Retired Decorator Unearths £250,000 Pokémon Card Trove in Attic

A retired decorator from Woking, Surrey, is poised to earn £250,000 from a Pokémon card collection he discovered in his attic, where it had been stored for 15 years. The collector, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was unaware of the potential value of his cards until he read a newspaper article about a single Pokémon card selling for over £6,000 at auction.

Upon checking his own collection, he found he possessed several cards of the same type and subsequently took a sample to Ewbank's Auctioneers in Surrey for appraisal. The collection originated in the late 1990s when the collector's son was young and began trading Pokémon cards at school. The decorator recalled thinking the cards looked appealing and might be a good investment.

He later purchased complete sets from a seller in Malaysia via eBay. This seller then offered him the chance to buy complete master sets of Pokémon cards. The collector decided to buy full sets, believing it would be more cost-effective than continuously buying sealed packs in hopes of completing a set. The first set he acquired, the Sky Ridge Charizard set, cost him around £300 and is now estimated by Ewbank's to be worth between £20,000 and £40,000.

All the cards were stored in the father's attic after his son lost interest in them. They are kept in bespoke Pokémon card binders and are described as being in mint condition. Staff at Ewbank's expressed astonishment upon seeing the condition and quantity of the cards. James Spooner, head of trading cards at Ewbank's, stated that they were incredulous not only at the condition but also at the owner's lack of awareness regarding their value. The discovery of 42 such sets further amazed the auction house staff.

Ewbank's has characterized the retired decorator's collection as the most valuable they have handled to date, with expectations of a six-figure sum. The collection is scheduled for auction on October 21.

This discovery follows a similar find in April of this year when a teacher, Andrew Braund, brought a 20-year-old Pokémon card collection, also stored in his parents' attic, to Ewbank's. The three rarest cards from his collection sold for £32,800, which Mr. Braund used to fund his wedding.

Pokémon's popularity has surged significantly over the years. The franchise, originally named Pocket Monsters, began as a video game for the Nintendo Gameboy in Japan in 1996. The Pokémon Trading Card Game was released in October of that same year and quickly became a hit. To date, over 85 million Pokémon cards have been produced, with some early cards now commanding exceptionally high prices.