Are collectibles a viable asset class? The buyer of the $16.5 million Pokémon card thinks so

Social media influencer and wrestler Logan Paul made history last week when he auctioned and sold a rare Pokémon card for $16.5 million, a world record price for an auctioned trading card. The winner views it as an investment.

AJ Scaramucci — son of investor and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci — won the bidding war for the “Pikachu Illustrator” card, made in 1998 and one of only an estimated few dozen to exist. 

It’s the crowning achievement in the Solari Capital founder’s short collecting career, which started with trading cards during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I mean, Picassos are great,” he said in an interview, explaining the Illustrator card’s importance. “But Pokémon means way more than just a Picasso painting to people.”

After winning, Scaramucci said the card’s purchase was the first action in what will be, as he dubbed, a “planetary treasure hunt.” He said the goal, which he is embarking on with his younger brother, is to collect a number of real-world, scarce assets across varying categories. 

Trading card markets have exploded in recent years. According to data from Card Ladder, an analytics firm that tracks trading card prices and sales, the monthly sales volume in secondary trading has nearly doubled in the last two years.

EBay CEO Jamie Iannone in the company’s earnings call last week detailed that the largest contributor to gross merchandise volume growth in the fourth-quarter were collectibles, particularly “driven by continued strength in trading cards.”

Paul himself bought the illustrator card in 2021 for nearly $5.3 million, indicating he sold it with a more than 200% return. Card Ladder’s “Pokémon index” has grown 145% in the past year. Compare those gains to the S&P 500, which is up 15.2% in the past year. Or compare it to “Magnificent Seven” darling Alphabet, which is up 73.4% in the past year. 

“Especially in 2025, the growth has been astronomical,” said Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions, which is owned by eBay. Goldin ran the auction for the illustrator card last week. “We have people who are buying solely either because they absolutely love it or they firmly believe that trading cards and collectibles are a legitimate alternative asset class.”

Scaramucci is someone who is buying Pokémon cards for both of those reasons: his own pleasure and the investment potential. 

“The compounded annual growth rate of these cards is out of control,” he said. “And they should be treated as investments because that’s what they are. It’s just obvious.”

Scaramucci added the cards are a way to play the “debasement trade,” where investors fearful of countries devaluing their currencies move money into hard assets. 

Viewing collectibles as an alternative asset is not new, even if unorthodox. 

Paul Karger, co-founder and managing partner at wealth advisory firm TwinFocus, said he works with clients who collect art, wine, watches and even guitars. But while some view these items as investments, Karger wouldn’t advise clients to get into that mentality. 

“Think of it as a passion first, and kind of an investment second,” he said. “You hope they go up over time, but they’re absolutely not a replacement to financial assets, it’s just maybe a complement at the margin.”

Karger warned that the illiquid nature of collectibles, and the dependency they have on others determining their worth, often via auctions, are added risks. 

Kaycee LeCong, managing director of the family office at Brighton Jones Wealth Management, also noted a risk is that capital gains on collectibles are taxed at 28%, higher than capital gains taxes on stocks that are around 15% and 20%.

Despite the risks, Goldin projects more people will view collectibles, particularly trading cards, as alternative assets. He said as more headlines come about detailing major sales — like that of Paul’s — and price discovery becomes easier to do with more data, it will only attract more participants. 

Scaramucci will embark on his treasure hunt through a new company called Treasure Trove. However, he did not disclose any details about what that company will be nor how it will operate, beyond that it will receive funding from Solari Capital. Scaramucci also didn’t disclose if he plans to sell the Illustrator card, or any other of his collectibles, if it grows more in value. 

And while Scaramucci said he’d like to obtain the Declaration of Independence as part of his hunt after he won the Illustrator card, he acknowledged to CNBC that it’s a goal that will take much work to achieve while not addressing a plan on how to do it. 

But at the moment, the lack of clarity in his future plans is the point. 

“For now, if you think I’m just a crazy person buying up real-world, scarce assets,” he said, “that’s all you need to know.”