CGC Certifies Niko Nikolaidis Original Pokémon Art Cards at The National

CGC® is thrilled to have had an opportunity to certify several CGC Custom Art Cards featuring artwork by an exciting pop artist, Niko Nikolaidis. The cards were submitted to CGC at an on-site grading event at The 46th National Sports Collectors Convention, in Rosemont, Illinois, in July 2026, and they each received a CGC Signature Series Authentic Art certification.

Four of these cards — featuring original Pokémon artwork of Pikachu, Mew, Rayquaza, and Lugia — are now available in auction lots on eBay ending Sunday.

The Authentic ART designation is used for cards with custom art applied to the surface. To qualify for the Authentic ART designation, the card must be submitted by an individual with a CGC Artist Account (which is exclusive to officially recognized artists), or from a qualified CGC Signature Series submission.

Nikolaidis is a German pop artist and live painter whose vibrant, high-energy work blends bold color, neon, expressive imagery, and spontaneous mark-making. Trained as a visual artist in Hanover, Nikolaidis has built an international career with exhibitions in cities including Miami, New York, Shanghai, and Beijing, while his live-painting performances have brought his art to audiences of tens of thousands. His distinctive approach has earned him a reputation for theatrical, immersive creations that blur the line between contemporary art and performance.

“For me, this series represents something new: the intersection of contemporary art, Pokémon culture and serious collecting,” Nikolaidis wrote of this set on Instagram. “Each card exists only once. No edition. No reproduction. 1/1. And what makes these first cards particularly meaningful is their place in the timeline — they belong to the earliest chapter of this entire project, created before anyone knows where it might lead.”

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games, and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs, and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation, and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray, and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.

CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs, and stamps.