Top 10 Most Expensive Card Sales of All Time; Mantle, Pikachu and More
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Released in 1886, Allen & Ginter is considered the first official baseball card trading set. Yet in the last 140 years, the 10 highest recorded card sales, according to Card Ladder, have occurred in the last five years. While there are many factors that played a role in that: the economy, inflation, the card market, and more. But what is most interesting is the variety of different sports (or non-sports) cards that made the list.
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10. 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite LeBron James Rookie Parallel Patch Autograph BGS 9/10
Sale Date: April 26, 2021
Sale Price: $5.2 million
9. 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 9
Sale Date: January 14, 2021
Sale Price: $5.2 million
8. 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Pikachu Holo Illustrator PSA 10
Sale Date: July 22, 2021
Sale Price: $5.275 million
7. 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner SGC 3
Sale Date: August 15, 2021
Sale Price: $6.6 million+
6. 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth SGC 3
Sale Date: December 3, 2023
Sale Price: $7.2 million
5. 1909 Caporal T-206 Honus Wagner SGC 2
Sale Date: August 4, 2022
Sale Price: $7.25 million
4. 2006-07 Upper Deck Exquisite Lebron James/Michael Jordan 1-of-1 Dual Patch Autograph
Sale Date: September 26, 2025
Sale Price: $10 million
3. 1952 Mickey Mantle SGC 9.5
Sale Date: August 27, 2022
Sale Price: $12.6 million
2. 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Kobe Bryant/Michael Jordan 1-of-1 Dual Logoman Patch Autograph PSA 6
Sale Date: August 23, 2025
Sale Price: $12.932 million
1. The Logan Paul 1998 Pokemon Japanese Promo Holo Illustrator PSA 10
Sale Date: February 15, 2026
Sale Price: $$16.492 million
Top Baseball Sales
When you look at the list you can see that half of the top sales ever come from baseball. Judging by the prices of boxes in recent years, basketball and football have a bigger market. But, as many long-time collectors and sellers will say, baseball still makes the card world go round.
There are five big baseball card sales, but that comes from just three different players: Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Mickey Mantle. That seems obvious. But in today's day in age with players like Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, and Shohei Ohtani, the old guys still reigns supreme. While Ohtani has been slowly creeping up on Babe Ruth as far as status in the baseball history, the print run is astronomically bigger today then it was 100 years ago. And though that is only one of many factors that play a role in modern baseball cards not making the list, scarcity is by far the biggest factor.
Top Basketball Sales
With baseball, it seems that it's all about vintage. But basketball is a different ball game. All three basketball cards in the top 10 come from at least the 2004-05 season.
There are three basketball sales in the top 10, and like baseball, it revolves around just three players: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James. And it's interesting to think about, but the likes of Ruth, Mantle and Wagner are legends of baseball. Transcending generations where people born more than 100 years after they played, people still know them. And you have to imagine that in 100 years, collectors will still be remembering Jordan, Bryant, and James.
Non-Sport TCG Enters the Fold
New to the list is the TCG market. The top sale as of 2026, Logan Paul's 1998 Pokémon Japanese Promo Holo Illustrator, happened just days ago. Not only did it make the top 10 all-time sales list, it set the whole record!
Another copy of the same card and same grade also made the list at number eight. The fact that two TCG cards have encroached in the list of top sales ever is telling. TCG is growing and isn't going anywhere. Proof of that is the date of the sales. The first sale occurred in 2021, five years ago. And now, that same card sold for roughly three times as much as it did in 2021. It's hard to tell though how much of the 2026 sale is related to the custom diamond encased necklace, or that Logan Paul is reported to deliver the piece in person.
What's Missing From The List
While the top 10 sales include baseball, basketball, and TCG, noticeably absent is football and hockey. Hockey has always lagged behind when it comes to market share in the card hobby. But football is interesting. It's probably the most popular American sport. It continues to get bigger as the NFL goes global with games outside the U.S. Perhaps with more international games the card market will follow.
What's the Next Highest Sale?
It's fun to speculate on what the next sales record will be. Will it be baseball? Will it be another Pokémon card? It's impossible to guess right. But what is true, is that the highest 10 sales ever have come in the last five years. Which shows that the market has just started to get going.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz