Pokémon: Rare Pikachu, from the first National Championship, is up for sale

This month was a big one for the TCG rare cards market: first, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s rarest card is finally being sold, then, Black Lotus breaks yet two more sale records in the span of two weeks. If there was a right time to be a collector, that time is now.

Yet another rare card is being auctioned later this month, on April 21-22 by Trading Card Games Signature Auction: Pikachu No.3, a card that was given to players competing in a Japan tournament back in 1997. Not only is this card super-duper cute, which was already reason enough to be sought-after by Pokémon collectors, but it is also one of just four PSA-certified copies with a NM-MT 8 grade, and no other cards were graded higher, which means this is the best quality of this card any collector might ever get, so far.

The card is also part of a vital piece of Pokémon TCG history, as the tournament it was given at was the First Official Pocket Monsters Tournament, in Chiba, Japan. To get this card, players competing back in 1997 would have to get third-place, which would get them this card and preferred entry into the Lizardon Mega Battle Tournament, the second Pokémon TCG Tournament in history, considered the first official Pokémon TCG National Championship among the community.

The super-duper cute artwork we mentioned before shows the iconic Pikachu from the series holding a mini tournament cup, with shiny eyes and a smile on its endearing face, and it was done by one of the most famous Pokémon artists, Mistuhiro Arita. He was responsible for the artwork of the other cards given in that tournament as prizes.

But, the card isn't the only thing included in this auction: a Pokémon First Edition Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999), is also included, among others. This box, sealed, from the iconic first set released in 1999, is also extremely rare, and includes characters like Blastoise, Venusaur, Mewtwo and the even rarer Charizard.

There is also a Pokémon VS 2001 Tropical Mega Battle Complete Deck CGC Trading Card Game Graded (The Pokémon Company, 2001), is also being offered for the first time publicly at this very same auction. Not only is this product incredibly rare as well, considering it is a full complete deck of cards, this set wasn't re-printed by Wizards of the Coast, which makes this product exclusive to Japan afterward, which printed it in English.

These were also part of the prizes for the 23 children participating in the 2001 TMB, one of the eight given in the 2011 events. The cards included in the product were also graded between NM/Mint+ 8.5 to Gem Mint 9.5.

One of the most prized cards collectors will be hoping to get if they ever open these products is the Charizard 4 First Edition Base Set PSA Trading Card Game GEM MT 10 (The Pokémon Company, 1999) Rare, Holo, which was previously sold for $336,000, and in the auction in question, it is awarded a GEM MT 10, which means it's in impeccable condition.

Let's see if this auction will be breaking record sales as well as the other collectible card games in the market have this month.