A notoriously rare Pokémon card has been sold for nearly $200,000 at auction, which just goes to show how much power is in the nostalgic collectible. There are a number of longstanding franchises that encapsulate collectibles as a pillar of their business model, but few have reached the level of product placement and nostalgia of Pokémon. The trading card game, in particular, was a runaway success for the property and is still going strong today. That’s exactly why some of the older (and exclusive) cards are now worth so much.

Recently, Pokémon and Magic the Gathering cards sold for almost $300,000 at auction. Heck, another set of pocket monster cards sold for $100,000 at auction, which just goes to show how much collectors are willing to fork over for ownership of rare trading cards. Of course, these were groups of trading cards, so it’s always interesting to see how much a single piece of memorabilia will sell for. Fortunately, Pokémon fans were just treated to another massive bid that will leave them both dumfounded and perhaps even a little jealous that they don’t own this card.

The auctioneering website known as Invaluable recently, and appropriately, auctioned off the ultra-rare Pikachu Illustrator card. This particular version of the card was graded a nine and labelled as in near-mint condition. So, how much did it end up selling for? Approximately $195,000 USD. Yes, a single Pikachu Illustrator card was sold for nearly $200,000, which is pretty insane given the Pokémon TCG’s humble origins as a schoolyard hobby.

Before anyone goes rummaging through their Pokémon cards to see if they’re in possession of the Pikachu Illustrator, it’s important to note that very few of these actually exist. The card was created and given away as part of an illustration contest for Japanese gaming magazine CoroCoro, where fans sent in their renditions of Pokémon for use in the trading card game. As of this writing, only 39 copies of the Japanese-only card are known to have been handed out as part of the competition. In other words, if you had this card then you’d know about it.

Given the limited distribution of Illustrator Pikachu, this effectively makes it the rarest Pokémon card floating around today. Even the coveted mint-condition, first edition, shadowless Charizard can’t compete with this bad boy, so the next time one of these hits the market then fans are sure to know about it.

Next: 15 Pokémon Cards That Had To Be Banned Before They Broke The Game

Source: Invaluable