Special Illustration Rare (SIR) and alt art Pokemon cards

A Special Illustration Rare (SIR) is a Pokemon card rarity for alternate-art versions of Pokemon ex and Supporter cards, marked with two gold stars and numbered above the set's printed total. It began with Scarlet & Violet and is still used in Mega Evolution sets.

The names around it get muddled. An Illustration Rare (IR), marked with one gold star, is a different rarity that gives alternate art to other Pokemon. The Japanese equivalents are SAR (Special Art Rare) and AR (Art Rare). "Alt art" is an informal collector term, used for alternate-art Sword & Shield V and VMAX cards and, loosely, for SIRs and IRs.

Before you buy one

• Search the number, not "alt art". One Pokemon can appear in a single set as a regular ex, a full art ex and an SIR with similar titles. Search by the number above the set total instead: Surging Sparks' SIRs run from 236 to 246 of 191.

• Search Japanese and English separately. A Japanese SAR usually has a different number from the English SIR with the same art. Charizard ex is 201 in the Japanese 151 set and 199 in the English one, so search each on its own.

• Read the letters for the language. Sellers write "SIR", "Special Illustration Rare", "SAR" for Japanese cards, "IR", "alt art", "alternate art" and "AA". "SAR" names the Japanese rarity, so when you see it, check you're buying the language you want.

You can track one exact SIR by its number on ChaseBoard, raw or graded. The card search when you add a card is English, so for a Japanese print, type your own search words.