A PSA Mint 9 Pikachu Illustrator boasting a Mike Baker Authenticated Gold Diamond enhancement to its grade sold for $5 million, the highest amount ever paid for a PSA 9 Illustrator and the second-highest amount paid at auction for any Pokmon card, at Heritage Auctions Sept. 18 and 19 Trading Card Games Signature Auction. The result led the two-day auction to a total of $12,182,188, smashing Heritages previous Trading Card Games auction record of $7,790,094 set at the June 26 and 27 Trading Card Games and Manga Signature Auction. It continued the five-auction streak of besting the total sales record set by the previous auction by Heritage Auctions. The copy is one of 15 certified by PSA with a Mint 9, with only one example graded higher. It is the only 9-graded copy to earn the MBA Gold Diamond, indicating it is exceptional for its grade. Because PSA grades in whole numbers between 1 and 10, an MBA Gold Diamond means MBA would consider it worthy of a 9.5, says Heritage Auctions Trading Card Games managing director Jesus Garcia. The auction overall saw numerous records across various price points. A First-Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box sold for $750,000, the highest amount ever paid at auction for any sealed Pokmon Trading Card Games box. Other noteworthy records included a rare Gem Mint 10 Charizard 3 Legendary Collection reverse holo card bringing $575,000, and a PSA Gem Mint 10 Gold Star Charizard 100 from the EX Dragon Frontiers expansion set, $475,000. The market is in an incredible position, according to Garcia. The TCG Department started in 2021, and to see how far the market has come in such a short time is remarkable. Were very excited about the future of TCG. We have an outstanding TCG team who have worked extremely hard over the last few months curating this auction and having it become our highest-grossing auction. Results and images for all lots in the auction can be found at www.HA.com/7459.