'Seriously hot market': Collection of Pokémon cards sells for £55,000 in Staffordshire

Bidders from all over the world joined Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ sale online, with people also heading to the saleroom at The Lichfield Auction Centre.

Totalling 2,407 trading cards, the single-owner collection dates from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and was catalogued across 16 lots.

Going to auction were 15 complete or master sets of cards, the majority by American publisher Wizards of the Coast, with a further lot of 16 Pokémon box toppers – promotional oversized versions of cards.

A complete set includes one of every official card from a particular Pokémon trading card game (TCG) expansion, including secret rare cards, whereas master sets have one of every existing variation of each card from that expansion, including both holofoil and reverse holofoil variants.

The sale was joined online by people from all over the world, with 21 bidders in America plus people in Japan and China amongst the international bidders.

Highlights included Lot 485, a complete Skyridge master set, which sold for £18,000 to a UK bidder online against fierce competition from a bidder in the room.

A room bidder also put up a fight for the previous lot, a complete Aquapolis master set, which was also won by a UK bidder online at £8,000.

Another room bidder successfully battled against online competition from the USA for Lot 482, a complete Legendary Collection master set, which sold at £8,600. The same UK collector also won Lot 483, a complete Expedition master set, sold at £6,700.

The remaining 12 lots were bought by bidders online.

Auctioneer Richard Winterton yielded the gavel on the day and said: “The sale went fantastically well, which is both testament to the incredible quality of this collection and the hard work and attention to detail in cataloguing by our dedicated Pokémon specialist.

“This remains a seriously hot market internationally and it’s brilliant to see Lichfield once again pin its place on the worldwide Pokémon map.”

The auction featured master sets of Pokémon TCG Skyridge, Aquapolis, Expedition, Legendary Collection and EX Ruby & Sapphire.

Other complete sets were Neo Destiny, Neo Revelation, Neo Discovery, Neo Genesis, Gym Challenge, Gym Heroes, Team Rocket, Base Set 2, Fossil and Jungle.

All were by Wizards of the Coast except the EX Ruby & Sapphire, which was the first set not produced by the American publisher.

Aquapolis, Expedition and Skyridge sets comprise the scarce E-Reader series and were the last by Wizards of the Coast.

The box toppers were also from those sets as well as the Legendary Collection.