World’s most expensive Pokémon TCG card sold for £44,000

If you think you’re the biggest Pokémon Trading Card Game fan because you brought that solid gold Pikachu card for £1,700, we hate to burst your bubble: you’ve been bested.

A mint edition copy of the Pikachu Illustrator hologram card – considered to be the most valuable Pokémon card in the world – has just been sold at auction for $54,970 (£44,156).

The card was originally handed to winners of the 1998 CoroCoro Comic Illustration Contest, of which there were originally fewer than 40.

As little as 20 of the cards are estimated to still be in existence, with just 10 in perfect condition.

The first Pikachu Illustrator is believed to have been flogged in the early 2000s for $23,000, meaning the price has more than doubled just over a decade on.

Pokémon cards as a whole have been reported as rising in value following the global success of the Pokémon Go mobile app – so perhaps it’s time to start digging out those folders of forgotten cards again.