The auction house that sold a Pikachu card for S$1.4 million is bringing its gavel to Singapore, and the catalogue reads like a grail checklist.
> Quick view: Pokémon of Lion City, Stanley Gibbons' first Asia-based TCG auction. Fri 30 Oct 2026, 6pm SGT, live at The Vault, Frasers House hotel, 80 Middle Road, with worldwide online bidding at sgbaldwins.com (sale SGE26018). Headliners: a Victory Orb Mew trophy card, a sequential-cert PSA 10 Shiny Ho-Oh + Lugia pair, a sealed Gym Heroes box (2000) and a 1-of-500 MTG Smaug.
WHY THIS AUCTION HOUSE MATTERS
Stanley Gibbons is best known as a 160-year-old stamp house, but its pop culture arm has been setting trading card records: a PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator at £832,000 (about S$1.4 million), a Japanese PSA 10 Charizard Gold Star at £135,000 (S$230,195), a PSA 10 Gengar Prime at £71,000 (S$121,000) and a sealed EX Delta Species booster box at £147,600 (S$252,000). Pokémon of Lion City is its first dedicated TCG auction in Asia, timed to the opening of its new Singapore office. As the firm's Head of Pop Culture Roy Raftery puts it, with Asia being the birthplace of the franchise, hosting auctions here is the natural next step.
THE LOTS WORTH KNOWING
- Victory Orb Mew, 2005 Summer Battle Road 1st Place Trophy Card, with its original acrylic display. Trophy cards were awarded to tournament winners and never sold at retail, which is why they sit at the very top of Pokémon collecting.
- PSA 10 Shiny Ho-Oh 065/L-P and Lugia 066/L-P Present Campaign promos (2010) with sequential certification numbers, a pair that was graded together and stays together.
- PSA 9 Latias & Latios GX #170 from Team Up, and a CGC 6.5 Mudkip Gold Star #107 from EX Team Rocket Returns with a collector-prized swirl.
- Factory-sealed Gym Heroes booster box (2000, Unlimited), plus Japanese special boxes: the Pikachu Poncho Mega Charizard Y and Magikarp/Gyarados Poncho boxes.
- The crossover headliner: Smaug the Magnificent, Headliner Gleaming Gold from Magic: The Gathering's The Hobbit set (2026), one of only 500 copies, pack-fresh to sleeve.
BEFORE YOU BID
- In person: The Vault, Lower Lobby, Frasers House, a Luxury Collection Hotel, 80 Middle Road, Singapore 188966, from 6.00pm on Friday 30 October
- Online: worldwide bidding via sgbaldwins.com; register before the sale and browse the full catalogue there
- The maths every bidder forgets: the hammer price is not the final price. Check the buyer's premium and any shipping or import costs on the platform before fixing your ceiling
- The night before: the same venue hosts The Orchard Road Collection on 29 October, a philately auction of Malaya revenues, the first of the firm's Singapore series
