The 11 Rarest Pokémon cards Ever Made

Some Pokemon cards are so rare that 99.9% of collectors will never own them. Sure, the 1st edition Charizard is rare, but plenty of copies are floating around on the secondhand market. We’re talking about cards so rare that few have ever been seen, or in one case, so rare that they may not even exist. 

For this list, we’ve taken a deep dive into the nitty-gritty side of Pokémon. In my opinion, some of the rarest Pokémon cards are one-off test prints or cards that may only exist in legend. Here is the list:

• No rarity Japanese cards
• ‘For Position Only’ cards
• Pokémon SNAP cards
• Cosmos foil Fossil cards
• Grey stamp cards
• Prize cards
• Pokémon Illustrator
• Prototype Blastoise
• Test print Charizard
• Misprints
• Prerelease Raichu

11. No Rarity Symbol Expansion Set (Japanese)

The Japanese version of Base Set (released in 1996) is known as Expansion Pack, and unlike the English counterpart, did not have a 1st edition print run.

Unfortunately, due to an error, the initial printing of the cards did not include the rarity symbol in the bottom right corner. This error was corrected promptly, and the corrected version was printed until the demand was met. 

Many collectors like to jokingly refer to this as the 1st edition of the Japanese set, since it is so rare and represents the very first cards printed. 

These cards are very valuable and fetch a high price at auctions. A PSA 9 graded no rarity symbol Charizard recently sold for over $60,000 USD.

But there’s a mix-up with no rarity cards that the grading companies haven’t yet figured out. An old Japanese card collection called the Quick Starter Gift Set contained 60 cards and none of them had a rarity symbol.

Some of these 60 cards were reprints from Expansion Pack, so for example, the Trainer card Potion has two different copies that exist without rarity symbols.

Each Quick Starter Gift Set card is uniquely different from the Expansion Pack version, so you’ll have to check here to see what the original card looks like. Look for differences in the Japanese text on the card.

This Charizard is known to be one of the most valuable cards, period. There fore it doe snot make our Best Charizard Cards to Invest list because it’s just too far out of reach for most collector’s, and unlikely to skyrocket in price. 

10. For Position Only Expedition Cards

The For Position Only cards are a favorite among die-hard collectors. 

As the legend goes, these were color test prints for the 2002 Expedition Base Set expansion. What’s interesting is that these come from sealed test packs. Only 8 cards can be found with the For Position Only words on them

• Alakazam
• Ampharos
• Arbok
• Blastoise
• Charizard
• Clefable
• Dugtrio
• Manhole 

These can be found on eBay from time to time, so check these search results to see if any are currently up for auction.

I regularly check eBay for these cards. The Charizard and Blastoise are the most expensive and often sell for 5 figures, but you can often find Dugtrio, and Arbok for as little as $1,500-$2,000

9. Pokémon SNAP Cards

The contest winners, whose Pokémon SNAP photos were selected, were awarded these cards as prizes.

Two different contests were held. The first was by CoroCoro Magazine, which awarded 5 different prints, with 20 copies each. There were 5 winners, and each received 20 copies of 1 of 5 cards.

The 5 cards available were:

• Snap Bulbasaur
• Snap Poliwag
• Snap Magikarp
• Snap Gyarados
• Snap Pikachu

The second contest was held by a TV Show 64 Mario Stadium, and followed a similar format, but produced 15 copies per card instead of 20. The cards available were:

• Snap Koffing
• Snap Charmander
• Snap Squirtle
• Snap Articuno
• Snap Chansey

There is a total of 175 SNAP cards in the world (if none have been damaged or lost), so these cards are extremely rare.

8. Cosmos Foil Fossil Cards

The English version of the Pokémon TCG did not use the Cosmos holo pattern until the introduction of Base Set 2, unlike the Japanese version of the cards which used the Cosmos pattern from the beginning. 

The English version of the Fossil expansion featured 15 holo cards, each with the well-known star (also known as Galaxy) holo pattern.

However, members of the community have discovered the English Fossil expansion holo cards with the Cosmos holo pattern instead. These cards are extremely rare and rarely go up for auction.

The story so far is that the cards were likely used as a test print for the upcoming Cosmos holo pattern, and possibly given to Wizards of the Coast employees as gifts. 

7. Grey Stamp Cards

The ‘grey stamp’ is referring to some Pokémon cards that were printed with a grey 1st edition symbol instead of the typical black symbol. This was an error in the manufacturing process. 

