Portal TCG · 25 Years to 30
In October 2021, Pokemon turned 25 — and to mark it, The Pokemon Company did something it had never really done before: it raided its own history. Celebrations was a tiny 25-card main set bolted to a 25-card Classic Collection of reprinted legends, every one carrying the silver 25th anniversary stamp. Base Set Charizard. A birthday Pikachu. Umbreon Gold Star. It was a lap of honour in booster form.
Nearly five years on, with Pokemon's 30th anniversary now on the horizon, Celebrations has aged into something more interesting than a nostalgia trip — it's become a real barometer for what anniversary sets do over time. Some cards held, some quietly climbed, and a couple of oddities became genuinely eye-watering. So we pulled the current GBP numbers and ranked the ten most valuable, raw value first.
One thing to know before you scroll. Two of these aren't cards you could ever pull from a pack — they're the die-struck metal Charizard and Pikachu from the Ultra-Premium Collection, and they sit at the very top for a reason. The number on the #1 card is genuinely absurd. Here's the countdown.
All card prices sourced from Pulse TCG, captured 20 July 2026. New to Pulse? Use code PORTAL10 for a free first month on the Investor & Vendor plans.
10. Mew ex
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #88/92 · Full Art
Raw
£14.94Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£152.67A 10.2x jump on raw · PSA 9 £32.33The biggest multiplier in the whole top 10. Mew ex — reprinted from the Delta Species era — is only £15 raw, the cheapest card to make this list. But a PSA 10 is £152, a wild 10.2x, and there's the lesson: on older-style cards with soft foil and fragile edges, the gem-mint premium is enormous. Ryo Ueda's ghostly Mew is the value play here — pocket money raw, a proper card graded.
9. Zekrom
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #114/114 · Full Art
Raw
£16.79Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£100.286.0x on raw · PSA 9 £27.29The set's Black & White representative, reprinting the full-art Zekrom that closed out the 2011 Base Set at 114/114 — 5ban Graphics again, all crackling black armour and blue lightning. It's the most affordable full art on this list at £17 raw, but the PSA 10 clears £100, a tidy 6x, because clean-cornered copies of black-bordered cards are notoriously hard to find. A sleeper for anyone building a graded run of the set.
8. Shining Magikarp
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #66/64 · Shining
Raw
£25.98Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£126.294.9x on raw · PSA 9 £45.96The gold splash of the Classic Collection. Shining Magikarp — the golden fish from Neo Revelation — reprinted with Ken Sugimori's own art and that unmistakable shimmering foil. It's a card that's always been more meme than monster, and collectors love it for exactly that. £26 raw, £126 in a PSA 10 (4.9x). A reminder that Celebrations reached deep into the vault, not just the Base Set era.
7. Birthday Pikachu
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #24 · Holo
Raw
£27.96Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£213.087.6x on raw · PSA 9 £61.04Possibly the most charming card in the set. The 'Happy Birthday' Pikachu — cake, candles, party hat — reprinted from its 1990s original with Kagemaru Himeno's artwork, and quietly perfect for an anniversary set. Raw it's a friendly £28, but a PSA 10 is £213, a 7.6x jump that rewards anyone who kept theirs pristine. Cheap to love, expensive to own in a slab — exactly the kind of card the 30th will mint more of.
6. M Rayquaza EX
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #76/108 · Full Art
Raw
£37.44Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£280.787.5x on raw · PSA 9 £44.32A reprint of the Roaring Skies Mega Rayquaza EX — 5ban Graphics' emerald dragon tearing across a full-art frame, a fan favourite long before Celebrations put it back in packs. Raw sits at £37, but the PSA 10 leaps to £280, a 7.5x multiple that tells you gem-mint copies are the ones people chase. With Rayquaza carrying our current Storm Emeralda hype as well, this one's having a moment on both fronts.
5. Mew — 025/025
Celebrations · Main Set · #025/025 · Secret Rare
Raw
£56.25Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£213.743.8x on raw · PSA 9 £62.96The chase of the modern 25-card set, and the only entry here that isn't a reprint. Mew closes the main Celebrations set at 025/025 — a shimmering secret-rare cosmos by Saki Hayashiro, and a nod to the Pokemon that started the whole 'gotta catch 'em all' myth. Raw it's £56, with a PSA 10 at £213 (3.8x). It's the card that dates the set to the 25th, and the one modern collectors reach for first.
