The classic Nintendo IP Pokémon officially marked its 30th anniversary this year, and the trading card market, which has grown for many years, is still booming. Recently, a retired decorator from the UK put his Pokémon cards, which he had treasured for years, up for sale at an auction, and they ultimately sold for a total of nearly US$2.1 million (about NT$68 million).
As early as the late 1990s, this decorator, who lives in Woking, Surrey, UK, began to take an interest in the Pokémon Trading Card Game because of his son’s enthusiasm, and went on to buy many cards for his collection. However, at the time he had no idea that these cards would one day become so valuable—until one day he read in a local newspaper that a Pokémon card had sold for more than $8,000, which made him realize he might have a very valuable collection in his hands.
After thoroughly researching the potential value of this collection, he decided to send the cards to the auction house Ewbank’s for auction. The collection, which contained 42 sets of cards, ultimately sold out entirely on October 21, with the total transaction price reaching as high as 2.1 million USD.
According to a report on the BBC website, the man gradually developed an interest in buying related cards to collect only after watching his son collect and trade Pokémon cards with classmates in the late 1990s. At the time, he thought the cards were quite finely made and was curious whether they had some investment value.
As his son gradually lost interest in Pokémon, he put the cards into a custom binder and stored them in the attic. It turned out that they stayed there for 15 years, with almost no one touching them during that time. Fortunately, the collection remained in excellent condition after all those years, and the final result proved that his investment judgment at the time had been sound.
At the time, he had purchased multiple sets of Pokémon cards through eBay, including quite a few from sellers in Malaysia. In this auction, a set he bought back then for $400 also sold for an astonishing $100,000, meaning its value had multiplied hundreds of times over the years.
“People always say you can find treasure in your own attic, and in my case, I really did find a valuable one,” he said.
This collection included several extremely rare Pokémon cards, and the most valuable was a complete master set from the Pokémon “Legendary Collection” series, which even included a near-mint Charizard card. This lot alone ultimately sold for about $134,000, far exceeding his pre-auction estimate of $20,000 to $27,000.
Not only that, this Pokémon card collection also caught the attention of James Spooner, head of Ewbank’s trading card department. He said that when the seller brought the collection to the site, all the staff were extremely shocked by the nearly perfect condition of the cards. In the end, it not only set Ewbank’s auction house’s record for the highest sale price in more than 30 years, but also made waves throughout the UK and even across Europe’s card trading communities.
Andrew Ewbank, who hosted the auction at the time, also recalled that collectors from around the world eagerly competed to bid on this Pokémon card collection that day, and the atmosphere was electric. These collectors were also extremely surprised by the condition and quantity of the cards, not to mention that the collection included many rare cards that they often regarded as dream collectibles.
In addition, Andrew Ewbank also attributed the continued growth in demand for Pokémon cards to “nostalgia,” saying that fans who grew up with the Pokémon series have now reached adulthood and have more discretionary income, making them more willing to spend money investing in the IP and related products they loved in childhood. After this auction, Ewbank officials also encouraged people to check whether forgotten collectibles might be hidden in a corner of their homes, as they could contain an unexpected opportunity to strike it rich.
Source: KOCPC Chinese