1999 Pokémon Prerelease Raichu Card PSA 5 Sells for Record $699,625 at Alt

A 1999 Pokémon Base Set Prerelease Raichu has sold for $699,625 at Alt, with the auction house calling it the most valuable Raichu card ever sold.

The card is a holographic 1999 Base Set Prerelease Raichu graded PSA 5. In announcing the result, Alt described the $699,625 sale as a record and said it established a new high for any Raichu card.

The Prerelease Raichu has one of the strangest histories of any early English Pokémon card. It was never intended to be an official prerelease release. According to authentication research by CGC, the card was apparently created by accident while Wizards of the Coast was producing green-stamped Prerelease Clefable cards for the Jungle expansion. A Base Set Raichu appears to have been positioned on the same production sheet, resulting in a small number receiving the same green “PRERELEASE” foil stamp. The card became hobby folklore for years, with reported sightings dating back to 1999, before former Wizards employees and later forensic authentication helped establish that genuine examples really did exist.

The sale is especially notable because the card did not need a top numerical grade to reach nearly $700,000. The PSA 5 example still commanded a massive price because of the specific Prerelease issue and the demand surrounding one of the hobby’s most recognizable early Pokémon cards.

Alt’s result adds another major six-figure sale to a Pokémon market that has produced a string of significant records in recent weeks. A PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator sold for $5 million at Heritage Auctions, while a Torchic Gold Star sold for a record $2.7 million. Goldin also recently completed a $550,000 private sale of a 1996 CoroCoro Jigglypuff promo.

At $699,625, the Prerelease Raichu is, according to Alt, the highest-priced Raichu card the company says has ever been sold.