The world record for the most expensive Pokémon card was set earlier this year when Logan Paul sold the Pikachu Illustrator card for $16.49 million. In recent auctions, a sealed box of Pokémon cards sold for £39,000 at an auction in Surrey, while a Pokémon card sold for nearly 200,000 Swedish kronor on Tradera, setting a record for Pokémon card sales on that platform. This activity reflects a broader trend where trading cards, particularly Pokémon, are attracting significant investment from adults revisiting childhood hobbies. According to BBC News, Elliot Riley-Walsh described how people may be sitting on valuable collections without realizing it, noting that trading cards are often overlooked compared to items like jewellery.
High-value individual card sales and collections further illustrate the market's depth. At the same auction in Surrey, a first edition mint Blue Eyes White Dragon card sold for £1,235. An expert believes Barry Lloyd's Pokémon card collection is worth £100,000. The seller of the Rayquaza card lives in Denmark, and the buyer lives in Sweden. According to BBC News, Elliot Riley-Walsh described a friend's Pokémon collection valued at about £100,000.
You just never know what people have sitting in their attics, or hiding generally. People are potentially sitting on thousands.
However, the lucrative market also faces risks, as highlighted by a theft incident earlier this year. A thief stole £65,000 worth of rare Pokémon cards from a games shop in Cwmbran, Torfaen.
From an auction house perspective, the trading card market has matured into a major industry. According to Andrew Ewbank, Ewbank's auction house has been holding dedicated trading card auctions for about five years and has seen extraordinary prices, especially for Pokémon cards. He noted that the trading card market is a multi-billion-pound market attracting adults in their late 30s and early 40s who grew up playing and trading.
Jewellery and lockets, people tend to know there's generally value in it. But when it comes to trading cards and collectables, people tend to overlook them.
Expert insights shed light on the drivers behind this renewed interest and the challenges in valuation. Elliot Riley-Walsh founded the collectibles platform Valart in 2023 to allow people to document collections, as there were systems for valuing watches and jewellery but not Pokémon cards. He attributed the boom to nostalgia, the ability to switch off while playing, and concerns about state pension age and inflation.
Regional rarity factors also play a crucial role in card valuations. Japan-issued Pokémon cards can demand higher prices as they are rarer in the UK, according to Elliot Riley-Walsh.
My friend who is a big Pokemon collector, his account came out at about £100,000.
A lot of young people are worrying about when they'll reach a state pension age, with a lot of uncertainty around inflation. So instead, people are buying collectables and storing them. A lot of this stuff increases in value, so they can sell it in the future.
Ewbank's have been holding dedicated trading cards auctions for around five years now and have seen some extraordinary prices, especially for Pokémon cards and sets. This is no niche collecting field – it is a multi-billion-pound market especially attracting adults in their late 30s and early 40s who grew up playing and trading. The £39,000 price for our top lot here is no mere accident.