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Collector Recon · Newsletter No. 003 · covers October 9–11, 2026

Four e-Reader-era Pokémon 10s sold for $780,000 at Fanatics Collect. The smallest populations jumped the most.

Four holos from the 2002 Expedition and 2003 Skyridge sets sold for a combined $780,000 in Fanatics Collect's latest Weekly auction, ComicBook.com reported on October 9. Three of the four cleared their previous records by multiples. The report does not state the auction's close date; Fanatics Collect supplied the lot photos.

The four results, with the prior highs ComicBook.com cites:

CardGradeSoldPrior recordMultiplePop at 10
2003 Skyridge holo GengarCGC Pristine 10$216,000$37,820 (June 2026)5.7x13
2002 Expedition holo ButterfreePSA 10$204,000$60,001 (Aug 2026)3.4x19
2002 Expedition holo GengarPSA 10$180,000$98,723 (Sept 2026)1.8x84
2003 Skyridge holo UmbreonPSA 10$180,000$168,000 (Sept 28, 2026)1.07x129

The multiple tracked the census

Line the four up by population and the pattern holds without an exception. The Skyridge Gengar, with 13 copies at CGC Pristine 10, sold at 5.7 times its prior high. The Butterfree, 19 copies at PSA 10, sold at 3.4 times. The Expedition Gengar, 84 copies, at 1.8 times. The Umbreon, 129 copies, moved 7% over a sale on September 28. Smaller census, bigger jump, across two sets and four characters.

That ordering says the buyers were paying for the count at the top grade. Butterfree is nobody's chase character, and ComicBook.com makes the same point: being old and interesting does not by itself turn a Butterfree into a six-figure card. Nineteen gem copies of a 2002 holo does.

Where these cards were a month ago

The ladders behind the records show how fast the move came. ComicBook.com lists PSA 10 Butterfree sales at $48,000 and $49,538 in June and $60,001 in August, then $204,000. The PSA 10 Expedition Gengar went $55,200 in early August, $72,000 at the end of August, $98,723 in September and now $180,000: four sales in about three months, each above the last. The Skyridge Umbreon's $168,000 on September 28 was itself the record before this $180,000.

Four rungs in three months is a set re-rating faster than its comps can refresh. Anyone pricing a PSA 10 Expedition Gengar off the September sale was 45% light within weeks.

Why Expedition and Skyridge

Expedition and Skyridge are the e-Reader sets, and Skyridge closed Wizards of the Coast's run publishing the Pokémon TCG, as ComicBook.com notes. The counts above are the whole supply at the top grade: 13 Pristine 10 Skyridge Gengars and 19 PSA 10 Butterfrees, per ComicBook.com, against 84 Expedition Gengars and 129 Umbreons. The two cards with the thin census took the two biggest multiples.

The payment question at Fanatics

A Fanatics Weekly result is a hammer price until the buyer pays. Chase Society reported on October 9 that Fanatics' four lots above $500,000 from its September 27 and October 4 closes, the $8.4 million Art Academy Pikachu among them, still showed unpaid flags on Fanatics' site, while all four of Alt's October 1 lots above $500,000 showed paid. Fanatics' FAQ gives weekly buyers five days from invoice to pay and its terms allow 10 business days; unpaid cards get relisted. Chase Society also cautions that a flag alone proves nothing, because Fanatics sets flags in batches. The four e-Reader lots sit below the $500,000 line Chase Society checked, so we have no reading on their status either way.

What it means for the market

Three records by multiples in one auction, from two sets, with the size of the jump ordered by population: that is a segment re-rating, and the pop report is the price list. Every other owner of a PSA 10 Butterfree now holds a card with a $204,000 comp and no second sale near it. For the Expedition Gengar, 83 other gems carry the same question at $180,000.

The spread between the Umbreon (129 copies, up 7%) and the Butterfree (19 copies, up 240%) is the number to keep. It shows how much of this market's pricing now sits in the census rather than in the character.

What to watch

Figures are as reported by the sources below on the dates shown. Population counts are as stated by ComicBook.com. This is market data and commentary, not investment advice.

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Sources

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