Two million Pikachus
Goldin's 2026 Pokemon 30th Anniversary auction is headlined by the 1997 Japanese Promo Gold 1st Place 1st Tournament #1 Trophy Pikachu, graded PSA 8. It was awarded to the winner of the first official Pokemon TCG tournament ever held, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in June 1997. One day into pre-bidding the card stood at $1,925,000, or $2,348,500 with the buyer's premium, already past the $1,769,000 that a Bronze 3rd Place Trophy Pikachu set as the record in May. The live auction runs through at least October 25. Trophy cards are the one corner of the market where "pop 1" is literal, and the prices are starting to say so. Source: Star City Games.
Record quarter, shrinking months
Collector Crypt, the Solana platform that vaults graded cards and sells them through fixed-price packs, reported $433.5 million of Q3 revenue, up 8% on Q2 and a record, at a 5.9% gross margin ($25.4 million of gross profit). The catch is the shape of the quarter: June was the best month in the company's history at $212 million, then July $157 million, August $142 million, September $134 million. Tokenized inventory reached $55.1 million at quarter end, 57% of it Pokemon. Courtyard, the next-largest on-chain card platform, earned $7.6 million in Q3 against $17.8 million in Q2. Two first-edition Charizards changed hands peer-to-peer in September for $600,000 and $825,000, the latter the largest tokenized card sale on record, and Coinbase teased Pokemon packs of its own on September 28 with no date, chain or pricing. The next CARDS token unlock, 59 million tokens, lands October 29. Source: Pine Analytics.
Kickflip rare
Santa Cruz Skateboards releases a Pokemon TCG line on October 17: thirty decks, each printed with one of thirty card designs chosen for the 30th anniversary, plus three "secret rare" boards and a run of apparel. The chase has officially left the binder. Expect the secret rares to behave like short prints: the line is a collaboration, not a card product, so there is no pack to open, which means the scarce boards will trade on the secondary market from day one. Source: PokeBeach.
Happy birthday, Fossil
The English Fossil expansion released on October 10, 1999, 27 years ago this week. It was the third English set after Base and Jungle, 62 cards, and the one that gave the game Lapras, Articuno, Zapdos and the Dragonite holo that has been a top-ten vintage chase for most of the time since. A 1st Edition Fossil Dragonite in CGC 10 is loaded in the $500 machine right now at an estimated $4,705, which, for a card printed before some of our readers were, is a reasonable way to say happy birthday.
Quick Hits ran in The Pack Report, October 12, 2026: A $960,000 Cresselia? Sure, Why Not. Published by Rip Station.