record, and still led Pokemon's sweep of the week's five biggest TCG sales. PSA's backlog fell to 7.2 million cards.
| Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| TyphlosionExpedition Base Set · PSA 7 | $182 → $500 | +174% |
| MewExpedition Base Set · BGS 9 | $4,301 → $10,000 | +133% |
| Dark HypnoTeam Rocket · PSA 10 | $589 → $2,000 | +240% |
| All-Night PartyBREAKpoint (modern) · PSA 8 | $105 → $202 | +92% |
| Down | ||
| Dark HoundoomEX Team Rocket Returns · CGC 7.5 | $30 → $24 | -22% |
| GolemSkyridge · BGS 8.5 | $3,100 → $2,006 | -35% |
| MewtwoPokémon Card 151 (modern) · CGC 10 | $25 → $18 | -28% |
Raincoat Pikachu Sells for $1.04 Million, 88% Below Its September Record
A PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu, Y. Fujishima's 2015 Japanese XY promo from the Pokemon Art Academy contest, sold for $1,037,000 at Goldin on Sunday, Oct 11. That is about 88% below the $8.4 million a PSA 10 of the same design brought at Fanatics Collect on Monday, Sept 28, and it still led a Pokemon sweep of the week's five biggest TCG sales, $3,977,000 combined, up from $2.96 million.
Umbrella Policy: Each winning Art Academy design was printed about 100 times and given to its winner, and dozens of Raincoat copies are already PSA 10. One record bid was never going to price every copy, and a million dollars is still a long way above the five figures these traded for as recently as this summer.
Legend Has It: A complete run of the 19 holos from 2002's Legendary Collection, every card PSA 10, sold for $960,000 at Fanatics Weekly. The sale data does not say which version, and the price fits the reverse-holo "fireworks" cards: public comps put a PSA 10 reverse-holo Charizard (3/110) near $121,100 and a reverse-holo Dark Blastoise (4/110) near $36,000, against about $1,900 for a standard-holo Dark Blastoise in PSA 10.
Get caught in the full Raincoat story HERE.
All five of the week's biggest TCG sales were Pokemon, all PSA 10 and all on Sunday, Oct 11, for $3,977,000 combined, up about 34% from the week before.
Pika-Two: Two Art Academy Pikachus, the Raincoat and Meli designs, account for 43% of the total on their own, and neither is a card you can find in a pack.
Seeing Triple: The bottom three bars, a 2012 Plasma Storm Full Art Lugia EX (134/135), the Meli Pikachu and a 2001 Southern Islands Mew (1/18, reverse holo), are the same height because they are the same price to the dollar, $660,000 each on Fanatics Weekly. Read them as reported prices until lot-level results confirm them.
Triple-check the full chart breakdown HERE.
Vintage Index Adds 0.8% as Legendary Collection Holds Flat
The Pack Report Index prices the ten most-traded cards in twelve vintage and twelve modern sets, grade by grade, with Rip Station's engine and public comps, and today's reading runs against Wednesday, Oct 14.
Rocket Fuel: Vintage added 0.8%, with 69 of 118 cards up and only 8 down. EX Team Rocket Returns led at +4.5%, ahead of EX Unseen Forces at +3.8% and Holon Phantoms at +2.9%. Legendary Collection read flat despite this week's $960,000 run: one complete PSA 10 set does not move the set's ordinary copies.
151 Takes a Breather: Modern read 0.0%, with 46 cards up and 40 down. Evolutions led at +2.5%, while 151 fell 1.9% and its Japanese counterpart 1.1%.
