Red Cheeto in a transparent case against black backdrop
The three-inch Flamin' Hot Cheeto was sold in a custom case with a custom Cheetozard Pokémon card. Goldin Auctions
Cheetos come in all shapes and sizes. But a few years ago, a snacker stumbled upon a particularly unusual looking version of the crunchy treat: a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto that looked like Charizard, a dragon-like character from Pokémon.
Now, that bright red “Cheetozard” has sold for $87,840 at auction.
The Cheetozard’s full journey is a bit of a mystery, and it’s not clear who discovered it in the first place. But somewhere along the way, it ended up with Paul Bartlett, who owns a sports memorabilia and trading card shop in Georgia, reports the New York Times’ Scott Cacciola.
Bartlett had purchased the three-inch-long Cheeto on eBay for $350 in 2019. When he received the Cheetozard from the seller, he stuck it in a safe and forgot about it.
Last year, while cleaning out the safe, he rediscovered the Cheetozard. Bartlett uploaded a short video of it to his shop’s Instagram page, and the post went viral.
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He’d been keeping the Cheetozard in a small plastic case, but he determined that he needed to come up with a better solution for protecting his investment. After several collectibles companies declined to create a custom case for the Cheetozard, Bartlett turned to his friend Jordan Tkacsik for help. Using a computer-assisted design program, Tkacsik developed a four-part case to keep the item safe from structural damage.
That’s when Bartlett decided to sell his beloved Cheetozard. On February 10, it ended up in a pop culture sale organized by Goldin Auctions, which started bidding at $250.
By the evening of March 1, the price had climbed to $18,000.
After a bidding war that lasted into the early morning hours of March 2, it sold for $72,000 plus $15,840 in fees. It was sold inside the case Tkacsik designed, along with a custom Cheetozard Pokémon card, according to the Associated Press.
The Cheetozard is now the most expensive food item Goldin has ever sold at auction.
“Goldin specializes in rare and one-of-a-kind collectibles, and the Cheetozard is exactly this,” says Dave Amerman, the head of consignment at Goldin, in a statement. “Part of what makes this item so fun and unique is that it bridges two fandoms—Pokémon and Cheetos.”
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What does the team behind Cheetos think about the Cheetozard’s nearly six-figure sale? The snack brand’s official Instagram account posted the “pair of eyes” emoji on Goldin’s post about the sale.
“Cheetos are crafted with individual care and designed to be unique, and the ‘Cheetozard’ is no exception,” says Tina Mahal, the senior vice president of marketing at PepsiCo Foods U.S., which owns the Cheetos snack brand, to CNN’s Lex Harvey. “It’s a longstanding tradition for fans to search for fun, interesting shapes and sizes inside every Cheetos bag, and we always love to see what they find.”
Charizard is one of Pokémon’s original creatures—and one of the Japanese franchise’s most popular characters. Also known as Lizardon, Charizard is a nearly 200-pound critter with an orange body and blueish-green wings. A flame sits at the tip of Charizard’s tail, and if the creature becomes “truly angered,” the flame “burns in a light blue shade,” according to Pokemon.com.
In 2017, a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto that looked like Harambe, the famous gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2016, sold for $99,900 on eBay.
Other unusual Cheetos are on eBay right now, including one shaped like Arnold Schwarzenegger and another that looks like Godzilla.
Just last week, Goldin Auctions listed another Cheeto for sale. The auction house’s latest crunchy listing looks like Michael Jordan in his famous “Jumpman” pose. Nike uses the pose, which was based off a photo from the 1980s, as the logo for its Air Jordan line.
The Michael Jordan Cheeto is also being sold in a case, with a collectible card highlighting the basketball star’s many accomplishments. The current bid is more than $5,500.