A retired decorator from the UK just became a millionaire by selling a bunch of Pokémon cards collecting dust in his loft for $2 million.
The man, from Woking, UK, said he had no idea the cards were valuable until he read about a single card fetching £6,000 (approx. $8,000).
The cards were auctioned off at Surrey-based auction house Ewbank's on Wednesday for £1.56 million (approx. $2 million). "I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true," said the anonymous retiree, via the BBC.
"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 stored the cards away after his son lost interest in collecting them all. One set, which the newly minted millionaire bought from a Malaysian eBay seller for £300 (approx. $400), went for a whopping £75,000 (approx. $100,000) at auction.
An auction official said "jaws hit the floor" when the man showed them his collection. "When we saw what he had — all in mint condition — we couldn't believe it," said head of trading cards at Ewbank’s, James Spooner.
It was the most successful sale Ewbank’s has seen in over 30 years of business. The Legendary Collection Complete Master Set alone went for £100,000 (approx. $133,000).
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