The Pokémon card craze has taken the entire world by storm in recent years, whether it’s the United States, Japan, China or essentially any country on any continent.
Heck, at this point, there are probably even Pokèmon cards in Antarctica.
And with the increase in popularity has come an increase in price tags.
Of course, we all heard about the prized PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator promotional card — a card previously owned by Internet mogul Logan Paul — sell for $16.492 million in a Goldin auction. That particular card is in a class of its own.
But across the board, there has been a spike in Pokémon card prices, and that was made very clear in a recent sale of a PSA 10 Black Star Promo Eevee.
A rather common card that has been around in droves since 2000, the gem-mint Black Star Promo Eevee (No. 11) fetched a price of $66,000 on Fanatics, a record price for the item.
But while it’s easy to find this Eevee card for sale while browsing eBay, it’s important to keep in mind that finding a PSA 10 copy is another story entirely.
Over 10,000 of the Eevee promos have been graded at PSA, but only 31 have come back in a perfect 10. That gives the card a gem rate of just .0030 percent, making it quite the commodity.
Plus, those who follow Pokémon also understand that Eevee is one of the most popular characters in the franchise, so it typically demands a premium.
But before you go digging through your binders to try and find this card, remember: the chances of you actually owning a PSA 10-quality copy are astronomically slim.
PSA was recently so inundated with card submissions that it shut down its two lowest-price tiers. The grading company currently has a 14-million card backlog and wants to trim it to five million.
It’s looking more more like PSA may not reopen its most affordable grading tiers until 2027.
