Goldin's 2026 Pokemon 30th Anniversary auction is live and closes on October 25. It is the auction house's second anniversary-themed Pokemon sale this year, after the February "151" auction that produced the $16.5 million Illustrator, and its headline lot is a card that has never been sold publicly.
The card
The 1997 Japanese promo Gold First Place First Tournament #1 Trophy Pikachu was awarded to the winner of the first official Pokemon Trading Card Game tournament, held at Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba, Japan, in June 1997. The Trophy Pikachu series was printed only twice: for that inaugural 1997 event and for the 1998 Lizardon Mega Battle tournaments, in gold, silver and bronze for first, second and third place. This copy is graded PSA 8 and is the only example of the card in PSA's population report. Pre-bidding passed $1 million including buyer's premium on the first day, and the auction runs seventeen more days.
The comps
There are almost none, which is the point. A 1998 Bronze Third Place Trophy Pikachu in PSA 10, the only 10 of that card, sold at Goldin in May for $1,769,000, a record for any Trophy Pikachu. This card is the gold rather than the bronze, from the first tournament rather than the second, and the only graded copy rather than the only 10. The grade is lower (8 against 10), but on a one-of-one the grade is not what is being bought. The nearest analogue in the current market is the Illustrator PSA 9 at $5 million on September 18: a seven-figure Pikachu promo from the hobby's first years, with a population you can count on one hand.
The undercard
Four other lots named at the opening: a PSA 10 2000 Black Star Eevee League promo; a BGS Pristine 10 Skyridge Gengar, the crystal-era chase whose PSA 10 made $150,000 on eBay in August; a 2000 Black Star Venusaur promo; and a sealed 2005 EX Deoxys booster box, the set that produced the $1.02 million Rayquaza Gold Star and whose basket line in our Index is up 15 percent since mid-September. Goldin says the sale includes rare cards and sealed product from across the game's thirty years; the full catalogue is on its site.
What to watch
Whether the Trophy Pikachu clears the $1,769,000 Bronze record, which it almost certainly will; whether it clears the $2.7 million Torchic and the $2.8 million CGC 9 Illustrator, which would put a trophy card back above the Gold Stars; and what the Pristine Gengar does against the $150,000 PSA 10, which is the next test of the label premium. We will have the results in the first issue after October 25.
Sources: ICv2, October 7, 2026; Auction Report.
The Lead ran in The Pack Report, October 8, 2026: The First Trophy Pikachu Is Up for Auction, and PSA Is at 8.2 Million. Published by Rip Station.