Vintage sets
| Set | Index w/w | Basket |
|---|---|---|
| Base Set | +0.8% | 10 cards |
| Legendary Collection | +0.0% | 10 cards |
| Skyridge | +1.8% | 10 cards |
| XY-P Promotional cards | +0.0% | 10 cards |
| Expedition Base Set | +2.7% | 10 cards |
| EX Team Rocket Returns | +4.5% | 10 cards |
| EX Deoxys | +1.2% | 10 cards |
| Neo Destiny | +1.3% | 10 cards |
| EX Holon Phantoms | +2.9% | 9 cards |
| Team Rocket | +2.0% | 10 cards |
| Neo Genesis | +1.7% | 10 cards |
| EX Unseen Forces | +3.8% | 9 cards |
Modern sets
| Set | Index w/w | Basket |
|---|---|---|
| Evolutions | +2.5% | 10 cards |
| Ascended Heroes | -0.3% | 10 cards |
| Generations | +1.4% | 10 cards |
| Celebrations | +0.4% | 10 cards |
| Crown Zenith | -0.1% | 10 cards |
| Fates Collide | +0.0% | 8 cards |
| 151 | -1.9% | 10 cards |
| Paldea Evolved | -0.7% | 10 cards |
| BREAKpoint | +0.9% | 9 cards |
| Celebrations: Classic Collection | -0.1% | 10 cards |
| Pokémon Card 151 | -1.1% | 10 cards |
| Shining Legends | +0.3% | 10 cards |
The Index is a proprietary model built by Rip Station, which publishes The Pack Report. Method, full history and the trend chart: thepackreport.com/pack-report-index.
PSA Backlog Falls to 7.2 Million Cards, 2.2 Million From Value Tier Reopening
PSA's active grading backlog fell to 7.2 million cards in its Tuesday, Oct 20 update, down from 8.2 million on Tuesday, Oct 6 and 42% below the 12.4 million peak of July 28.
The Line Is Moving: PSA has tied reopening its paused Value tiers to a backlog of 5 million, which is 2.2 million away. At this month's pace of about a million every two weeks, that is four or five more updates by our math, not PSA's.
Value Meal on Hold: Value ($32.99 a card) and Value Bulk ($24.99) were paused in June, and Standard opened in September at $59.99. PSA says services will return in phases with pricing set against capacity, so do not count on the old Value prices returning unchanged.
Get in line for the full grading update HERE.
- ⚡ Pika Pika, All Year: Pokemon TCG Pocket's Pika Pika! Pikachu Missions opened Tuesday, Oct 20 and runs through Wednesday, Oct 20, 2027, with a 10-day login cycle that earns Pikachu-only booster packs, Pikachu cosmetics and a Pikachu ex promo on day 10.
- 🧬 Two Types Are Better Than One: Pocket's Dual Fusion expansion lands Wednesday, Oct 28 at 9p ET, led by Mega Mewtwo X ex (Psychic and Fighting) and Mega Greninja ex (Water and Darkness).
- 📈 Six Figures, 525 Times: A market report from UltraBall counts 525 Pokemon card sales of $100,000 or more from Jan 1 to Oct 16, worth $162.3 million, with 19 over $1 million and 406 of the 525 in PSA 10.
- 👑 Reign Check: Delta Reign prereleases start Saturday, Oct 24 at Play! Pokemon stores, ahead of the Friday, Nov 6 release.
Catch all the quick hits HERE.
A $3,400 Charizard Out of the $50 Pack
Rip Check: 1,859 packs by 82 collectors in the seven days to Wednesday, against 885 by 102 the week before. The $25 machine led with 1,448, the $50 Max Buyback pack did 157 and the $50 machine 126. All-time: 21,054.
Pull of the Week: A 2002 Expedition Charizard (40/165) in PSA 10 came out of the $50 machine on Sunday night, marked at $3,400, 68 times the price of the pack. Expedition was also one of this week's top four vintage sets in the Index. See what is live HERE.
- Friday, Oct 23 · Deck Crafter's Collection releases
- Saturday, Oct 24 · Delta Reign prerelease events begin; Mega Garchomp ex battles end in Pocket at 10:59p PT
- Sunday, Oct 25 · Goldin's 30th Anniversary auction closes at 10p ET
- Wednesday, Oct 28 · Dual Fusion releases in Pocket at 9p ET
- Tuesday, Nov 3 · PSA's next fortnightly backlog update
- Friday, Nov 6 · Delta Reign releases
 2000 Neo Genesis 9/111 Lugia holo, Unlimited · PSA 5 EX |
An Unlimited 2000 Neo Genesis Lugia holo (9/111) in PSA 5, loaded in the $500 machine. This week a PSA 10 Plasma Storm Lugia EX reportedly sold for $660,000. What is this mid-grade Lugia worth? |
Tap a grade to check your answer on the site. The answer is also at the bottom of the issue. Want it? It is in the $500 machine. | |
Thanks for reading The Pack Report today! If you enjoyed it, share it with someone you want to send on a Pikachu hunt ⚡