“No. 1 Trainer” Mewtwo Card Sells at Auction for $90,000!

A “No. 1 Trainer” card featuring Mewtwo sold at auction yesterday for $90,000. It is one of the TCG’s rarest and most valuable cards, with an estimated seven copies in existence. The individual card was rated Gem Mint 10 by PSA and broke all the card’s previous sale records.

The Mewtwo promos were originally given out to winners of Japan’s regional tournaments in 1999. The card granted you access to a finals tournament at a secret location, which took place in Tokyo on August 22nd, 1999. Because there were seven regional tournaments, it’s estimated only seven copies of the cards were awarded. To date, PSA has graded that same amount.

The card reads “The Pokemon Card Game Official Tournament’s champion is recognized here, and this honor is praised. By presenting this card, you may gain preferential entry into the Secret Super Battle.”

Second and third place winners also won “No. 2” and “No. 3” versions, which sell for lower prices. Last year, a “No. 3” version that sold for $60,000 was lost or stolen in the mail. It still hasn’t been recovered.

While the “No. 1” and “No. 2” Mewtwo cards are technically rarer than the famous “Pikachu Illustrator” cards, Pikachu’s usually fetches a higher price due to the unique artwork by Atsuko Nishida and the fact it’s Pikachu. Last year one sold for $195,000, the highest known price ever paid for a Pokemon card. It was graded to be a near-mint 9.

The “Pikachu Illustrator” cards were awarded through three card illustrator contests in CoroCoro magazine in 1998. Winners received a copy of the promo plus their winning artwork on a promo card. It’s estimated a maximum of 39 copies of the cards were awarded. However, only ten are still known to exist thanks to PSA grading.

I wonder how much this year’s rainbow rare Charizard VMAX will cost when it’s released. There will be 600 copies awarded, so it won’t be anywhere near as rare as the above cards!