Rare Pokemon card collection to be auctioned off in Staffordshire for up £75,000
Gotta collect 'em all! A Pokemon trading card collection is set to go under the hammer in Staffordshire later this month – and could fetch up to £75,000.
Gordon White, from Livingston in Scotland, has managed to collate thousands of trading cards comprising of more than 100 complete sets over the years.
It features sealed booster boxes, first editions, promotional cards, ones showing rare errors along with rare cards handed out to staff at Pokemon tournaments.
And the overall collection could fetch between £55,000 and £75,000 in a special timed online sale by Richard Winterton Auctioneers, situated in Lichfield.
The 58-year-old delivery driver, whose collection spans across 137 lots in the auction which ends at 5pm on November 27, said: "In there are a lot of cards you just can’t get.
At one point the father-of-two from Livingston in West Lothian, Scotland, ran a Pokémon league and has acted as a judge in UK events.
"It all started as my children wanted to get involved in the Pokémon league and we decided on the one at Megazone in Falkirk. My kids got really good at the game and, as I was the only parent turning up there all the time and I’d started playing the card game too, I was delegated!
“So I ended up running that league for 16 years and every time a new set came out it cost me in the region of £1,000. Some of the cards were then passed back to the kids for various events and tournaments others ended up in my collection. It just went up and up and up.”
He added: “It's like playing chess with cards it's so complicated a game. It used to be simpler but it isn't anymore – there are more cards and more things to affect other cards.”
Super-rare pieces include cards handed out during Pokemon World Championships plus Top 16 and Top 32 cards awarded to players who reached those stages. With three age groups in Top 16, that means there are as few as 96 such cards in the world.
“As a way to sum it up, you’ve got to use the Pokémon trademark – gotta catch ’em all!," he said. For me, the fun is the completing – not the collecting, it’s the completion. And as far as I’m concerned, I’ve completed it so it’s time to pass it all on.”
Gordon decided to draw a line under it all in 2014 after a busy 15 years in the game, during which time he’s mixed with the highest echelons in the Pokémon world.
He added: "I was very well known in the Pokémon TCG community and I’ve had a lot of enjoyment out of the game. But I don’t play the trading card game at all anymore – I do still play the video game but I’d like the cards to go to a good home.
"My grandchildren love Pokémon, play the video games and watch the cartoons but they don’t play the cards"
And another large collection of his trading cards, this time focusing on Magic The Gathering and including Marvel vs DC, The Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter, will go on sale through Richard Winterton Auctioneers in 2023.
“People ask me what I collect and I say collections,” he said. "When it comes to Pokémon though – I’ve completed it.”
The catalogue can be viewed online at bid.richardwinterton.co.uk/auctions/8369/srric10326 and bids may be placed until 5pm November 27 when the first lots begin to close.
