Pokémon Trading Cards
Background Information: Pokémon
In 2021, for the 25th anniversary of Pokémon, the BBC wrote an article discussing the history of Pokémon, highlighting its rise to fame through the years. Pokémon was invented by Japanese duo Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori, and, in 1996, under the name “Pocket Monsters”, a game was released in both a red and green version for Gameboy in Japan. The game officially reached the UK in 1999, a year after it was released in the US.
Following the huge success of the first games in Japan, a company known as Media Factory created the popular trading cards which we see today, releasing 102 cards on October 20th 1996. Since these cards were so popular, they reached UK and US shores in 1999, and, very shortly after, they were worldwide. Since then, over 30 billion Pokémon trading cards have been printed!
High-Value Sales
It is no surprise that some of these cards over the years have sold for huge sums of money, given the rarity and demand of some of the most popular Pokémon cards. The original cards released, known as the Pokémon Base Set, are highly sought after and very rare, but they do, from time to time, appear in auction houses.
In fact, at Cullens, we have sold a complete, light played to near mint Pokémon Base Set, which included the fan favourite Pokémon Charizard (pictured), graded in a PSA 7 (we will explain the PSA grading system later). The base set and PSA 7 Charizard had a pre auction estimate of £300-£500 and sold for £710 including premiums.
We also directly purchased a childhood collection from an owner who only sought £70. They were incredibly happy when we checked over the cards to unearth a Holo Skyridge Gyarados and Crobat, offering £350 for the small collection.
If you’re a Pokémon collector, keep an eye on our auction pages, as we regularly sell Pokémon trading cards, all of which vary in rarity and value.

Fun Fact
The most expensive single Pokémon card to sell at auction was a first edition holographic shadowless Charizard card, which sold for a whopping $369,000 (around £262,000) in 2020.
(BBC Newsround, 2021)
PSA Grading
The PSA Grading System is used amongst collectors and valuers to determine the quality of trading cards and is essential for determining their value. The system follows a number of different scores, considering factors such as how sharp the corners are, the quality of the gloss surface, if there are any stains, and so on. These are the PSA scores for trading cards;
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GEM-MT 10: Gem Mint
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MINT 9: Mint
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NM-MT 8: Near Mint-Mint
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NM 7: Near Mint
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EX-MT 6: Excellent-Mint
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EX 5: Excellent
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VG-EX 4: Very Good-Excellent
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VG 3: Very Good
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GOOD 2: Good
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FR 1.5: Fair
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PR 1: Poor
Fake Cards
Unfortunately, not every Pokémon trading card out there is genuine, and people can fall into the trap of paying large amounts for fake cards. We offer a comprehensive appraisal service for trading cards, but it is worth knowing the signs of a fake card yourself, so you can avoid the chances of obtaining one.
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Avoiding sellers with either no or poor feedback on sites such as eBay is a good first step if you’re purchasing online.
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Watch out for aged reprints, where cards are soaked in a liquid to give them a more vintage look; this is a common counterfeit action.
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Language errors and misspells are another red flag for fake cards, as well as dodgy-looking borders around the card.
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Use a torch to assess the quality of hologram cards, and look to see how thin the card seems; if light passes through easily, this is often a sign that it is fake.
Looking to Sell With Us?
If you have Pokémon trading cards that you’re looking to sell, or any other collectables, we offer various routes, such as at auction, direct purchasing or third-party sellers. You can read about each selling route in more detail here.