Whether youthful sin, childhood prank, or just a careless idea: decisions made in youth can turn out to be costly years later. In the case of a 14-year-old boy, it’s fortunately only about money he could theoretically have.
What was that decision? A 14-year-old boy had the “cool” idea to embellish the grip tape of his skateboard. To do this, he used among other things a card from his collection for the Trading Card Game of Pokémon.
Years later he found his board again and realized that he had stuck a mistake worth about 3,000 dollars to the tape. The card is actually a “1st Edition Blaine’s Arcanine,” which nowadays is one of the sought-after rarities among fans.
The pocket monsters have received a new game – here is a trailer for Pokémon Z-A:
An Arcanine for almost 3,500 Dollars
How much is the Arcanine worth? If the condition of the card is right, one can earn thousands of dollars through the sale of the card today. On the Instagram post from fanaticscollect, which documents the story of the boy with pictures, there is for example a bidding war over a “1st Edition Blaine’s Arcanine.” The highest of the 28 bids was at 3,480 US dollars.
The sold specimen had the maximum rating of “CGC 10” for its quality. It seems quite certain that the 14-year-old boy simply played with the cards at that time, resulting in scratches and other signs of use. This greatly decreases their value for collectors.
However, those who treated their cards carefully back then and protected them with sturdy sleeves might have a treasure or two in their collection. Additionally, it helps if you refrain from one thing: Pokémon fan makes a fatal mistake before selling his collection, ruining over 600 cards.
How does the community react? On Instagram the story is of course being discussed.
- clinendoll sees it from another perspective: “He had more than 3000 dollars of fun and childhood memories with this board, I guarantee you that.”
- For halleylewis, it is clear: “If he hadn’t done it, this card would have ended up in the same landfill as all my childhood cards. Good move, little one.”
- sportscarddad even writes: “I would argue that it was not a mistake at all, but a really cool story that he will remember forever.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments! In fact, potentially valuable Pokémon cards pop up every now and then among people. In February 2025 we reported on a rarity that could actually be worth much more than the fiery Arcanine: Players discover a Pokémon card in an old book, for which collectors might pay up to 10,000 euros
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!