A dad who rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s greatest Pokemon trainers has sold his extensive collection of cards at auction for almost £200,000.
Gordon White built up a huge cache of trading cards from the Nintendo franchise over 16 years of acting as a judge for tournaments involving the game after his children asked to join a league in the 1990s.
The sets, which included sealed boxes, rare first edition cards and examples featuring misprints or mistakes, were expected to achieve around £75,000 when they went under the hammer in Lichfield last week.
But the 58-year-old, from Livingston, was left stunned when the 137 lots actually sold for £194,990 at Richard Winterton Auctioneers.
It comes amid a surge in interest in the game, which exploded in popularity almost 30 years ago, driven by YouTube stars including Logan Paul.
Gordon, who still plays the video game version of the popular series, said he felt he had “completed” his collection and it was now time to pass it on.
He said: “As a way to sum it up, you’ve got to use the Pokemon trademark – gotta catch ’em all!
“I was very well known in the Pokemon trading card game community and I’ve had a lot of enjoyment out of the game.
“But I don’t play the trading card game at all anymore.”
Some of the cards in Gordon’s collection were only given to players who reached the top 16 or 32 in the world championships, meaning they are one of only 96 in existence.
Others included a rare reverse holo legendary collection Charizard – examples of which sell for more than £2,000 each.
Another set of 111 cards from the EX Team Rocket Returns set sold for over £10,500.
Gordon began running the league in 1998, but soon noticed he was often the only parent in attendance and decided to start playing himself.
He called time on his involvement with the game in 2014, but admitted he still had fond memories of competing and collecting.
“It all started as my children wanted to get involved in the Pokemon league and we decided on the one at Megazone in Falkirk,” he recalled.
“My kids got really good at the game and, as I was the only parent turning up there all the time and I’d started playing the card game too, I was delegated.
“So I ended up running that league for 16 years and every time a new set came out it cost me in the region of £1,000.
“Some of the cards were then passed back to the kids for various events and tournaments others ended up in my collection.
“It just went up and up and up.”
He added: “It’s like playing chess with cards it’s so complicated a game. It used to be simpler but it isn’t anymore – there are more cards and more things to affect other cards.”
Logan Paul shattered the record for most expensive Pokemon card bought at a private sale in April this year, shelling out $5,275,000 (£3,862,424) for a PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator.
He then wore it round his neck during his pro-wrestling debut later that month when he teamed up with The Miz at Wrestlemania against Rey and Dominik Mysterio at the AT&T stadium in Texas.
That purchase is now certified by Guinness as a world record.
Gordon failed to hit that price mark, but insisted he was happy for the collection to be passed on.
“My grandchildren love Pokemon, play the video games and watch the cartoons but they don’t play the cards,” he said.
“I do still play the video game but I wanted the cards to go to a good home.”
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