How A Retired Decorator Made Rs 19 Crore From Pokemon Cards

A retired decorator from Woking, a town in England, has become a millionaire after selling his collection of Pokemon cards, according to the BBC. He said he had no idea the cards were valuable until he read in his local newspaper that a single card had sold for more than 6,000 Pounds.

The collection had been in his attic for 15 years. It was sold at Ewbank's auction house in Surrey on Wednesday for 1.56 million Pounds (approximately Rs 20 Crores). The auction house said it was the most valuable trading card sale ever held in the UK and could be a European record.

"I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true," the man told the BBC, which asked not to be identified.

"When my son was young, in the late 1990s, he started getting cards and swapping them at school. I thought they looked nice and wondered whether they might be a good investment. He had his own cards, but he never got to touch these, I'm glad to say", he added.

Pokemon is a Japanese franchise best known for its trading cards, video games and animated television series.

The man said he had bought some complete sets of the cards from someone in Malaysia on eBay.

One set, which cost him 300 Pounds at the time, went for 75,000 Pounds at Wednesday's auction.

The cards, all filed into bespoke Pokemon binders while still sealed, were stored in the attic after his son lost interest in the franchise.