Retired decorator finds a £250,000 Pokémon collection hidden in his attic for 15 years

A retired decorator from Woking, Surrey, is set to make a quarter of a millions pounds at auction from a Pokémon card collection he has kept in his attic for 15 years.

The collector, who wants to remain anonymous, said he had no idea the cards might be valuable until he saw a story in his local newspaper about an auction house securing a winning bid of more than £6,000 for a single Pokémon card.

When he checked, he discovered he had several cards of that type and so took a sample of his collection to Ewbank's Auctioneers in Surrey to have them assessed. 

When the collector's son was young in the late-1990s he started getting Pokémon cards and swapping them at school.

The retired decorator said: '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.

Head of Ewbank's Auctioneers, Andrew Ewbank, left, and head of trading cards, James Spooner, right, with highlights of the large Pokémon card collection.

'I thought that it would be cheaper to buy the full set rather than keep buying sealed packs of random cards in hope that when you opened them you could complete a set. 

'The first set I bought cost me around £300. It's the Sky Ridge Charizard set and Ewbank's have estimated it for the sale at £20,000 to £40,000.'

The cards were all stored in the father's attic after his son lost interest. All of the cards are in bespoke Pokémon card binders, sealed and in mint condition. 

Staff at Ewbank's auction house were taken aback when they first saw the cards. 

James Spooner, head of trading cards at Ewbank's, said: '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.

'When we then discovered that he had 42 such sets, our jaws hit the floor.'

Ewbank's said the retired decorator's collection of Pokémon cards was the 'most valuable collection' it had handled to date and looked set to sell for a six-figure sum. 

The collection has been valued at about £250,000. 

The retired decorator said: 'My son had his own Pokémon cards, but he never got to touch these, I'm glad to say.

'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.'

The retired decorator's collection is going under the hammer on October 21.  

In April this year, teacher Andrew Braund approached Ewbank's with a 20-year-old collection of Pokémon cards he had kept in his parents' attic.

He consigned the three rarest cards to Ewbank's who took £32,800 for them on April 16, with Mr Braund using the proceeds to pay for his wedding.

On Wednesday, Pokémon's thirtieth anniversary range was released, with eager collectors waiting in tents or fold-up camping chairs for shops to open in some locations. 

Pokémon's popularity has risen seismically over the years, with some cards originally worth just a few pounds now selling for eye-watering sums.

Pokémon, originally named Pocket Monsters, started out as a game released for the Nintendo Gameboy in Japan in 1996. 

Following the success of the first games, a business called Media Factory released the Pokémon Trading Card Game in October that year. 

Like the game, the cards became an instant hit. To date, more than 85million Pokémon cards have been produced. 

Do you have a Pokémon card collection? Email: editor@thisismoney.co.uk