4. Umbreon — Gold Star
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #17/17 · Gold Star
Raw
£68.22Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£346.835.1x on raw · PSA 9 £100.47The Classic Collection's deep cut. Umbreon Gold Star — ancestor of the fabled 'Moonbreon' — reprinted from its POP Series 5 original, star rarity and all. Umbreon is the most bankable name in the hobby right now, and even a reprint carries it: £68 raw, £346 for a PSA 10, a healthy 5.1x. Masakazu Fukuda's shadowy pose still does the heavy lifting. If any card here quietly climbs before the 30th, it's this one.
3. Pikachu — Metal Card
Celebrations · Ultra-Premium · #58/102 · Metal
Raw
£92.87Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£6,904.15A 74x jump on raw · tiny graded populationThe metal Charizard's stablemate, and somehow the wilder number. Same Ultra-Premium Collection, same die-struck metal treatment, this time the Base Set Pikachu. Raw it's ~£93. Graded, a PSA 10 is £6,904 — a staggering 74x — on a population barely off zero, because grading a metal card is a fool's errand and the few gem-mint copies that exist trade for whatever collectors will pay. A mascot, a milestone and a lottery ticket all at once.
2. Charizard — Classic Collection Holo
Celebrations · Classic Collection · #4/102 · Holo
Raw
£135.54Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£483.333.6x on raw · 34,815 graded · PSA 9 £174.54The one everybody actually wanted: the Base Set Charizard, reprinted with the 25th anniversary stamp and Arita's 1999 artwork intact. It was the card that sold Celebrations, and at ~£135 raw it's still the most valuable paper card in the set by a distance. The PSA 10 runs £483 — a gentler 3.6x, because with over 34,000 already graded the gem-mint premium is thin. Nostalgia in a modern shell, and the reason a lot of people bought a box.
1. Charizard — Metal Card
Celebrations · Ultra-Premium · #4/102 · Metal
Raw
£203.30Near Mint market pricePSA 10
£8,195.67A 40x jump on raw · PSA 9 £535.60The crown jewel of the 25th, and it isn't even a card you could pull. The metal Charizard came sealed inside the Ultra-Premium Collection — a thick, die-struck slab of the Base Set original, Mitsuhiro Arita art and all. Raw copies sit around £203, but a PSA 10 is a genuinely absurd £8,195, a 40x jump, because almost nobody sends a heavy metal card off to grade. Five years on it's the most valuable thing the anniversary produced — and a hint of where the 30th could go.
So what does Celebrations tell us with the 30th around the corner? Three things.
Reprints of the right cards hold. The Base Set Charizard, Umbreon Gold Star, the metal cards — anything that connected to a genuine piece of Pokemon history kept its value or grew it. The filler faded. When the 30th's own anniversary product lands, that's the filter to apply: does the card actually mean something, or is it just shiny?
Grading is where the money hides. Look at the multiples — Mew ex at 10x, the metal Pikachu at 74x. Raw, most of these are affordable. It's the gem-mint premium that turns a £15 card into a £150 one. If you're collecting the 30th to keep, condition matters from the second the pack comes off the shelf.
Anniversary sets reward the people who keep them properly. Which is the whole reason we built our 30th range.
We've made a limited run of 30th Anniversary display binders — a Day Side and a Night Side, Espeon and Umbreon, a Day Pikachu and a Night Pikachu — printed by hand, made to order, preorder now and shipping from 17 August. And for anyone chasing the sealed side of the 30th, the Japanese 30th Anniversary booster box is on the way: it's sold out for now, so join the notify list and we'll tell you the moment it lands.
Twenty-five years gave us Celebrations. Here's to collecting the next thirty properly.
Preorder · Ships from 17 August
30th Anniversary Binders — Day Side & Night Side
From £59.99
A limited run of made-to-order display binders for Pokemon's 30th. Pick your side — Day Side (Espeon, Day Pikachu) or Night Side (Umbreon, Night Pikachu) — printed by hand in full colour. Preorder now, ships from 17 August. Once the run's gone, it's gone.
Preorder Your 30th Binder →
Japanese import · Notify me
30th Anniversary — Japanese Booster Box (M6a)
Release TBC
The Japanese 30th Anniversary Mega Evolutions box — a genuine, factory-sealed JP import, dispatched fast from our UK warehouse. It's sold out for now: join the notify list and we'll email you the moment it's back in stock.
Get Notified When It Lands →