Rare Pokémon Card Collection Auction Gets International Interest

A Pokémon card collection belonging to someone in Nottinghamshire, England, has made news for how much the stash went for at the The Lichfield Auction Centre. According to the BBC, the auctioneer thought the cards were perhaps worth about £25,000, but they ended up selling for £55,270. That’s about $69,137.00.

The cards stem from the late 90s and early 2000s. There were 2,407 cards in total, and among these were 10 complete sets and five master sets. A master set means that it has variants for each card in that set.

There were also 16 Pokémon Box Toppers, which are specialty cards that are much bigger and are used for promotional purposes.

While the auction took place in England, many people outside of the country also took interest in it, such as people in America, Japan, and China.

Richard Winterton, the auctioneer, described the cards as being of “incredible quality” and claims this is why it was a “fantastic” sale.

“Some of these cards are so sought after that collectors would potentially acquire the whole set just to secure that one card,” Winterton remarked. “This remains a seriously hot market internationally.”

Looking at some specific numbers, the 332-card Skyridge set went for £18,000 (about $22,518.00). The Legendary Collection nabbed £8,600 (about $10,758.90) and Aquapolis went for a little less, at £8,000 (about $10,007.92). Some people were in the room for their bidding, and others did online bids. There was some “fierce competition” going on as people vied to get the cards they wanted.

There are a wide variety of Pokémon cards out in the world, some of which aren’t worth much money-wise, and some that fetch a pretty penny (or in this case, pound). A member of the yakuza was even recently caught allegedly trying to steal Pokémon cards because of what they can potentially make.

Source, Image: BBC

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.