Highlights
- The rare Pikachu Van Gogh Pokemon card, originally given out for free at the Van Gogh Museum, is reportedly being restocked in chain stores in the Netherlands to help lower its scalped price.
- The Pokemon Company apologized for the chaos caused by scalpers during the initial promotion and pulled the card from being sold at the museum.
- The new stock of the card, estimated to be at least 100,000 copies, aims to deflate the aftermarket value and prevent another incident like this from occurring.
Recent reports have suggested that the incredibly rare Pikachu Van Gogh Pokemon card is being re-released soon. Back in 2023, The Pokemon Company announced a collaboration between the Van Gogh Museum and the Pokemon TCG, which included an exclusive promotional card that would be sold. This card was a special Pikachu card, "Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat," which was given out for free to any customer who purchased any product at the museum. Unfortunately, this promotion quickly went south as several scalpers were at the museum, with videos being posted on social media showing the huge crowds swarming the exhibit for the sought-after card.
Following this incident, The Pokemon Company apologized for the chaos that had spawned from this promotion. This card was pulled from being sold at the museum, mainly for the safety of its employees and other customers. Despite this, scalpers who did get the elusive Pokemon card put it up for auction online, with some copies selling for over $600 at the end of 2023. Recent reports suggest that The Pokemon Company is restocking the card.
Thieves Caught on Camera Stealing Thousands of Pokemon Cards from Store
A trading card store becomes the latest victim of an attack by a group of thieves looking to make money off stolen Pokemon cards.
According to Pokebeach, the official distributor of Pokemon TCG, Asmodee, contacted various hobby stores and informed them that they would be receiving a supply of these promotional cards, with 10 cards given per store. In a follow-up statement, Pokebeach confirmed that The Pokemon Company would be restocking the card at large chain stores in the Netherlands, with a special promotion for fans to get the card that will begin on February 10. Customers who spend €29.99 or more on TCG products will receive a copy of the Pikachu Van Gogh card.
Chain Stores the Van Gogh Pikachu Pokemon Card is Being Supplied To:
- Bruna
- Game Mania
- Intertoys
- Media Markt
- Primera
- Top1Toys
- Smyths Toys Superstores
Pokebeach says these larger stores will likely have more oversight to prevent scalping. Pokebeach's sources also estimate that 100 copies of these cards would be provided to each of the mentioned chain stores in the Netherlands. With there being over 1,000 of these chain stores in the region, this would mean at least an additional 100,000 copies of the rare card would be put onto the market. The site speculates that this move is to help lower the price of the scalped Van Gogh Pikachu card, as listings of the card on eBay are usually priced at around $200.
While trading card scalping is a common problem in the Pokemon community, this incident was one of the most infamous and controversial. Employees of the Van Gogh museum were fired after the initial incident, due to some of them embezzling boxes of the cards at the event and sharing restricted information about the exhibit. Hopefully, this new stock will not only deflate the aftermarket value of the Van Gogh card but also mean appropriate measures are taken at the stores to prevent another incident like this from happening again.
Pokemon TCG
Pokemon TCG (Trading Card Game) is a collectible and strategy based card game based on Nintendo's Pokemon franchise. Two players face off against one another, battling one Pokemon at a time and attempting to knock them out to claim one of six prize cards. The cards have also become highly collectible with some in particular selling for thousands of dollars.
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Original Release Date
- October 20, 1996
