First editions, limited runs, and authenticated originals are increasingly viewed as blue-chip assets.

Two landmark sales in early 2026 are forcing the publishing and comics industries to reconsider the long-term cultural and commercial value of print.

The Pokémon Card That Made History

On 16 February, a Pikachu Illustrator card sold at auction for $16,492,000 – the highest price ever paid for a trading card.

The New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions handled the sale of this remarkable artefact, originally produced in 1998 as a prize in a series of contests run by the Japanese manga magazine CoroCoro. The artwork is by Atsuko Nishida, Pikachu’s original designer.

What makes this card extraordinary is its near-total scarcity. Only 39 were awarded to contest winners, with two further copies later sold by a former Pokémon Company employee – bringing the total known to exist to just 41. For context, more than 75 billion Pokémon cards were printed in 2025 alone.

The sold card also carries the highest possible condition rating from Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA): GEM MT 10 – making it the sole card of its kind at that grade.

Superman Rewrites the Comic Book Record Books

Just weeks prior, a 1938 copy of Action Comics #1 – the comic that introduced Superman and launched the superhero genre – sold in a private transaction for $15 million, making it the most expensive pop culture collectible ever sold at the time.

The sale, negotiated by Metropolis Collectibles and ComicConnect, eclipsed the previous record of $9.12 million set by a copy of Superman #1 sold at Heritage Auctions in November 2025 – itself discovered in a California attic.

The Action Comics copy carries extraordinary provenance: actor Nicolas Cage purchased it in 1996 for $150,000, only for it to be stolen from his home four years later. It resurfaced in 2011 in a storage locker and was returned to Cage, who sold it at auction for $2.16 million shortly thereafter.

What This Means for Publishing

These sales are not mere collector curiosities. They signal something significant about how physical, print-origin IP accrues cultural and monetary value over time – particularly when scarcity, condition, and provenance intersect.

For publishers, licensors, and IP holders, the lesson is clear: the cultural artefacts that originate in print can appreciate in ways that digital content simply cannot replicate (Look at how NFTs became a sideshow despite intitial excitement).

As the collectibles market matures and attracts institutional attention, the originating publishers – and their IP – stand at the centre of an expanding ecosystem of value. First editions, limited runs, and authenticated originals are increasingly viewed as blue-chip assets.

That ought to focus minds in publishing boardrooms as much as in auction houses.

(Sales figures sourced from Goldin Auctions, CGC Comics, and ComicConnect/Metropolis Collectibles.)

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed.