The new collecting frontier: Pokémon trading card grading surges
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Pokémon cards are surging in popularity, with collectors getting millions of them professionally graded per year.
Why it matters: Pokémon is emerging as the next big asset class in the trading card world.
By the numbers: Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) — the world's leading certifier of trading cards — says 43% of the cards it graded in 2023 were Pokémon, up from 17% in 2018.
- Each card costs a minimum of $15 to grade, rising to as much as $8,000 for cards worth more than $250,000.
The big picture: The Pokémon boom stems from a new generation of collectors — people who were kids when the cards debuted in the late 1990s and thereafter — becoming serious about the hobby, PSA President Ryan Hoge tells Axios.
- "That was their childhood," Hoge says. "They're in their early 30s now, they have some disposable income, and they're going back and wanting to reconnect with that and find their favorite characters — the same way somebody might have gone back and collected Michael Jordan rookie cards."
Between the lines: A Pokémon representative said the company's officials were not available to comment, but outside experts say the new wave of interest also portends an uptick in values.
Follow the money: Social media influencer and wrestler Logan Paul spent $5,275,000 to acquire a PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card in 2021, setting a record for the "most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at a private sale," per the Guinness Book of World Records.
The bottom line: The surge in Pokémon card grading requests is likely to be mirrored by a similar increase in trading volumes. What that means for valuations remains unclear.
