The Most Expensive Pokemon 151 Cards

A set with no booster box, no Master Ball reverses, and no Mew SIR keeps getting mistaken for one that has all three. Here's what's actually in Pokemon 151, and what it's actually worth.

Scarlet & Violet: 151 (2023) is modern Pokemon's purest nostalgia product: every original Kanto Pokemon, in Pokedex order, with Illustration Rares that turned starter Pokemon into art prints. Three years on, it has quietly become one of the strongest-performing modern sets, with anniversary-year demand pushing its sealed product and its cheapest chase cards up double digits in a single month.

This countdown ranks the ten most expensive English 151 cards by raw near-mint value as of late June 2026. A scope warning that matters more for this set than any other: the Japanese version (sv2a) has different secret numbering, different rarities, and the famous Master Ball reverses, and listings mix the two constantly. Everything below is the English set. Recap table at the bottom.

10. Charmeleon Illustration Rare #169: ~$76

The middle evolution earns its own slot, at about $76 raw with PSA 10s near $490. The 151 Illustration Rares did something unusual: they made the un-evolved and mid-stage Kanto Pokemon collectible in their own right, and the whole Char-line rides that wave.

9. Psyduck Illustration Rare #175: ~$78

Yes, Psyduck. The perpetually confused duck's IR is one of the set's most charming illustrations and trades at about $78 raw. Proof that in this set, personality moves prices as much as power does.

8. Bulbasaur Illustration Rare #166: ~$82

The first card in the secret sequence and the first starter on the countdown, at about $82 raw. The starter IRs are the set's soul; this is the affordable corner of the trio.

7. Pikachu Illustration Rare #173: ~$93

The mascot's IR sits around $93, but this is the one card on the list moving the wrong way: eBay sold prices have slipped about 20% in the past month (recent solds near $69 against higher listed markets). The reason is population: nearly 9,000 PSA 10s exist and dozens more mint every month, so despite $600 gem sales, supply keeps arriving. Buy it for love; the pop report caps the rest.

6. Squirtle Illustration Rare #170: ~$100

The hot hand. Squirtle's snoozing-on-the-beach IR is up 21% in the past 30 days to about $100 raw. When a set rallies, the market picks favorites, and this month the market picked the turtle.

5. Zapdos ex SIR #202: ~$104

The set's only legendary chase, at about $104 raw. Zapdos got both an Ultra Rare (#192) and this Special Illustration Rare, and as everywhere in 151, the SIR is the one with the premium and the trajectory.

4. Charmander Illustration Rare #168: ~$107

The people's champion. The tiny fire lizard's IR is the most beloved non-ex card in the set, trading around $107 raw with a PSA 10 selling for $659 this week, a 6x gem multiplier that reflects how hard clean copies are to find. If the set has a second icon after the Charizard, it's this.

3. Venusaur ex SIR #198: ~$118

The first of the big three starter-evolution SIRs, at about $118 raw and roughly $580 in PSA 10. Venusaur is forever the least-hyped of the trio, which historically has made it the value pick, and its recent sales have been firming.

2. Blastoise ex SIR #200: ~$156

The climber of the trio: up 15% in the past 30 days to about $156 raw, with PSA 10s in the $650 to $750 band. Blastoise has spent three years as "the other one" next to Charizard; the anniversary market is finally treating the water starter's SIR like the top-five card it always was.

1. Charizard ex SIR #199: ~$410

No suspense, but plenty of data. The 151 Charizard ex SIR is the modern hobby's benchmark card: about $410 raw, a PSA 10 that sold for $1,550 this week (roughly two gem copies trade every single day), and the deepest liquidity of any modern single. It's a textbook 10-or-bust grading card, with the PSA 9 barely above raw, and it anchors every conversation about the set, the sealed product, and modern Kanto nostalgia generally. Our best cards to grade guide uses it as the reference case for exactly that reason.

The Sealed Story: No Booster Box, By Design

Here's the structural quirk that shapes the whole 151 market: no English booster box exists. The set was sold only through Booster Bundles (six packs), Elite Trainer Boxes, the Ultra-Premium Collection with its metal Mew ex, and an array of tins and collections. Any "English 151 booster box" listing is a repack, a display of bundles, or a Japanese sv2a box wearing the wrong title.

That scarcity-by-format has paid off: ETBs jumped from $350 to around $440 early this year and Pokemon Center ETBs approached $900 as the anniversary run-up hit, with retail shelves empty for over a year. And the sleeper of the whole ecosystem isn't in the set at all: the Pokemon Center-stamped Snorlax promo (SVP #051) from the PC ETB trades around $400 raw with PSA 10s over $2,100, roughly ten times its regular-ETB twin, the single most profitable packaging distinction in modern Pokemon.

Buyer Traps to Avoid

• Master Ball reverses are Japanese-only. The sv2a set has Poke Ball and Master Ball mirror parallels; the English set has plain reverse holos, full stop. "English Master Ball 151" is a mislabel every time.
• The Mew ex #205 trap. English #205 is the gold Hyper Rare Mew ex, a $30 card. The Japanese sv2a #205 is a Special Art Rare worth several times more. Same number, different cards, endless confusion. (There is no English Mew SIR at all; the full-art Mew ex is Ultra Rare #193.)
• Erika's Invitation comes in two chase versions. The SIR is #203 and the Ultra Rare is #196, at very different prices; listings swap them routinely. Same for Giovanni's Charisma (#204 SIR, #197 UR).
• The Snorlax SVP #051 twins. Pokemon Center ETB stamp about $400 raw; regular ETB stamp about $35. Check the provenance or the slab label.

The Full Rankings

Rank	Card	Number	Approx. raw value
1	Charizard ex SIR	#199	~$410 (PSA 10: $1,550)
2	Blastoise ex SIR	#200	~$156, up 15% this month
3	Venusaur ex SIR	#198	~$118
4	Charmander IR	#168	~$107 (PSA 10: $659)
5	Zapdos ex SIR	#202	~$104
6	Squirtle IR	#170	~$100, up 21% this month
7	Pikachu IR	#173	~$93 and cooling
8	Bulbasaur IR	#166	~$82
9	Psyduck IR	#175	~$78
10	Charmeleon IR	#169	~$76

The Bottom Line

Pokemon 151 is aging into exactly what it was designed to be: the evergreen Kanto set. The Charizard SIR anchors it with vintage-grade liquidity, the starter IRs have become the collectible unit of Gen 1 nostalgia, and the anniversary year is lifting the whole board, with Squirtle and Blastoise leading this month's charge. The traps are all about versions (English versus Japanese, SIR versus UR, stamped versus regular), so read numbers and provenance before prices. And if someone offers you an English booster box, they're offering you something that was never printed.

Prices referenced are approximate market values as of late June 2026 and will fluctuate. Check current listings on Misprint for the latest prices.