$2.7 Million: Torchic Doubles the English Record

Alt's auction closed Thursday night with the PSA 10 Torchic Gold Star at $2,700,000. Eleven days earlier the English-language record was the $1.02 million Rayquaza Gold Star. It is now 2.6 times that, on a card that last sold publicly in a 10 for $25,400 in December 2020.

The 9 Is the Number: The PSA 9 in the same auction closed at $156,336, up from the $90,336 bid we reported a week ago and from a public sale of about $22,000 in June. Nineteen 10s exist and 233 9s. As we argued last Monday, the 10 tells you what one buyer paid once; the 9, up seven times in three months on a card with real supply, tells you the Gold Star market has been re-priced.

The Undercard: Five more lots in the same sale cleared six figures: a PSA 10 Dragon Frontiers Charizard Gold Star at $393,000, a PSA 10 Double Crisis Team Aqua's Kyogre EX at $348,000, a PSA 10 Rising Rivals Snorlax LV.X at $253,680, a PSA 10 First Edition Base Set Chansey at $238,597 and a PSA 10 Team Magma's Groudon EX at $181,314. Six cards, $4.11 million.

Not Charizard: For most of the hobby's history the most expensive English card was a Charizard. In 2026 the record has passed to two Gold Stars from sets that were on shelves at Target, and the Dragon Frontiers Charizard Gold Star, in the same Alt auction, made $393,000: a seventh of the Torchic. The market is paying for population (nineteen Torchic 10s) over character.

Where the Next One Comes From: The remaining Gold Stars with PSA 10 populations under twenty, the Snap-era Japanese cards already in seven figures, and whichever First Edition Base Set holo sells next in a 10 after the Chansey's $238,597. The Charizard at $954,800 is the one most likely to be re-tested before the year is out.

Vintage +0.9%, a Record; Team Rocket Returns +6.7%

The Pack Report Index tracks two baskets: the ten most-traded cards in each of twelve vintage sets (1999-2007) and twelve modern sets (2016 on), priced by our own engine from public comps, grade by grade, and compared with the same day last week.

Ten for Ten: Vintage added 0.9%, the largest of ten readings, and is up about 4.2% since August 13. Team Rocket Returns read +6.7%, the biggest single-set vintage move yet, as the Torchic re-priced its neighbours; Holon Phantoms +4.7%, Unseen Forces +3.6%, Expedition +2.9%, Skyridge +2.5%. Modern was flat as a basket but 47 of 112 cards were lower, the most yet, two days before 30th Celebration: Evolutions and Ascended Heroes both -2.3%.

Vintage sets

Modern sets

What a 6 Means on a 2000 Holo

The quiz card below is a 2000 Team Rocket First Edition Dark Dragonite holo in PSA 6, our mark $417. A 6 on a vintage holo is a precise description: edge wear and corner whitening you can see, no creases, no tears, the surface and holo intact. It is a card that was played with and looked after.

The Mid-Grade Lag: When a set re-prices, the 10s move first, the 9s within weeks, and the 6s and 7s last, because the buyers who follow auctions are chasing top grades and the mid-grade market is dealers and collectors on a budget who re-mark more slowly. This week's Index shows it: the Holon Phantoms Pikachu Gold Star in PSA 7 went from $2,800 to $11,500 a month after the 10s moved. The Team Rocket Returns set is +6.7% this week on the Torchic; its mid-grades have not caught up yet.

The Opportunity: If you want exposure to a set that has just re-priced at the top, the 6 to 8 lanes are where the gap is still open. If you own them, do not sell into the first week of a top-grade headline; the comp for your card has not been printed yet.

• Wednesday: Pokemon TCG: 30th Celebration releases worldwide on September 16, 199 cards, every one foil, six per pack, thirty Pikachus. It arrives in TCG Live tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific alongside the client's largest update of the year, including the refreshed Battle Board and the new accessibility settings.
• 2015 Joins the Party: Two Double Crisis EX cards from 2015, Team Aqua's Kyogre at $348,000 and Team Magma's Groudon at $181,314, both PSA 10, sold on Alt Thursday. With the Snorlax LV.X at $253,680 and last week's Palkia LV.X at $204,000, the 2009-2015 era has produced four six-figure sales in a fortnight after a decade of none.
• Not Just Charizard: A First Edition Base Set Chansey in PSA 10 made $238,597 in the same auction. Chansey is the Base Set holo collectors forget; a 10 is scarce because the pink border shows every nick, and the price says the First Edition 10s are being re-priced as a set, not a Charizard plus fifteen others.
• Still Flat: The modern Index has now gone ten readings without a positive week, and 47 of 112 cards fell this week. The first post-30th Celebration reading is Thursday.

A Quiet Week, and a Base Set 10 Out of the $500 Machine

Rip Check: The quietest week since August. 958 packs by 97 collectors in the seven days to Monday, after the record 2,908 by 434 the week before. The $50 machine led at 396, the $25 machine did 335, and the $500 machine had its busiest week at 74. All-time: 14,823.

Pulls of the Week: All from the $500 machine. Friday night a 1999 Base Set Mewtwo holo in PSA 10 ($1,366). Saturday a 2003 EX Sandstorm Raichu ex in PSA 9 ($1,291) and a 1999 Fossil First Edition Aerodactyl in PSA 10 ($1,099). Sunday a 1999 Base Set Charizard in PSA 8 ($1,110). And from the $200 machine on Friday, a 2005 Delta Species Flareon ex in PSA 9 ($915). See what is live HERE.