Rare first-edition Pokémon card described as 'holy grail' - bought for pennies in Woolworths - could fetch £40k at auction

It's perhaps not what first springs to mind when one thinks of antiques at auction.

But a rare Pokémon card could fetch as much as £40,000 when it goes under the hammer on Friday.

The 'holy grail' 1st edition, Shadowless Base Set Charizard described as being in 'mint condition' is the star attraction at a sale being held to mark Pokémon's 30th anniversary. 

It would have cost £2 in 1999 and is known as the 'holy grail' to collectors and enthusiasts.

Orginally a Nintendo game called Pocket Monsters released in Japan. The name was later shortened from Pocket Monsters to Pokémon.

Following the sucess of the computer games, a company called Media Factory created the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

The first set of cards was released on October 20, 1996, containing 102 cards. Since then, more than 30 billion cards have been printed. 

A 1st Edition, Shadowless Base Set Charizard is headlining Hansons Auctioneers' dedicated auction with a guide price of £30,000-£40,000

A full set of Jungle 1st Edition cards, all with a grade 9 rating, the 64-card set is expected to make £15,000-£20,000 at the sale on February 27

Hansons Auctioneers said demand for Pokémon memorabilia had exploded in recent years sparked by lockdown when many adults revisited the playground favourite, boosting nostalgia-driven purchases.

Pokémon specialist David Wilson-Turner said: 'Some 30 years later and Pokémon Day is expected to stir up the craze once again.

'Back in 1999, you could buy pack of 11 Pokémon cards at any Woolworths for anything between £1.50 and £2.

'A Charizard was the rarest holographic in Base Set, so pulling one from a pack was like winning a mini lottery.'

'Only 4,000 to 10,000 cards were produced, most of which were played with and are now dogeared – so to find one in mint condition like this one, which has a grading of 9 [out of 10] makes it all the rarer.'

Also appearing in the sale is another rare piece – a full set of Jungle 1st Edition cards.

The 64-card set, released in June 1999, with a price tag of £200, now commands a guide price of £15,000-£20,000.

A sealed booster box from the very first English Pokémon set with a guide price of £12,500-£15,000 is also in the sale. 

The rare booster box, in a protective acrylic display case, contains 36 sealed packs from from the low print run Unlimited edition.

Mr Wilson-Turner said: 'When originally purchased the box would have set you back around £100, which was not a bad investment considering today's value of £10,000.'

Auctioneer Charles Hanson, star of TV's Bargain Hunt, said: 'Pokemon is a market that has grown rapidly in recent years.

'It is the strongest it has ever been right now and will only continue to grow.

'Wealthy young people in their 20s and 30s who got into Pokemon when they were children are buying rare cards and prices began to spike a few years ago.

'The 30th anniversary auction is expected to draw significant international attention from both seasoned collectors and new-generation fans. 'I'd urge anyone to dig out those toy boxes, or boxed attic collections and bring them along for a free valuation.'

The Pokemon Day Auction will take place at Hansons' saleroom in Etwall, Derbys.

Earlier this month YouTuber Logan Paul has sold an ultra-rare Pokémon trading card for a record-breaking £12m. 

He has bought the Pikachu Illustrator card - the best preserved example of one of the rarest Pokémon cards ever - in a deal worth £3.9m in 2021, a record at the time.

The winning bidder was venture capitalist AJ Scaramucci, son of financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.