Recently, I went to my first in-house auction for Pokémon Day, celebrating 30 years of Pokémon!
They had a great selection of cards, as well as merchandise and toys available for bidding. The experts’ estimates were mostly fair; however, many were a lot lower than I would have valued them in the current market.
The Auction #
It’s a relatively small venue; there were only about 20 of us in the room, and the auctioneer said it was a good turnout for them, as most bidding is done online. Online customers, via the website and a third-party platform, can bid from around the world live (with a slight delay, of course) against bidders in the room.
Interestingly enough, the first lot was the most expensive they had to offer: a BGS 9 1st Edition Shadowless Charizard, followed by a complete PSA 9 set of 1st Edition Jungle cards, as well as some loose packs and sealed booster boxes.
The Charizard received a single bid of £28,000. It did not sell as it had an undisclosed reserve price. I spoke to one of the organizers towards the end of the auction about the Charizard, as I wanted to get a closer look at it. He told me they don’t have it on display for security reasons, which is unfortunate but understandable, they didn’t seem to have much security around the venue. I mentioned that it hadn’t sold, and they informed me they were in talks with the seller and bidder to arrange a deal. Shortly after the auction ended, the website updated with a sale price for the card: £30,000.
The PSA 9 Jungle set did not sell either.
The Unlimited Base Set booster box ended at £15,000. The Jungle booster box ended at £6,500. Surprisingly, the EX Sandstorm booster box sold for a whopping £20,000. I was kind of surprised, but not entirely, recently EX reverses have been selling for ridiculous amounts in PSA 10s. It’s just one of the sectors of cards currently in the spotlight, similar to the Poncho Pikachus. A few years ago, these cards were a hard sell, and you’d have considered EX reverses as bulk. I remember passing on the Ponchos in PSA 10 for around £110 each. I thought it was too much then and I still do now (just not my cup of tea).
Speaking of Poncho Pikachus, there were a handful up for auction too, and they achieved what I would consider high prices.
Overall, the auction lasted a few hours, and most of the bidders were online. A few of the high-end items were purchased by the same bidder in the room.
The link for the full auction is here : Hansons Auctioneers
All in all, it was a fun experience. Although I already had most of what the auction had to offer and there wasn’t that much truly “rare” material, it was still nice to see all these vintage cards in one place, especially since they don’t seem to get much attention in the current market. While the cards themselves may not have been that rare, it was rare to see complete mint sets being auctioned off, at least here in the UK. Some cards definitely had strong grading potential, and there was money to be made from certain lots in the current market.
After sitting in the bidding room for hours, I needed a drink. luckily, there was a pub next door.
Cheers, and thanks for reading.
Editor’s Note:
All prices are listed without the buyer’s premium included.
The buyer’s premium is 26.5% (+VAT) on top of the hammer price.
For online bidders, there is an additional 2% (+VAT).
