The Original 151 Pokémon and Their History Are Up for Auction

Gizmodo · Feb 21, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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With the Pokémon franchise turning 30 next week, everyone’s getting in on the celebration, including auction sites. As of Friday, fans can go to Goldin to look through (and maybe put money on) its limited-time showcase of cards and memorabilia celebrating the original 151 pocket monsters that started it all. Among the bigger highlights are a 1998 Japanese CoroCoro Promo Holo Illustrator Pikachu card for $280,000 and Magic: The Gathering’s Test Holo of Blastoise (aka “Protostoise”) from 1998 for $25,000. Goldin hyped up the latter as “among the rarest Pokémon-related artifacts ever discovered” and the “first of its kind” to get PSA authentication. © Goldin © Goldin Beyond the cards, US versions of sealed Pokémon games are up for grabs, including FireRed on the Game Boy ($10,500) and Game Boy Advance copies of FireRed and LeafGreen ($1,000 each). Anime fans can bid on Topps’ TV anime edition of a full production sheet featuring 78 of the original 151 ($10,000) or a five-pack of unopened cards ($2,500) from KidsWB’s Poke Card Creator Contest in 2000. And as another blast from the past, there’s the Australian version of Time Magazine’s 1998 cover story on the Pokémon ($500), which Goldin lists as the “inaugural cover feature” for the whole property. You can see the full list of items on auction here. The auction itself is open through March 8, with extended bidding at 10 PM ET on closing night. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.