Ultra-rare Pokemon card collection to fetch eye-watering sum at auction – are you sitting on a toy goldmine?

A VAST collection of rare Pokemon trading cards is expected to sell for a huge sum when it goes up for sale at auction.

The collection, amassed by a Nottinghamshire-based enthusiast, dates from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.

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It comprises 10 complete sets, where every card from a set is included, including secret rare cards, as well as five master sets, which has every variant of every card, including both holofoil and reverse holofoil variants.

Another lot includes 16 Pokemon Box Toppers – promotional oversized versions of cards.

The entire collection is expected to sell for more than £25,000 later this month.

Auctioneer Richard Winterton said: “Some of these cards are so sought after that collectors would potentially acquire the whole set just to secure that one card.

“My team of Pokémon experts highlight the Skyridge master set, the last set by Wizards Of The Coast, and one which will especially excite the Pokémon world.

“We’re expecting the whole total for the collection to be around £25,000 but they could far exceed this on the day.”

The Japanese multi-media franchise features competing animals which hold special powers.

The characters have featured in films, TV shows and online gaming with the Trading Card Games (TCG) having built up a huge following.

TCG regularly has “expansions” where new adventures and Pokemon characters are added to the existing fictional world.

The master sets are from the Pokémon TCG Skyridge, Aquapolis, Expedition, Legendary Collection and EX Ruby & Sapphire expansions.

Complete sets come in the sale are Neo Destiny, Neo Revelation, Neo Discovery, Neo Genesis, Gym Challenge, Gym Heroes, Team Rocket, Base Set 2, Fossil and Jungle.

All are by Wizards of the Coast except the EX Ruby & Sapphire, which was the first set not produced by the American publisher.

The Aquapolis, Expedition and Skyridge sets comprise the scarce E-Reader series and were the last sets by Wizards of the Coast.

The box toppers are also from those sets as well as the Legendary Collection.

Other highlights are the Neo Destiny and Neo Revelation sets which include all the Shining cards.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ Antiques & Home Sale is selling the collection on May 7 at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Staffordshire.

Earlier this year, a rare box of Pokémon cards sold for a whopping £19,500 at auction.

The unopened first-edition cards were bagged by a collector for the insane amount at auction in Woking, Surrey.

The box sold at Ewbank auctioneers in Woking for 3,900 times the price of a regular pack of £5 Pokemon cards.

Pokemon cards have become collectibles, with fans splashing out thousands and even millions of pounds for the rarest.

Back in the day a set of cards would set you back around £4. So if you have old ones lurking around you could find they are now worth a small fortune – if it’s the right one.

The pandemic lockdowns when people had more time on their hands even fuelled a new surge of interest in Pokemon trading cards.

Enthusiasts can send their cards to be graded, valued and sealed by an organisation in America called The Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).

It will give cards a rating out of 10, with the highest being the most valuable.

The record for the most expensive Pokemon card ever sold was the Pikachu Illustrator card that was PSA grade 10.

It was snapped up by YouTuber Logan Paul for a whopping £3,862,424 in 2021.  

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk