Retired decorator’s Pokémon cards fetch £1.56m at auction
A retired decorator from Woking sold 42 sets of Pokémon cards for £1.56m at Ewbank’s auction, after keeping them in an attic for 15 years. The collection…
A collection tucked away in an attic for 15 years turned into a £1.56m auction sale. A retired decorator from Woking sold 42 sets of Pokémon cards at Ewbank’s on Wednesday, in an auction the Surrey house described as its most successful in more than 30 years of business.
The sale made the former decorator a millionaire. Ewbank’s said the auction was the most valuable trading cards sale ever held in the UK and suggested it could also be a European record.
The owner said he had not realised the cards could be worth so much until he read in his local newspaper about a single card selling for more than £6,000. He asked not to be identified.
“I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true,” he said.
One set bought for £300 sold for £75,000
The collection began when the man’s son started collecting and swapping cards at school in the late 1990s. The father said he liked how they looked and wondered whether they might make a good investment.
He also bought complete sets from someone in Malaysia through eBay. One set that had cost him £300 sold for £75,000 at Wednesday’s auction.
The cards remained sealed and were kept in bespoke Pokémon binders. After his son lost interest in the Japanese gaming and film franchise, the collection went into the attic.
“He had his own cards, but he never got to touch these, I'm glad to say,” the owner said.
The scale and condition of the collection surprised the auction house. Ewbank’s said “jaws hit the floor” when the owner presented the 42 sets.
“When we saw what he had – all in mint condition – we couldn't believe it,” said James Spooner, Ewbank’s head of trading cards.
Rare set reached £100,000
The highest-selling lot was the Legendary Collection Complete Master Set, which included a Charizard card in near-mint condition. Ewbank’s had estimated it at £15,000-£20,000; it sold for £100,000.
Andrew Ewbank, who runs the auction house and conducted the sale, told bidders he was “going for a lie down” afterwards. He later said the build-up had been phenomenal and that the sale had not disappointed.
“We had bidders from all over the world,” he said. He described the collection as extensive, untouched and complete, with a wide range of rare cards.
The £1.56m result exceeded the previous best, which Ewbank’s said was a £872,000 sale at Stanley Gibbons in London on 9 October.
Source: bbc.co.uk
