How it’s built
- Charizard: one Heritage Auctions sale, $550,000 including the 25% buyer's premium.
- Pikachu: the median of four December 2025 sales at the same grade, from PSA's sales records: $13,157.
- 550,000 ÷ 13,157 = 41.8. Seven sales from November 2025 to January 2026 give 40.7; the nearest single sale gives 42.9.
What we assumed
- Sales at different venues are comparable.The Charizard sold at an auction house, the Pikachus mostly online; set, edition and grade are the same.
- The Pikachu prices were copied correctly.They were transcribed from a sales-record page, which limits confidence.
Sanity check
Three ways of choosing the Pikachu price give 40.7–42.9, so the multiple is stable. It is collector resale; The Pokémon Company earns nothing from it.
Where it comes from
Our calculation from other figures in the trainer’s notes:
Show the working
- Pikachu median Dec2025 $: 13,157
- Times Dec2025: 41.8
- Pikachu median Nov2025 Jan2026 $: 13,500
- Times Nov2025 Jan2026: 40.7
- Log10 times Dec2025: 1.62
- Dec 2025 Pikachu PSA 10 sales 12,814.00, 13,499.99, 13,774.05, 12,800.00
- median = (12,814.00 + 13,499.99) / 2 = 13,156.995
- 550,000 / 13,156.99 = 41.80
- Nov 2025-Jan 2026 (n = 7) median = 13,499.99
- 550,000 / 13,499.99 = 40.74. log10(41.80) = 1.62