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‘Spectacular’: Man’s find under staircase fetches $35,000

A man’s find under a staircase, which could be the envy of every child who lived through the ‘90s, has sold for more than $35,000.

The man, an electrical engineer from Cambridgeshire in England, used to run a store from 1999-2000 selling kids’ collectables including Beanie Babies.

“My wife enjoyed running the shop and we used to travel to toy fairs around the country at the weekend,” he said.

“When Pokémon took off, I started to import cards from America. They were made for kids and bought by kids. Packs of 11 cards used to sell for £2.50 ($4.70) each. They can now sell for £500 ($940) or more.”

The shop eventually closed and the man had unsold cards. He placed them under the stairs.

David Wilson-Turner, head of the Toy Department at Hansons, pictured with boxes of Pokemon cards.
David Wilson-Turner, head of the Toy Department at Hansons, pictured with the boxes of Pokemon cards. He described them as a 'spectacular find'. Source: Hansons

It turns out the cards he kept in mint condition in their original packaging are now worth thousands. He’s given them to Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers.

“When I found them, I thought nothing of it really but then decided to check what sort of prices they were selling for. I was really surprised,” he said.

Hansons said the man is in possession of a Pokémon Fossil first edition Booster Box worth an estimated $22,000, a 2001 sealed Pokémon Neo Discovery Unlimited Booster Box also worth about $22,000 and a sealed 1999 Pokémon Fossil Unlimited Booster Box worth about $17,000.

Various other cards including Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise were valued at about $4,700.

“Back then, I never imagined they would be worth thousands of pounds today. But there are a lot of serious collectors now and lockdown fuelled the hobby even more,” the man said.

He added the price valuation of the cards “is bonkers”.

David Wilson-Turner, head of the Toy Department at Hansons called it a “spectacular find”.

“Wealthy young people in their 20s and 30s who got into Pokémon when they were children are buying rare cards and prices have spiked,” he said.

In total, two of the three boxes sold for about $35,000 at auction on the weekend, the Mirror reported.

Some old toys around the house could fetch thousands online with trading cards, action figures and video games now considered collector’s items.

According to eBay, Australians made on average $4,292 selling pre-loved goods online during the 2020 lockdowns, while one in 10 made a whopping $10,000.

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