A Pokémon Collection Kept in an Attic for 15 Years Sells for £1.56 Million

A single-owner Pokémon collection kept in a Surrey attic for 15 years sold for £1.56 million including buyer's premium (about $2.09 million, per Kotaku) at Ewbank's on October 21, 2026, the highest total for a trading card auction in the UK, per Ewbank's. The top lot, a Legendary Collection master set estimated at £15,000 to £20,000, made a £100,000 hammer price. The seller is a retired decorator from Woking who asked not to be named.

The Sale

The auction

• "Pokémon: A Decade of Masters (1999-2009)" at Ewbank's in Surrey, October 21, 2026. 159 of its 160 lots sold, per Ewbank's results

The collection

• 42 master sets in binders. Ewbank's sold 41, and the owner kept one, per James Spooner, Ewbank's head of trading cards

The total

• £1.56 million including buyer's premium, Ewbank's most successful sale in its more than 30 years. Spooner says the house first expected up to £270,000 and held £825,000 in commission bids the day before the sale. Before this sale, Ewbank's five years of dedicated trading card auctions had totalled more than £1.1 million

The record

• The previous UK best for a trading card sale was just over £986,000 including buyer's premium at Stanley Gibbons in London in March 2026, per Ewbank's. The house says it may also be a European record, unconfirmed

The Top Lots

Prices with Ewbank's 30% buyer's premium, including VAT, per Ewbank's results:

Legendary Collection Complete Master Set

• All 110 cards, the 110 reverse holo "Firework" cards and the 4 box toppers, with a near-mint Charizard. Estimate £15,000 to £20,000, hammer £100,000, £130,000 with premium

Skyridge Complete Master Set

• Estimate £20,000 to £40,000, hammer £75,000, £97,500 with premium. The owner says it was the first master set he bought, for around £300

EX Holon Phantoms Complete Master Set

• Estimate £6,500 to £8,500, £91,000 with premium

EX Team Rocket Returns and EX Deoxys master sets

• £84,500 each with premium. EX Deoxys was estimated at just £5,000 to £7,000

Also sold

• Aquapolis master set, estimate £10,000 to £15,000: £49,400. EX Dragon Frontiers master set, estimate £3,000 to £5,000: £49,400

How a Binder Collection Got Here

His son started collecting in the late 1990s, swapping cards at school. The owner found a seller in Malaysia on eBay who offered complete master sets, put the cards straight into Pokémon binders and kept buying after his son lost interest. The binders went into the attic about 15 years ago. A local newspaper story about Ewbank's selling a single Pokémon card for over £6,000 in April 2026 sent him back up to check, per Ewbank's.

"I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true," the owner told Ewbank's.

What It Means for Collectors

The EX era outran its estimates. The Legendary Collection set made five times its top estimate on hammer. Several mid-2000s EX master sets did better: EX Deoxys sold for £84,500 with premium against a £7,000 top estimate, and EX Holon Phantoms for £91,000 against £8,500.

Completeness sold, not grades. These were raw cards in binders, not graded slabs. Andrew Ewbank, who runs the auction house, called the collection "extensive, untouched, complete."

Legendary Collection is having a big month. A single PSA 10 Legendary Collection reverse holo Charizard sold for $600,000 at Fanatics Collect on October 11, 2026, marked paid. Our guide to the most valuable Legendary Collection cards covers that set, and our Skyridge and Aquapolis guides cover two more sets from the sale.

Our take: check the binders before the boxes. The value here came from complete master sets that went straight into binders and stayed there, which Ewbank's describes as mint, though the lot notes grade a few key cards lower. If you own binders from 1999 to 2009, completeness and condition are the first things an auction house will look at.

Where to Go From Here

Old binders are turning into some of the biggest sales of the year. If you want to collect real, vaulted cards, the Polkastarter marketplace gives you a free mystery pack when you sign up, and every Lootbox lists its contents, values, and chances before you open.

Details checked October 25, 2026. Results are as reported by Ewbank's. Prices include Ewbank's buyer's premium unless marked as hammer prices. Nothing here is financial advice. Polkastarter is not affiliated with Ewbank's, Stanley Gibbons, Fanatics Collect, Kotaku, Nintendo, The Pokémon Company or the other companies named.

Sources

• Ewbank's: Pokémon collection left in attic for 15 years takes £1.56 million, UK's most valuable trading cards auction, published October 23, 2026, accessed October 25, 2026
• Ewbank's: Pokémon: A Decade of Masters (1999-2009) sale results, sale October 21, 2026, accessed October 25, 2026
• Ewbank's: Buying, buyer's premium, checked October 25, 2026, accessed October 25, 2026
• Kotaku: Pokémon TCG collection of master sets raises over $2 million at auction, published October 22, 2026, accessed October 25, 2026
• Fanatics Collect: 2002 Pokémon Legendary Collection Reverse Holo Charizard #3, PSA 10, sold October 11, 2026, accessed October 25, 2026