The cause of the grey 1st edition stamps is still speculation, as it probably always will be. But there is some strong evidence presented by many smart community members that lead us in the right direction.

1. Low Ink
2. Wet Ink
3. Die Pressure

The truth could very well be one of, or a combination of these things. Grey stamp cards are hard to come by, and are mostly from the 1999 Base Set.

Obviously, the commons are more common, and the rares are harder to find. A grey stamp Charizard is the ultimate grey stamp card, but collecting the entire Base Set as grey stamps would be incredulous. 

6. Championship Prize Cards

One could argue that prize cards are the rarest Pokémon cards to exist. Over the years there have been many prize cards produced for all of the World Championships.

But many other prize cards have been made for other events, such as the Champion Road event or the World Challenge Super Secret Battle. Actually, the list goes on for a long time.

The whole purpose of a prize card is an extreme rarity. Those who place first, second, and third receive their very own super-rare prize cards. Each prize card is extremely valuable, and a single collector will never be able to own them all.

One of the most sought-after prize cards is the Parent-Child Tournament Kangaskhan card. There is an unknown amount of these cards in circulation, but 46 have been authenticated by PSA.

5. Pokémon illustrator

The famous Pokémon Illustrator (Also referred to as Pikachu Illustrator) was a prize card (surprise!) awarded by CoroCoro Magazine for winning one of their three illustration contests.

You may remember this card as the big one that Logan Paul made headlines with. 

Only 39 copies were distributed among the winners and only 19 of those have been authenticated by PSA. This card is famous, and as a result, is with millions if its graded by PSA. Even a beat-up raw copy would likely sell for high five figures. 

4. Prototype Blastoise

The Prototype Blastoise is another famous card, but mostly among collectors. 

This is a test print card likely printed during the trial runs of the North American release of the Pokémon TCG. There are known to be two copies, one of which has a blank back while the other actually has a Magic: The Gathering back.

If you want to read more, check out this CGC article here. 

This is an incredible card, and one recently sold for $360,000 USD, making it one of the most expensive trading cards to ever be sold at auction. 

3. Test print Charizard 

Very similar to the prototype Blastopise, this Charizard was a test print, too. The holo pattern features a rare “Disco” (a term coined by CGC) pattern that has yet to see production, even to this day.

The card has many odd quirks to it, such as a blank evolution box, no energy symbols, and is square cut. 

More than one of these has popped up over the years, but only one has been authenticated by CGC. Since these Charizards were likely cut from an uncut sheet, they are referred to as Non-Factory Cut (NFC). 

2. One-of-a-kind misprints 

Its a strange feeling to rip open a booster pack and finally pull your chase card, only to realize that its… a miscut. 

The photo for this entry can be seen on CGCs site here.

There are an unlimited number of factory mishaps that can result in a unique Pokémon card. Some cards have ink errors where one color is missing, resulting in an off-looking card. Some have obstruction errors where there is a missing portion of the printed image.

The point is, each miscut or factory defect is unique and therefore, very rare. 

Miscuts can be common and often aren’t very sought after, but when you have a card that was printed wonky, it’s likely one-of-a-kind. 

1. Prerelease Raichu

For a very long time, the prerelease Raichu was only a legend. Some chose to believe its existence, others wrote it off as another Pokémyth. Even WotC denied it for years when questioned.

As the story goes, WotC was printing the prerelease Clefable cards when some Riachu cards snuck onto the sheet, accidentally being stamped with “PRERELEASE”. Supposedly the cards were given out to some Wizards employees. 

However, in 2006, a Wizards employee finally released an image of the fabled card.

And that’s kind of the end of the story. The prerelease of Raichu is yet to be completely 100% for sure confirmed by the community. Why? Well, only about eight are believed to have ever been made, and after 20+ years, less than eight probably still exist.

To make matters worse, the prerelease Raichu has been faked many times over. It’s an exceptionally easy card to fake since it’s just a Base Set Raichu with a stamp. If you find a listing on eBay for a prerelease Raichu, there is a 99.99% chance it is not real. 

For now, it might as well still be a myth. Hopefully one day I can delete that sentence, but that day has yet to come. 

Final Thoughts

This is in no way a comprehensive list of the rarest cards, but instead a short article designed to spark interest in the niche hobby of tracking extremely rare Pokémon cards. While many of the cards on this list have been graded and sold at auction, I’m sure some are hiding away in someone’s attic, in an old box from the late 90s!