Pokemon Cards Appear on Antiques Roadshow

Pokemon cards are now antiques, which is making a lot of 90s kids feel very old. A recent episode of Antiques Roadshow featured a set of early Pokemon cards, including a number of Base Set cards and rare Shadowless cards. An attendee of the show brought a set of Pokemon cards her mother bought for just $35 to prevent her daughter from being taken advantage of while trading for the cards. It turns out that the cards, which have remained in their binder for decades, remained in very good condition, resulting in a high valuation. 

"There's approximately 150 cards in your binder," host Travis Landry said. "Conservatively at auction, we would say that your binder would be in the $5,000-$10,000 range." Landry also noted that several of the cards, if sold individually, could help the collection sell for an even higher price, with a ungraded Mewtwo going for $1,200 and a Charizard going for about $2,000 to $3,000. Of course, if the cards were officially graded, they could sell for significantly higher. You can check out the full segment in the video below: 

Of course, the host points out that the cards have actually decreased in value due to the overall volatility of the Pokemon card market. While vintage Pokemon cards are still obviously going at a premium, had she sold the cards during the pandemic, she'd be looking at even higher pricers for the collection. "The Pokémon market is extremely volatile," Landry said. "It is a market that blossomed through the pandemic. I hate giving you the womp-womp news on the backside but your Charizard in this shape less than a year ago was easily a $5,000-$8,000 card. At the peak of the market, in November 2020 to March, April 2021, we were seeing this card hit as high as $15,000." 

While the owner of the Pokemon cards might be disappointed that her cards may have peaked in value, Pokemon fans might be even more disappointed to learn that Antiques Roadshow is now accepting Pokemon cards as "antiques" to be appraised on the show.