The Most Expensive Bulbasaur Card Ever Sold

Rare CoroCoro Bulbasaur Promo Sets New Record

A rare Japanese-exclusive Bulbasaur promo has become the most valuable Bulbasaur card ever sold after a PSA 8 copy brought $809,943 at Goldin. The sale pushed the card into a category all its own and established a new benchmark for one of the original Kanto starters.

Bulbasaur has always been one of the most recognizable Pokémon in the franchise, but this particular card is not the kind of item most collectors ever expect to see in person. Its combination of extreme scarcity, competition history, and early Pokémon media tie-in has made it a standout among vintage Pokémon cards.

What Makes the Card So Rare

The card comes from a 1999 CoroCoro promo tied to a magazine competition created in collaboration with the Pokémon Snap video game. Players submitted their best photographs of specific Pokémon, and the winning images were printed as actual cards. Contest winners received multiple copies of the card, which helped create a tiny surviving population.

According to the source, the card has a worldwide population of 20. The PSA population is seven, and only two copies have earned a PSA 9. That level of scarcity makes the card one of the rarest Bulbasaur cards in existence and a natural target for high-end Pokémon collectors.

The Auction Result That Changed the Record Books

The headline sale came from a PSA 8 copy that sold for $809,943 through Goldin. That result made it the most valuable Bulbasaur card ever by more than $600,000, a huge gap that underscores just how unusual the card is in the marketplace.

While higher grades often drive the biggest prices in the hobby, this record was set by a PSA 8 example rather than one of the few PSA 9 copies. Even at that grade, the card delivered a result that places it among the most important vintage Pokémon sales ever recorded.

How It Fits Into the Best Photo Promo Line

The CoroCoro Bulbasaur card is part of the broader Best Photo promo family, a group of cards that also includes entries connected to the 64 Mario Stadium TV show. The promotion concept was similar across versions and relied on photographs taken in Pokémon Snap.

Within that group, the Gen 1 starter trio has produced some of the most notable sales in the hobby. Charmander has long held a major place in the market, but Bulbasaur's latest auction result moved it to the top of the trio in terms of value.

Other Top Best Photo Sales

The source also highlights several other major Best Photo promo sales that show how strong this niche can be at the high end of the market.

• Best Photo Charmander, POP 1 PSA 8, sold for $640,500
• Best Photo Squirtle, PSA 6, sold for $555,100
• Best Photo Chansey, PSA 7, sold for $488,000
• Best Photo Articuno, PSA 7, sold for $231,800
• Best Photo Koffing, BGS 9, sold for $180,000

Those results help put the Bulbasaur sale in context. Even among a group of already expensive and highly specialized promos, the CoroCoro Bulbasaur now stands above the rest as the most valuable Bulbasaur card on record.

Why Vintage Pokémon Promo Cards Keep Drawing Attention

Vintage Pokémon promo cards continue to attract serious interest because they combine nostalgia with documented scarcity. In this case, the card also has a direct link to Pokémon Snap and a magazine competition format that makes it unlike standard TCG releases.

For collectors focused on early Pokémon history, cards like this represent more than just a character collectible. They capture a specific moment in the franchise's expansion, when magazine contests, video games, and promotional print runs created items that were never meant to exist in large numbers.

That is part of why the CoroCoro Best Photo Bulbasaur has become such a notable headline in the hobby. It is not only a rare Bulbasaur card, but also a reminder of how unusual the vintage Pokémon promo market can be when a truly scarce piece reaches auction.

What Collectors Should Know About This Bulbasaur Card

The key details are straightforward but important. This is a 1999 Japanese-exclusive CoroCoro promo tied to a Pokémon Snap competition. The card has a worldwide population of 20, a PSA population of seven, and only two PSA 9 copies known. The PSA 8 example that sold at Goldin now holds the record for the most expensive Bulbasaur card ever sold.

For collectors tracking the top end of the Pokémon market, the sale adds another major data point to the growing list of record-setting vintage promos. It also reinforces how a single rare card can reshape the value conversation around even one of the franchise's most familiar starter Pokémon.