Pokémon Jigglypuff CoroCoro Promo Sells for Record $550,000 in Goldin Private Sale

Jigglypuff has joined the growing list of Pokémon characters producing eye-popping prices at the top end of the card market. Goldin announced that a 1996 Japanese CoroCoro Comic Promo Glossy Jigglypuff graded CGC Gem Mint 10 sold privately for $550,000.

According to Goldin, the transaction sets two records: the highest price ever paid for this particular Jigglypuff card and the highest known sale for any Jigglypuff card. The card dates to the earliest days of Pokémon and was distributed in Japan through CoroCoro Comic in 1996. The glossy promo carries card No. 039 and was released October 15, 1996, according to PriceCharting’s catalog information.

Condition is a major part of the story. The example sold by Goldin received a CGC Gem Mint 10, putting an early Japanese promotional card in exceptionally high grade nearly 30 years after it was issued. The $550,000 result also shows just how far demand has spread beyond the handful of Pokémon that historically dominated headline sales.

Pikachu and Charizard remain the names most closely associated with seven-figure Pokémon cards, but recent results have shown that rare promotional issues, trophy cards and elite-condition examples featuring other characters can command substantial prices of their own.

CollectiblesNews.com has been following that trend throughout the summer. In August, a 2005 EX Deoxys Rayquaza Gold Star graded CGC Pristine 10 sold for $1.02 million at Fanatics Collect, becoming the highest-priced English-language Pokémon card at the time and setting a record for Rayquaza.

That record did not last long. Earlier this month, CollectiblesNews.com reported that a Torchic Gold Star sold for $2.7 million, pushing the record for an English Pokémon card considerably higher. The sale came during a period in which PSA said the high-end Pokémon market had produced a record number of six-figure transactions.

The numbers have been even larger among some of Pokémon’s rarest Japanese promotional cards. A PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator owned by Logan Paul sold through Goldin for $16.492 million in February, setting the record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction.

More recently, Goldin announced a $2.7 million private sale of a PSA Mint 9 Pikachu Illustrator. The auction house also reported a $1.3 million private sale of a 1996 CoroCoro Comic Promo Glossy Incorrect Illustrator Pikachu graded CGC Gem Mint 10.

That last sale provides an interesting connection to the new Jigglypuff record. Both are 1996 Japanese CoroCoro promotional cards, putting some of Pokémon’s earliest promotional material squarely in the middle of the current high-end market.

The Jigglypuff result is still striking because of the character involved. A $550,000 price would have been a major Pokémon sale under almost any circumstances, but setting that mark with Jigglypuff shows that the market for elite early Pokémon cards is becoming increasingly character-specific. A card does not necessarily need Pikachu or Charizard on the front to attract serious money when rarity, condition and early Pokémon history come together.

Goldin did not disclose the identities of the buyer or seller in the private transaction.