Poké-luck
I’m a nineties baby and thought my Pokémon cards were worth £40 – I missed the signs they had a five-figure value
The expert commented: “When it comes to Pokémon, the character that everybody loves is Charizard."
AN ANTIQUES Roadshow US guest was shocked to discover the true value of her Pokémon card collection, which she initially thought was only worth around £40.
The PBS series saw a collector come to Shelburne Museum to have their binder of Pokémon cards looked at.
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The lady explained how she was a '90s baby' and she loved collecting the cards as a child.
Back in the late 1990s, during the crazy Pokemon craze, she revealed that her mum scored a binder of those iconic cards online for just $35.
Travis Landry, the expert, dropped a cool fact about the franchise: "Pokemon" was actually short for "Pocket Monsters," the game's original name in Japan.
The expert was impressed as he took a closer look at the original 1999 base set which is “the first 102 cards that were released in the Pokémon game”.
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Inside the set were the 16 original holographic cards, including two Mewtwo cards. One of them had a shadowless edge, making it even more rare.
The binder also had other cards with the same detail, making it even more valuable.
And to top it off, it featured a Charizard card, making it a highly sought-after item.
Landry commented: “When it comes to Pokémon, the character that everybody loves is Charizard.
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“We look at your Charizard here and not alone is it Charizard, it is also a shadowless Charizard.
“That card alone in its current condition, is going to be in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.”
According to Landry, the Pokémon market is "super volatile." During the peak of the pandemic, her Charizard card could have been worth a whopping $15,000.
However, Landry also mentioned that the cards had some slight damage, which slightly lowered their value.
He acknowledged that she had taken good care of them, but due to some light wear, he estimated their grading to be around 8.0 to 8.5, with a possibility of a 9.
He said: “There’s approximately 150 cards in your binder.
The expert shocked the guest when he revealed: "Conservatively, at auction, we would say your binder would be in the $5,000 to $10,000 range.”
The lady was stunned, and said: "Wow, much more than I was expecting!”
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