A Pikachu, a number plate and a Ferrari nobody has driven: what rarity cost in 2026

The most expensive trading card ever sold changed hands on 16 February. Logan Paul, the YouTuber turned wrestler, sold his Pikachu Illustrator card, the only copy graded a perfect 10 by the grading company PSA, through Goldin Auctions for $16,492,000. Guinness World Records duly certified it.

It was the most expensive item in what turned out to be a strong year for objects whose value rests on being the only one. The purchases have little else in common. Set side by side, they show how the market for rarity actually works.

A number, for charity

On 8 March in Dubai, Emirates Auction and the city’s transport authority held their “Most Noble Number” sale. A car plate reading DD 6 sold for Dh37mn, about $10mn. DD 99 made Dh8.9mn. A mobile phone number, 058 0000000, went for Dh4.5mn.

The proceeds went to a campaign against child malnutrition run by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the Dubai ruler’s foundation, which explains part of the price. In the Gulf, a low-numbered plate is a public signal of status, and buying it at a charity auction adds virtue to visibility.

The regional record, set in 2023 for the plate P7, still stands at Dh55mn.

A car before it exists

Ferrari’s F80, its new flagship hybrid, lists at about $3.7mn in America and €3.6mn in Europe, and only 799 will be built. Ferrari chooses the buyers. Before production began, a German dealer advertised one at €5.9mn, a premium of about €2.3mn on a car that did not yet exist.

Ferrari tries to prevent that. F80 buyers are barred from selling the car for 18 months after delivery. The premium is, in effect, the price of skipping Ferrari’s selection process.

A horse that may never race

In Kentucky, the Keeneland September yearling sale passed its all-time record by its ninth day. By then 2,027 horses had sold for $511.68mn, above the whole of last year’s 12-day total. The average price rose more than 7 per cent, to $252,432. The top lot so far was a colt by Nyquist at $2.25mn.

A yearling is the purest form of rarity bet. Most will never win a significant race. A few will be worth many times their price as stallions. Buyers are paying for pedigree, conformation and a lottery ticket.

What they have in common

Very little, on the surface. A cardboard card, three characters on a plate, a car nobody can yet drive, an animal that may never race. But in each case, the price has almost nothing to do with the object’s use and almost everything to do with how many people can have one.

There is one Pikachu Illustrator in a PSA 10 holder. There is one DD 6. There will be 799 F80s, and a great many more people who would like one.

That is the logic the very rich have applied this year, whether to cards, cars, horses or, in Seoul, to the right to play golf on a Saturday. When money is plentiful and shares keep rising, the scarcest things rise fastest.

The same logic works in reverse, which is worth remembering by anyone tempted to treat a Pikachu as a pension.

Sources

• Guinness World Records: most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction
• Khaleej Times: DD 6 plate sold for Dh37mn (8 Mar 2026)
• Modern Car Collector: Ferrari F80 marked up by $2.5mn
• Autoblog: 2026 Ferrari F80 pricing
• Thoroughbred Daily News: Keeneland September surpasses record gross on day 9
• Segye Ilbo: Korean golf memberships above ₩2.5bn (17 Sep 2026)

Cover image: 先従隗始, Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Cropped.