Pokémon Mega Rayquaza EX #095/081 — Bandit Ring Secret Rare, 9.5

Bandit Ring, released in Japan in 2015, is among the most admired sets of the XY era, and its Mega Rayquaza EX secret rare is the card most often named as its centrepiece: the legendary of Hoenn in mid-transformation, rendered with the effects and finish reserved for Japanese secret rares.

Numbered #095/081, beyond the base set count, it carries the convention that marks a secret rare and sits outside both the standard print run and the numbering of the set it belongs to. Mega Evolution produced some of the most visually ambitious cards of the period, and this treatment of Rayquaza is widely regarded as one of the most successful of them.

The copy is graded 9.5 and presented in a sealed slab. For collectors of Rayquaza, of the XY era or of Japanese secret rares, the appeal is immediate: a card designed to be looked at, in a condition that preserves the finish it was printed for.