| RECON // NEWSLETTER NO. 002 |
FRI OCT 9, 2026 |
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Know the market. Collect with conviction.
TCG · VIDEO GAMES · ANIME
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 | | IMAGE: GOLDIN |
A PSA 8 Trophy Pikachu is bid to $2.35M before live bidding opens
| GRADE | PSA 8 |
| VENUE | GOLDIN · LIVE OCT 15 |
| PSA CENSUS | 1 COPY |
$2.35M BID INCL. BP · OCT 8
One day into pre-bidding, the PSA 8 1997 Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu stood at $1,925,000, or $2,348,500 with buyer’s premium. That passes the $1,769,000 a PSA 10 1998 Bronze 3rd Place Trophy Pikachu made at Goldin in May, the top public sale for any Trophy Pikachu. PSA has graded no other copy of the Gold card, so a bidder has no 9 or 10 to wait for and no second sale to price it against.
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Prosecutors say a convicted crypto hacker spent about $3M on Magic and Pokémon cards
A Manhattan jury convicted Jonathan Spalletta on Oct 7 over more than $50M taken from crypto platform Uranium Finance in 2021. Prosecutors say he spent about $3M of it on 18 sealed Alpha packs ($1.51M), a complete 1st Edition Base Set ($750K), a Black Lotus ($500K) and a sealed 1st Edition booster box ($257.5K), about 80% of what they list him spending on collectibles. Investigators seized the Lotus from his home; the release doesn’t say where the other cards are.
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A PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu sells for $8.4M, 54 times the previous high
The 2015 Art Academy “Raincoat” Pikachu, one of 100 printed as a contest prize, sold for $8.4M with premium at Fanatics on Sept 28 after 64 bids. The highest earlier PSA 10 sale Kotaku found was $156,250 at Heritage in June, and PriceCharting’s PSA 10 value still reads $79,999.99. Kotaku counts 57 copies in PSA 10, so each sale of one of the other 56 tests the new price.
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| Video Games |
A PSA 10 1989 Topps Nintendo “Mario Madness” #1 sold for $7,700 by best offer on Oct 2. Its seven earlier PSA 10 sales, Dec 2021 to May 2025, averaged $314 on Card Ladder data. The PSA 10 Mario card from the same set sold for $900 the same day. (Sports Illustrated, Oct 7) |
| Video Games |
A Wisconsin shop owner found 97 sealed Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt NES carts, an undocumented variant, in a storage room. PSA graded none below 9.6 and five at 10. (Tom’s Hardware, Aug 1) |
| TCG |
A PSA 10 2002 Legendary Collection reverse holo Pikachu #86 sold for $780,000 in a Fanatics Weekly auction on Sept 27, per Card Ladder. (Sports Illustrated, Oct 4) |
| TCG |
A BGS 10 2004 Japanese Clash of the Blue Sky Rayquaza Gold Star 1st Edition sold for $562,650 on eBay on Oct 2, per Card Ladder. (Sports Illustrated, Oct 4) |
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| UPCOMING RELEASES |
DROP DATES |
| OCT 17 |
Santa Cruz x Pokémon TCG skateboards (blind bags) |
3 CHASE BOARDS, 500 EACH |
| NOV 6 |
Delta Reign (Pokémon TCG, English) |
PRE-ORDERS OPEN |
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FIELD NOTE
A record isn’t a price yet. Until a second sale agrees.
A PSA 8 Trophy Pikachu is bid to $2.35M with no other graded copy to check it against, and a PSA 10 Raincoat Pikachu sold for $8.4M, 54 times the previous high for its grade. One sale can set a record; it takes a second sale near the same level to set a price. The Trophy card may never get that second sale, while the Raincoat has 56 other PSA 10s that could supply one.
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Disclosure: Collector Recon doesn’t own the items featured and isn’t paid by auction houses or brands for coverage. Figures are from the sources named, checked the day they were reported; not investment advice. You’re receiving this because you subscribed at Collector Recon.
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