It’s off to eBay we go – to find the most valuable error Pokemon cards!
Ever opened a fresh booster pack of cards to find one that has some form of error?
Would you even realise that there was an error on any of your cards?
For me personally, I think I might struggle to notice if something like the holo foil or print was misaligned or in some way incorrect, but it’s easy – even for me – to spot when a card hasn’t been perfectly cut.
For example, I have a few cards in my collection that, to the untrained eye, would perhaps be considered fake because one or more sides of the card aren’t perfectly straight after being cut by the manufacturer.
Yet these errors – despite being undesirable for using cards in actual games – can actually make certain cards highly collectable.
After all, these are likely to be one-off issues only affecting that particular copy of a specific card; making them somewhat unique for collectors.
So we here at Card Gamer have scoured the sold item listings on eBay and checked out what error cards have successfully purchased – and for what price.
Which were the most expensive though?
Let’s find out, as we check out the most valuable error Pokemon cards!
1. Houndoom – First Edition Neo Revelation ($3,790)
The top entry on our list of the most valuable error Pokemon cards is a Houndoom, from the 2001 set Neo Revelation.
So, what’s the error with this card?
Well, this Houndoom has what’s known as ‘holo bleed’.
Holo bleed is an error that occurs with holofoil treated cards – where the special treatment is visible in areas of the card that it shouldn’t be on.
These errors are especially rare – so much so, in fact, that the seller of the card admitted to the price being a placeholder to draw attention to it.
After all, due to the rarity of this card’s error, little pricing precedent existed.
This also meant that the buyer enabled the Best Offer feature, to see what it’d sell for – as it did go for less, we have no way of knowing the value.
However, given its rarity and unique nature, we’re sure this is a card that’ll be likely to rise in value – especially if its new owner grades the card.
Speaking of other, high value cards – we’ve also taken a look at the most valuable Topps Pokemon cards too!
2. Charizard – Base Set ($1,075)
Another card that sold for less than the listed price, once more we don’t know what the actual value was.
However, given that this is a holo Charizard from the Base Set of Pokemon, we have little doubt that it sold for a pretty high price.
So – what’s the error on this card?
Well, in the rules text for the Fire Spin attack, the word Energy has a yellow dot just above the r.
It’s a fairly rare error that occurs during printing – the explanation being that there was an issue with the magenta printing plate.
With no magenta being printed on that exact spot, only the already printed yellow shows on the card.
With this Charizard card also being graded – at a high level of 9 – that could only have added to its value – so we’re confident that it deserves its position here at number two on the list of the most valuable error Pokemon cards!
3. Dark Charmeleon – W Promo ($644)
This Dark Charmeleon card is from a series of 7. though not numbered as such, each of these 7 cards was supposed to be stamped with a gold ‘W’.
This W appeared either in the bottom corner of the card’s image or just below it; each card was also numbered – and featured the set logo – just as its non-W promo version was too.
The error in this instance comes from the fact that the W itself is silver, rather than gold, making it a pretty rare variant of the card.
In the above photo, the non-error version (sleeved) is just under the error card, for comparison purposes.
Once more, though the card’s selling price was listed at $644, it did sell for an undisclosed amount – with the seller accepting a best offer for the item.
This card being sealed in its original plastic wrapper means that it’s likely to keep its value – though of course, the potential for grading could also increase it further.
4. Charizard – 25th Anniversary Metal Card ($380)
There’s a debate to be had about the inclusion of this card on the list of the most valuable Pokemon error cards.
After all, the error isn’t with the card itself, which is a perfectly normal, metal Charizard card.
Incidentally, you can read our article about metal Pokemon cards if you need an explanation of what they are and where they come from!
So, if the error isn’t with the card – what’s the issue?
Well, in this instance, the collector sent the card to be graded by Beckett – which of course, is a perfectly normal thing to do.
Except Beckett graded the card and added the wrong descriptor on the label – so it’s the grading slab and label itself that’s the error, not the card!
This makes it quite a unique item – though the nature of the error may not quite fit the category of error Pokemon cards, we here at Card Gamer thought it was odd enough that we just had to include it!
5. Shining Tyranitar – Neo Destiny ($380)
Another card that sold for a value we can’t see, its listing price of $380 isn’t actually much different from a ‘normal’ Shining Tyranitar’s market value.
The Shining Tyranitar is a card from 2002’s Neo Destiny set, with a foil layer that is supposed to showcase the Shining nature in its name.
However, in this instance, the card has holo shift – which means missing and/or misaligned areas of the foil layer.
Looking at this card now from a gameplay point of view, it’s almost hilariously awkward to use – with up to three different energy types and attacks that rely on coin flips to be effective.
Even then, by modern Pokemon card standards, the damage dealt is pretty insignificant.
Yet these cards were extremely rare and were restricted to one Shining card per player deck anyway – similar to Radiant Pokemon in contemporary Pokemon TCG sets.
So they’re highly sought after by collectors – and the highly uncommon holo shift error makes this particular card even rarer!
Want to check out more information on rare or unusual Pokemon cards?
How about taking a look at our history of Topsun Pokemon cards? Or even our primer on Cardass Pokemon cards?
Still want to see more rare and expensive Pokemon cards? How about checking out our list of the most valuable promo Pokemon cards?
