'Holy grail' 1990s Pokémon card could fetch £40,000

A rare first-edition Pokémon card described as a "holy grail" could fetch £40,000 when it goes under the hammer.

Hansons Auctioneers, based in Etwall in Derbyshire, said the shadowless base set Charizard card was the centrepiece of its auction, which will be held on Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of the beloved series.

The card has a guide price of £30,000 to £40,000.

Cards related to the hugely popular Japanese animation franchise have soared in value over recent years - with some being sold for thousands of pounds.

David Wilson-Turner, head of the toy department at the auction house, said: "Back in 1999, you could buy pack of 11 Pokémon cards at any Woolworths [store] for anything between £1.50 and £2.

"A Charizard was the rarest holographic in base set, so pulling one from a pack was like winning a mini-lottery.

"Only 4,000 to 10,000 cards were produced, most of which were played with and are now dogeared - so to find one in mint condition like this one, which has a grading of 9 (out of 10), makes it all the rarer."

The auctioneers said a full set of Jungle first-edition cards - released in 1999 with a price tag of £200 - would also be up for auction with a guide price of between £15,000 and £20,000.

Auction house owner Charles Hanson said Pokémon was a "market that has grown rapidly" and would "only continue to grow".

"Wealthy young people in their 20s and 30s, who got into Pokémon when they were children, are buying rare cards and prices began to spike a few years ago," he added.

Another reason given by experts for the rise in the cards' popularity was YouTuber Logan Paul wearing a Pikachu Illustrator card - the best preserved example of one of the rarest Pokémon cards ever - for WrestleMania, a major wrestling event in April 2022.

Earlier this month Paul sold the ultra-rare trading card for a record-shattering $16.5m (£12m), according to an auction firm.

The winning bidder was venture capitalist AJ Scaramucci, son of financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

AJ Scaramucci said it was the first acquisition of a planned "planetary treasure hunt".

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