Pokémon Cards Sell for Thousands, Pay for Wedding
Saving your childhood Pokémon cards paid off for a teacher in the UK, who plans to use the windfall to help pay for his wedding.
Collectors who save their childhood toys often dream that they will increase in value. For teaching assistant Andrew Braund in Dorset, England, it came true at the perfect time.
Braund found his old Pokémon card collection while cleaning out his parents’ attic. He had stored it in two ways: the best specimens were preserved in binders, while others remained unsorted in a tin. He took them to a friend’s trading card store for a valuation. According to Talker, he thought they might be worth a few hundred dollars.
Instead, his friend pointed out three rare cards that, combined, could be worth over £31,250 (about $42,000). Braund had three Charizard cards, always sought by collectors: a mint condition Skyridge Charizard Holo, a copy of the same card in near-mint condition, and a Reverse-Holo.
“When my friend told me how much the Charizard cards might be worth I got quite light headed,” Braund said. “They have the highest monetary value, but the lowest sentimental value. The ones I loved as a kid look worn from being in my pockets all the time.”
The discovery came at the right time, as Braund and his fiancée, Rachel Moseley, were planning their wedding, so extra money would, of course, be welcome.
The cards’ next stop was Ewbank’s auction house in Surrey, where they went up for sale at a Trading Cards & Retro Video Games auction on April 16. All three sold over the estimate.
The mint condition Charizard Holo card, estimated at £8,000 to £12,000, sold for £22,100 (almost $30,000), the highest price Ewbank’s has achieved for a single Pokémon card. The near-mint card, graded PSA 8.5, sold for £16,250 (almost $22,000) against an estimate of £7,000 to £10,000. Finally, the Reverse-Holo card, distinguished by a holographic finish on every surface except the artwork, sold for £3,640 (almost $5,000). All sold prices include a buyer’s premium.
Braun and Moseley will get married in August, with the unexpected windfall helping to fund their wedding. Auctioneer Andrew Ewbank said, “This is a double delight for us: taking a record in-house price for a single card and helping a young couple make their dreams come true.”
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