Some people occasionally joke about hanging onto old collectibles as a form of investment. However, every now and then, someone does actually hit pay dirt with such a thing. Recently, one such collector sold a complete, mint condition Pokemon Trading Card Game set for over $100,000.
The set in question featured mint condition copies of all 103 Pokemon cards released by Nintendo and Wizards of the Coast back in 1999. Goldin Auctions sold the collection for an eye-popping $107,010, or about $1,039 per card. The value makes this the most someone has ever paid for the trading card game.
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Of course, not all the cards in the collection are of the same value. The collection featured rare cards such as a mint first-edition Charizard, which call sell for tens of thousands on its own. Other rarities included holographic Blastoise, Chansey, and Alakazam cards. These and the rest of the cards in the collection were graded at Gem Mint 10 by the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), which greatly adds much more to their value. According to the description of the lot over at Goldin Auctions, for some of the cards, less than 50 exist in such a condition in the world.
The rarity of cards in this kind of condition helps explain why the collection sold for so much. According to Goldin Auctions, this set was only the second-ever complete set of 103 original Pokemon Trading Cards with a Gem Mint 10 rating that it had put up for auction.
As for the person who put the collection up for sale, as well as the buyer, Goldin Auctions has not revealed their identities. However, it did reveal that there were 11 other buyers who bid for the set, showing that there are a number of well-heeled Pokemon fans helping fuel these prices.
For the rest of us mortals, we’ll just have to content ourselves with the games themselves. The next generation of the series, Pokemon Sword and Shield launches on Nintendo Switch on November 15.
