A Secret Rare has a rainbow-colored foil that's applied to the artwork, card name, Attribute, and Level. The foil has a diagonal texturing instead of a plain reflective finish.
Common cards have a black circle. Uncommon cards have a black diamond. Rare cards have a black star. Rare Holo cards have a black star and a “shiny” (foil) illustration.
Secret Rare. Secret rare cards are cards with set numbers outside the printed size of the set (for example, a card numbered 101/100).
Secret Rares were discontinued after the Soul of the Duelist packs due to excessive use of electronic scales, however, they have been re-introduced in Strike of Neos. The odds of getting a Secret Rare in a Booster Pack was 1:31 before the release of The Shining Darkness, when the ratio changed to 1:23.
1. 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Pikachu Holo Illustrator. Logan Paul purchased the 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Pikachu Illustrato-Holo for $5.3 million in July 2021. The Pikachu Illustrator card is widely considered the rarest and most expensive Pokemon card in existence.
While Honus Wagner's card is generally seen as the holy grail for baseball card fans, it's Mantle's rookie that takes the top spot. On August 28 of 2022, a Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps Card sold for $12.6 million to an anonymous buyer.
The Shichifukujin Dragon, created to celebrate the opening of the DCI Tournament Center in Tokyo, Japan, is also the only one of its kind in existence. In Japanese mythology, 'Shichifukujin' is the name given to the Seven Deities of Good Fortune.
The current record price is the US$12.6 million paid for a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311) on August 28, 2022, breaking all previous records.
The first of the secret cards which appeared was Dark Raichu in the Team Rocket expansion. It was not included even in the Japanese version of the set, as it was made by Wizards itself.
So there's one answer to the question of “how do you know if you have a rare Pokémon card?” If it has a star or an R in the lower right corner, it's “rare,” officially speaking.
A marker near the bottom of the card or near its name will indicate rarity: a circle means the card is common, a diamond means it's less common, and stars mean it's rare. More stars or with combinations of letters or symbols mean extra rare, including if those symbols are in the name or elsewhere on the card.
Out of every VSTAR Universe card in Pokémon TCG - there are 172 in total - 90 of them are classified as Secret Rares. This includes Alternate Art cards, Super Rare Energy and Trainer cards, and even a few Ultra Rares.
Paul purchased the PSA 10 card in exchange for a Mint 9 copy of Pikachu Illustrator - claimed to be worth $1.275m - plus an additional $4 million, making the total sale reportedly worth $5.275m. Paul was later given a Guiness World Record for the most expensive Pokemon trading card sold at a private sale.
As of February 2023, an Illustrator CoroCoro Comics Promo (Pikachu illustrator card) was the most expensive Pokémon trading card in the world, having been sold at auction for six million U.S. dollars.
1 1999 Holographic First Edition ($300,000)
A PSA 10-mint condition version of the 1999 holographic First Edition Base Set Charizard is the actual Holy Grail of Charizard cards and Pokemon cards in general. There is no rarity symbol for "extremely rare," but in terms of tangible cards, this takes the cake.
Gold Rares are a bit rarer than Rainbow Rares, making them the rarest cards in the Pokemon TCG.
Ghost Rare, known as Holographic Rare in the OCG, is a rarity introduced in the TCG version of Tactical Evolution. Ghost Rare cards have a very shiny silver lettering for the card name, much like a Secret Rare, with some colors removed from the card image.
Drake has further planted his feet in the world of collectables by seeking the help of an ultra-successful businessman in finding a rare LeBron James basketball card in a new Netflix series. On Friday (April 28), King Of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch premiered on Netflix featuring Ken Goldin, who owns Goldin Auctions.
This version of Arceus VSTAR is printed as a Gold Rare, the highest card rarity in most modern Pokémon sets.
Real Pokémon cards are made of two thin pieces of cardboard glued together, with a black layer in between. By ripping the card, you can reveal this layer—if there is no layer, the card is fake.