Collector Recon · Newsletter No. 010 · covers October 26–27, 2026

A PSA 10 Art Academy Mudkip sold for $4,880,000 at Goldin, and a Trophy Pikachu PSA 8 set its card's record at $3,080,500

A PSA 10 2015 Art Academy Mudkip sold for $4,880,000 on 73 bids when Goldin's Pokémon 30th Anniversary Auction closed on October 25, the most bids on any lot in the sale, per Chase Society's weekly sales report (October 26). AuctionReport (October 26) gives the same price and a PSA 10 population of three. Goldin had not published a total for the auction when these reports ran.

The card's whole public record fits in two years. Goldin counts three graded copies, all PSA 10, and per Chase Society they have sold for $42,000, $3,720,000 at Fanatics on September 25, and now $4,880,000. The new price is 31% above the Fanatics sale a month earlier and more than 100 times the first one.

A second seven-figure card in the same sale

The auction's other headline was a 1997 Japanese Gold 1st Place 1st Tournament Trophy Pikachu graded PSA 8, which sold for $3,080,500, per Collectibles News (October 26). Goldin calls it the highest public sale for any Trophy Pikachu. Chase Society counts 32 bids. The card was given to the winner of the first official Pokémon TCG tournament, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in June 1997, and PSA's census lists eight examples, per Collectibles News.

Its ladder moved as fast as the Mudkip's. In March, Goldin sold a different PSA 8 copy for $982,100 including buyer's premium, per Collectibles News, so the same grade of the same card tripled in about seven months. Chase Society adds two reference points: a PSA 8 set of all three 1997 trophy cards made $794,220 in 2023, and Heritage's PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator made $5,000,000 on September 18, which leaves the Trophy Pikachu 35% under the Illustrator.

Where the rest of the sale landed

The depth behind the two headliners came from the same small-population cards. Per Chase Society and AuctionReport, Goldin sold:

Art Academy Sableye, PSA 10, $976,000 on 41 bids (AuctionReport gives a population of four)
Art Academy Gourgeist, PSA 10, $976,000 on 33 bids
Gold Star Umbreon, PSA 10, $738,100 on 47 bids
Gold Star Mudkip, PSA 10, $610,000 on 29 bids
No Rarity Mewtwo, PSA 10, $603,900 on 46 bids (population nine, per AuctionReport)
Legendary Collection reverse holo Pikachu and Charizard, $481,900 and $463,600, per AuctionReport

Chase Society set the same night's Gold Star sales at Goldin against Fanatics' Sunday results, which still read unpaid on day one: Umbreon $738,100 at Goldin against $456,000 at Fanatics, Espeon $573,400 against $360,000, and Pikachu $427,000 against $360,000, while Charizard went the other way at $430,660 against $504,000. Its report also notes that 38 of Fanatics' 39 results over $100,000 still read unpaid, totaling $7.58 million.

What the ladders say about the top of the market

Two cards with tiny counts reset their own records within weeks of their last sale. The Mudkip has three graded copies and the Trophy Pikachu eight, so neither has a second-tier grade that trades often enough to anchor a price. When the only reference is the last sale, the next auction is priced by the bidders who lost the last one, and 73 bids on Goldin's copy, the most in the sale, show how many were in the room.

The comparison with Fanatics matters for the read. Goldin's Gold Star prices beat Fanatics' on four of six cards in Chase Society's table, and its Mudkip beat Fanatics' by $1.16 million. With most of Fanatics' six-figure October results still unpaid, a closed Goldin price is the firmer comp for anyone pricing these cards from here.

None of this makes the next copy worth more. A population of three means one more sale could come in at any price, and the first copy's $42,000 is also on the ladder. What these results set is the reference: the next Art Academy Mudkip or Trophy Pikachu to sell will be measured against $4,880,000 and $3,080,500.

What to watch next

Goldin's published auction total and its sealed Pokémon games results, which were not reported by October 27.
Whether Fanatics' unpaid October results close: Chase Society's weekly report tracks them.
Heritage's Magic: The Gathering Vol. X showcase on October 29 (Auction Watch) is the next high-end TCG sale on the calendar.

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

Sources

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