An extremely rare Pikachu Pokemon card thought to be one of only 45 similar cards ever made has gone on sale for GBP 1.25 million.

The cards feature fantasy creatures that are used in the Pokemon Trading Card Game, based around the fictional creatures known as Pokemons that are caught and trained to battle with each other.

There are reportedly 1,008 different Pokemon types, and it is one of the most successful media franchises ever, linked in with TV shows, comics and games.

As a result, the cards trade for high values when rare, and the card that has now gone on sale at the Tokyo trading card shop Hareruya 2 is one of the rarest.

The card on sale, featuring the famous Pokemon Pikachu, was never offered in the traditional packets but was instead only offered as a prize for those taking part in a readers’ art contest in 1997.

Readers who produced artwork that was deemed worthy of the contest grand prize were given one of the Pokemon illustrated cards and only 45 are believed to be in existence, with one of them now on sale.

The card has been authenticated and also evaluated by the US-based organisation Professional Sports Authenticator, which judged it an 8.5 on its 10-point scale of what condition it was in.

The card was actually never designed to be used in the game, and there are no attributes for the Pokemon as it is purely meant to be a collector’s item.

The card is for sale on the shop’s website where a potential buyer needs to add it to their shopping cart before transferring over the JPY 200 million (GBP 1.25 million) fee.

Pikachu is perhaps the most famous of all the Pokemons, having featured as Ash’s main Pokemon in the anime TV series and in the movie Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019).