On February 16, 2026, the world of collectibles was rocked when Logan Paul, the polarizing YouTuber turned WWE superstar, sold his ultra-rare Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card at a Goldin auction for a staggering $16.49 million. The sale not only shattered the previous record for any trading card sold at auction but also reignited debates about the value, authenticity, and tangled history of this so-called "Holy Grail" of Pokémon cards. For Paul, who had purchased the card in 2021 for $5.275 million—a Guinness World Record at the time—the transaction marked the culmination of years of media spectacle, controversy, and, for a brief moment, triumph.
The winning bidder, AJ Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of Solari Capital and son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, was present at the Goldin auction in Runnemede, New Jersey. As the clock struck 1:14 am ET and the final gavel fell, Guinness World Records adjudicator Sarah Casson confirmed the sale as the highest ever for a trading card. The card, designed by Atsuko Nishida for a 1998 illustration contest in Japan, is one of only 41 copies believed to have been officially awarded and distributed. Yet it’s the only one to have received a perfect PSA GEM MT 10 grade, the highest quality mark from the Professional Sports Authenticator, making it a one-of-a-kind in the eyes of collectors.
Paul’s own journey with the card is the stuff of modern collecting legend. After negotiating the purchase in Dubai in July 2021, he famously wore the card as a centerpiece of a custom diamond-encrusted gold necklace—crafted by Suny the Jeweller and appraised at $75,000—during his WWE debut at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. The card was also featured in season three of the Netflix series King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch, where Paul wore it for a dramatic "box break" at Goldin headquarters. The provenance, spectacle, and celebrity association only fueled its mystique and value.
"This right here is what makes collecting so special—this hobby is unbelievably fun," Paul said during the auction, according to Man of Many. "I love the community aspect of it, getting to meet other collectors and connect over our shared passion. It has been amazing working on this with my friend Ken Goldin, who has changed Pokémon forever in such a great way." As the auction closed, Paul placed the card around Scaramucci’s neck, a moment livestreamed on YouTube and watched by thousands of fans and collectors.
The card’s background only adds to its allure. The Pikachu Illustrator card was awarded as a prize in the 1997 Pokémon Card Game Illust Artist Contest run by Japan’s CoroCoro Comic. Contest winners received 20 copies featuring their own illustration, while 20 other contestants received a copy of the Pikachu Illustrator card. As Fox Business notes, "The current hobby consensus is that 41 copies of this card were officially awarded and distributed, with this Logan Paul-backed piece the chief among them." The card came with a custom wooden presentation box bearing Paul’s Maverick logo and a plaque reading, "Pokémon / Pikachu Illustrator / PSA 10 / 1 of 1."
But as the confetti settled, not everyone was celebrating. Within hours of the sale, social media was awash with renewed accusations and skepticism. Some critics questioned whether the card truly deserved its PSA 10 grade, citing rumors that it had previously been graded as a PSA 9 due to a small chip in the corner—a claim that had circulated since Paul’s original acquisition. Others raised concerns about the card’s brief entanglement with Liquid Marketplace, a now-defunct platform co-founded and promoted by Paul, which is facing fraud allegations from Canadian regulators.
Paul addressed the swirling controversy in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on February 16, 2026, redirecting media inquiries to his statement. According to Polygon, confusion stems from the card’s ownership history: Paul initially bought a PSA 9 version from collector Matt Allen, then traded it plus $4 million to acquire the PSA 10 card, which bears the unique certification number #23000982. The PSA’s own database, complete with photos, shows no evidence of chips or regrading for the card that sold at auction. "In other words," Polygon writes, "whoever owned the card before selling it to Paul in Dubai kept it in mint condition and had it graded by the PSA only once."
Yet, the Liquid Marketplace saga remains a thorny subplot. Launched in April 2022 as a blockchain-based platform for fractional ownership of rare collectibles, Liquid Marketplace offered up to 51% ownership of the Pikachu Illustrator card, selling shares worth $2.55 million. As interest waned and the platform’s troubles mounted—including regulatory scrutiny and allegations of misleading investors—Paul claims he bought back all outstanding shares in May 2024, paying what he described as a "substantial buyout." He later clarified that only 5.4% of the card was actually sold to fractional owners and that he worked to ensure users could withdraw their funds after the site went offline. Still, as of February 2026, some former investors reportedly struggle to reclaim their shares, and the Ontario Securities Commission’s legal proceedings against Liquid Marketplace continue. Paul is not named as a respondent in the case and maintains he has had “no involvement or insight” into the regulatory process.
For AJ Scaramucci, the new owner, the card is just the start of a much bigger collecting adventure. "My ambition for the card is just a small story," Scaramucci said during the livestream, as reported by Business Insider. "The real story is that I'm on a planetary treasure hunt. I'm planning to buy a T. rex dinosaur fossil, the Declaration of Independence, and I'm not stopping there. This is only the beginning." Paul, for his part, responded with characteristic enthusiasm: "Bro. Bro, that is so epic."
The record-breaking Pikachu Illustrator sale capped off an auction that saw other Pokémon collectibles fetch eye-watering sums—a 1999 Base Set 1st Edition Charizard sold for $954,808, and a 1996 Japanese Base Set Holo Uncut Sheet went for $613,801. But it was Paul’s card, steeped in spectacle and controversy, that stole the show and set a new standard for the value of pop culture artifacts.
As the dust settles, the sale stands as a testament to the wild, sometimes messy world of modern collectibles—a place where nostalgia, celebrity, and speculation collide, and where, for at least one night, a piece of cardboard made headlines around the globe.