327 English cards · 81 sets · Prices Nov 13, 2026

Secret Rare Pokémon cards

The most valuable Secret Rare card is Lugia 149/147 (Aquapolis), worth about $9,400 ungraded. 327 English cards carry this rarity, from Team Rocket (2000) to 30th Celebration: Classic Collection (2026), across the Wizards of the Coast, EX, Diamond & Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold & SoulSilver, Black & White, XY, Sun & Moon, Sword & Shield and Mega Evolution eras.

A secret rare is any card whose collector number is higher than the number printed as the set total, such as 146/144. The name comes from the fact that these cards are not part of the listed set, so they were a surprise when they first appeared. Our earliest English secret rare is in Team Rocket from 2000, and secret rares have appeared in most English sets since.

What a secret rare looks like depends on the era. In the e-Card sets they were holofoil Crystal Pokémon, in Black & White and XY they were often gold or shiny full arts, and in Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield they were rainbow and gold cards. In the Scarlet & Violet era the category covers Illustration Rares, Special Illustration Rares and Hyper Rares, which have their own pages.

To spot one, compare the two numbers at the bottom of the card. If the first is larger, it is a secret rare.

The most valuable secret rares are old and scarce. Charizard (Skyridge) from Skyridge and Lugia (Aquapolis) from Aquapolis are the headline cards of the e-Card era, printed near the end of the Wizards of the Coast years. Rayquaza (Dragons Exalted) from Dragons Exalted is the standout gold card of Black & White, and Mewtwo-GX (Shining Legends) from Shining Legends shows that modern secret rares of popular Pokémon also hold value. Condition drives the price of all of them, and e-Card holos in high grades are especially scarce.

Every rarity and its symbol is explained in the Pokémon card rarity chart.

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