The Pokemon TCG community is calling out Logan Paul’s famous Pikachu Illustrator card – graded a PSA 10 and bought by Paul for $5 million – by questioning the validity of its grading.
Paul became the owner of the record-breaking PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card in 2022, of which only 40 were ever made, and it is considered the most expensive Pokemon card in the world. While 40 exist, the one owned by Paul is the only one to receive the highest possible grading for its quality.
However, some Pokemon TCG fans are now questioning the validity of the PSA grading, and suggesting that it should instead be a PSA 9 or lower, which would delegitimize Paul’s claim that it is the rarest card in the world.
The discussion came up on Reddit, in a post titled “Jake Paul’s $ WORLD RECORD POKEMON CARD is NOT a PSA 10.” The post’s author calls out the card for having “flaws too obvious to be considered a PERFECT 10” as well as the fact “It’s even been graded as a PSA 9 beforehand.”
Continuing, the author of the post argued that the card has been allegedly “regraded” as a PSA 10, before pointing out that “the card has a chip in the corner. Second, the card has imperfect margins and is slightly cockeyed.” They even share close-up pictures of the card.
This is backed up by the original report on the purchase by Pokebeach, who claimed that the “card has gone through multiple owners over the years and was graded as a PSA 9 several times due to a small chip in the corner. However, it was regraded again and ultimately received a 10.”
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Talking on the grading, one comment asked, “He has to know about this, surely? Unless he’s clueless and didn’t get a professional to take an in-depth look.” However, other comments say they are “sure” Paul is aware, but that he “doesn’t care because it is graded as a 10.”
Meanwhile, other comments called out the PSA grading system more than Paul, with one comment adding, “Isn’t PSA supposed to be the professional that takes the look? I feel like this says more about PSA than Paul.”
Some claim that PSA regraded to a 10 because it would be “great free advertising” and suggest that the company “gifted him the regraded 10 in exchange for his public showboating of the card.”
Dexerto reached out to PSA for comment, but at the time of writing, they have not replied. We will update this article if they add any further information.
