Dad Left His Pokémon Cards in an Attic for 15 Years. He Just Sold 41 of His 42 Rare Complete Sets for $2M: ‘He Kept One’

“When we saw what he had… we couldn’t believe it, or the fact that he had no idea what they were worth,” said an Ewbank’s Auctions executive

NEED TO KNOW

• A retired man’s rare Pokémon cards recently sold for $2 million
• “[My son] had his own cards, but he never got to touch these,” the man said of how he kept his collection in mint condition
• A Ewbank’s Auctions executive explained that bidders could not believe how “extensive” and “untouched” the collection was

A father in England dusted off his Pokémon card collection, long stored in his attic, after reading about a couple who paid for their entire wedding with money made by auctioning off just three of their rare Pokémon cards.

The dad, a retired decorator who has chosen to remain anonymous, was recently inspired by the newlyweds to check how much his Pokémon stash was worth after 15 years of being safely stowed away in his attic.

“When we saw what he had — all in mint condition — we couldn’t believe it, or the fact that he had no idea what they were worth,” said James Spooner, the head of trading cards at Ewbank’s Auctions, which assessed the Woking man’s card collection, according to an Oct. 21 news release.

Spooner continued, “When we then discovered that he had 42 [complete] sets, our jaws hit the floor. We got to sell 41 of them, and he kept one.”

Ewbank’s sold the 41 sets for more than $2 million (or £1.56 million) to numerous collectors, YouTubers and other bidders. 

“Collectors could not believe how good this collection was — extensive, untouched, complete, and with just about every rarity you could hope for,” Ewbank’s partner Andrew Ewbank explained in the release. 

The collection — titled Pokémon: A Decade of Masters (1999-2009) — included the Legendary Collection Complete Master Set, which had all 110 cards, the 110 Reverse Holo Firework cards and four Box Toppers. 

The father started collecting Pokémon cards when they first came out in England in 1999 to be involved in his son’s interests.

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“When my son was young, in the late 1990s, he started getting cards and swapping them at school,” the collector recalled. “I thought they looked nice and wondered whether they might be a good investment.”

He added, “I was lucky enough to find someone in Malaysia who sold complete sets, and I bought a couple of things from them on eBay. They then asked me if I would be interested in buying a complete master set of Pokémon cards as they had about two or three master sets for each issue.”

“The first set I bought cost me around [$400]. It’s the Sky Ridge Charizard set,” he continued, referring to a rare set that ended up recently selling for about $100,400 (or £75,000) at the Ewbank’s Auctions sale.

He kept the 42 sets of sealed cards in Pokémon binders, so they were able to stay in mint condition even after a decade and half in storage.

“[My son] had his own cards, but he never got to touch these, I’m glad to say,” he said. “I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true. I had no idea what I had until the team at Ewbank’s explained it to me.”