One-of-a-kind “prerelease” Raichu Pokemon card sells for over half a million Dollars

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A rare, unreleased Raichu Pokémon card from the very first set, released in 1999, recently sold for $555,000 at a Heritage Auctions event.

This incredibly rare Raichu card is the only one of its kind that has been officially verified by PSA, receiving a grade of EX-MT 6. For years, collectors whispered about its existence, believing it was a myth. The card resulted from a printing mistake when early copies of the Jungle Clefable cards were being made. It wasn’t until 2006, when a former employee of Wizards of the Coast shared photos, that its authenticity was finally proven.

The card found at the Heritage auction was originally owned by Damon Edmondson, a project manager at Wizards of the Coast back in 1999.

Edmondson received two copies of the card when a coworker found them while cleaning out her desk. He gifted one and kept the other for almost 25 years. His card is the sole prerelease Raichu that has been professionally graded and sealed by PSA.

PSA exception and authentication

Jesus Garcia, a director at Heritage Auctions, explains that PSA usually only grades cards that were originally sold in stores or through official tournaments. However, they made a special exception for this card after confirming that it was genuine and verifying the previous owner’s employment.

According to Garcia, PSA typically only grades items that were officially produced and sold in stores or given out at official tournaments.

This card appears to have been made with a manufacturing defect. Generally, PSA doesn’t grade cards with such errors unless they were officially released. To grade it anyway, PSA needs to be completely sure the card is genuine.

He expressed his excitement about offering this exceptionally rare piece of Pokémon Trading Card Game history.

This early, unreleased Raichu card isn’t the only valuable Pokémon card recently up for sale. Just a few weeks ago, on September 12th, a highly-rated Pikachu Illustrator card-graded a 9 by PSA-sold for four million dollars on eBay.

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2025-09-23 17:19