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Old Pokémon cards sold at auction for more than £1.5m

Collection of Pokemon cards visible in a ringbinder Image source, Ewbank's
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What's the most valuable Pokémon card in your collection?

One man from Woking has become a millionaire after selling his collection of Pokémon cards.

They had been in his attic for 15 years but he had no idea the cards had any value until he read in his local newspaper about other cards selling for massive amounts of money.

He decided to auction the cards which sold on Wednesday for £1.56m.

Figure caption,

While some people just collection Pokémon cards, Oliver plays with them competing in the Pokémon World Championships

Surrey auction house Ewbank has claimed it is the UK's most valuable trading cards auction ever and has suggested it could be a European record.

The man, who didn't want to give his name, said he first started buying cards because his son was getting and swapping them at school.

The dad even bought some complete sets from Malaysia and a set, which cost him £300 at the time, sold for £75,000 at Wednesday's auction.

The cards had all been saved into bespoke Pokémon binders and were still sealed.

Two Pokémon cards showing Charizard blowing fire on the left, and Dark Blastoise reaching on the right, in a close up of the ringbinder.Image source, Ewbank's

After his son got older and lost interest in collecting them, he stored them in the attic.

"I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true," he said.

Its top lot to sell was a Legendary Collection Complete Master Set, including a Charizard card in near-mint condition.

It had been expected to sell for £15,000-£20,000 but instead went for more than five times at £100,000.