Forget about deck building, put down the coins and tokens – and come with us as we check out the most valuable Topps Pokemon cards!
Originally founded in 1938, Topps began as a manufacturer of chewing gum.
Topps initially saw massive success with its Bazooka bubble gum, which began including a comic strip – featuring the character Bazooka Joe – on its wrapper from 1953 onwards (and it’s still produced internationally to this day!).
In 1950 – even earlier than the Bazooka Joe comic strips – Topps began producing a trading card series to include with their gum, featuring the then-popular Western character, Hopalong Cassidy.
In 1952, they produced their first baseball trading cards – featuring an image of a player on the front and their stats, along with a brief biography, on the back of the card.
Their trading card business, building on the perennial success of their baseball card series, exploded from there – and famous trading card sets such as Mars Attacks, Garbage Pail Kids and many more all proved enormously popular (and, in the case of the two examples given, hugely controversial) over the next few decades.
Topps also produce cards for numerous licensed properties to this day – Star Wars cards, for example, are still huge both at retail and among collectors.
You can read about the incredible value some hold for collectors in our article looking at the most valuable Topps Star Wars cards!
Topps brought Pokemon trading cards to the West from 1999 onwards, though allowed their license to expire in 2008.
In that time period, they brought numerous sets to market – and some cards are now highly sought after collectors items.
Which are the most expensive though?
Let’s find out, as we check out the most valuable Topps Pokemon cards!
1. Granbull – Johto Series 1, 2001 ($1,800)
I bet if I asked you to name ten Pokemon, Granbull wouldn’t be among those that came to mind.
It probably wouldn’t even be in the top 20 or 30 of those you could name, if it even came to mind at all!
Yet an 8.5 graded Granbull card – from a 2001 Topps set – sold on eBay for an astonishing $1,800 in June 2023.
Which makes it the number one card on the list of the most valuable Topps Pokemon cards!
Like most of the Topps Pokemon cards, it’s got a beautifully clean design that really showcases the monster it features; this one is also a holo treated card, for an especially eye-catching look.
It is undoubtedly surprising to see this particular card here at the very top of the list – though I’m sure it won’t be the only unpredicted entry we feature here.
It’s probably worth noting that we’re basing this list entirely on what Pokemon cards have actually sold for on eBay, rather than ‘perceived’ market value or the asking price of cards that have yet to sell.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at our number two entry!
2. Pokemon The Movie: 2000 – Authentic Film Frame Card – Graded ($372)
Now this feels like a genuine collectors piece; the Pokemon The Movie: 2000 set featured Film Frame cards, which included a genuine 35mm animation cel frame from the film itself.
These were released in unknown numbers, so the rarity is a bit of a mystery – however, several are still listed on eBay as of the time of writing, with one asking price as high as $1,000.
That $1k card features the animation cel of the film’s title, so perhaps it’s no wonder that its owner is looking for such a high price!
However, as we previously stated, just because a card is listed for a certain value, it doesn’t mean that’s what it’ll sell for – or that it’s actually worth that much.
The one we’ve uncovered as sold featured a frame of Ash, Pikachu and friends in a lush, woodland setting – and is graded at PSA 7.
3. Pokemon The Movie: 2000 – Authentic Film Frame Card – Ungraded ($318)
Another animation cel from Pokemon The Movie: 2000, this one features a more close up image of Pikachu.
It’s also the first ungraded card on our list – but no doubt the clearer image of Pikachu on the animation cel makes this one incredibly desirable for Pokefans!
Still, the price of £250 (roughly $318) that it sold for is incredibly high for a card that hasn’t been graded – so no doubt if this one were to be graded by its new owner, its value would rise even further!
4. Charizard – TV Animation Clear Card ($318)
Selling for the same price as the ungraded Film Frame card, this Charizard is pretty spectacular – and multiple copies have recently sold for the same price, each graded as PSA 10!
Not only is it a great depiction of what is still one of the most popular Pokemon (and undoubtedly one of the most iconic), but the way that the Pokemon is printed onto a clear plastic card makes it even more striking – the image really pops on this card; it needs to be seen in person to truly appreciate just how good this card looks.
Or you could just check out the video that Card Gamer’s very own Brandon Saltalamacchia posted to our Twitter account – which would also explain at least one of those £250/$318 sales on eBay!
I asked Brandon why he purchased this card: “Not only is it a unique, stunning card that’s unlike anything Pokemon has done before, it’s also a investment for me as I believe eventually the TCG Charizard collectors will overflow to the Topps collectibles world”.
5. Pokemon The Movie: 2000 – Authentic Film Frame Card – Pikachu, Slowking & Friends ($312)
Coming in at number 5, we have yet another card featuring an animation cel.
This one features Pikachu, Slowking, Ash, Melody and Misty – and it’s also, surprisingly, ungraded.
Again, this just goes to show that, if these cards do end up graded, they’re likely to turn into pretty sound investments by the buyers.
At $312, we could easily see this and other animation cel cards significantly rising in value over the coming years – though please don’t take that as investment advice from us humble, yet passionate fans here at Card Gamer.
It’s just that we’ve seen situations like this before.
Not to mention the fact that, going by the value of a lowly – yet graded – Granbull at the top of the list of the most valuable Topps cards, it seems that there could well be many other Pokemon cards that see similar rises in popularity and value if they’re graded highly enough!
