Collectors can achieve incredibly high prices with old Pokémon cards. A random find by a Pokémon fan could now make them a bit richer.
What kind of find are we talking about? A user reports on Reddit that he found a rare Pokémon card in an old book. He must have used the card as a bookmark 20 years ago and forgotten it in the book.
In the forum, he proudly shows what kind of card it is: a Charizard from the first edition in holo-appearance. To protect the valuable item, he has since put the card in a sleeve. This protects it from scratches and dirt so it doesn’t lose value. Because depending on its condition, it could be worth quite a bit.
Those who prefer to collect digital cards might enjoy TCG Pocket:
Pokémon card turns out to be a valuable find
How much is the card worth? To estimate the value of a card, its condition must first be checked. There are independent companies that specialize in assessing the condition of a card. They follow a scale that ranges from 1 to 10.
A 10 is a card that is basically fresh out of the printer. A 1 means the card can really only be used as a bookmark, as it usually has significant flaws.
According to Price Charting, a holo Charizard sells for about 219 euros. If the card is graded, it could fetch a price of around 9,764 euros. A few years ago, he might have gotten even more money for it: a similar card of a Charizard from the very first edition sold for 407,000 euros in 2022, currently it’s only worth 163,000 euros (via Infinite TCGPlayer).
However, the Charizard shown here is from the second card edition, which is why it is inherently worth less. Nevertheless, the Reddit user can be happy about a great find.
What do others say about his find? The lucky finder of the Pokémon card thinks that he was a dumb kid back then. He probably doesn’t understand how someone could be so foolish as to use a card that is valuable today as a bookmark.
However, other users encourage him and claim that he might have even been a genius as a child. After all, he kept the card for so many years and didn’t sell it for a lower price or trade it for other toys.
From the first draft of a new Pokémon card to the final design, there are several steps. MeinMMO author Max Handwerk got to see behind the scenes and reveals how the creation process of a new card works: How are new Pokémon cards created? We spoke with artists and testers in Japan
