10 June 2025
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This month, we’re taking a look at what to do with what you find in your attic – with the example of a common discovery: early Pokemon cards. Written by Charlie Pettit
Last year, a friend of mine was remodelling her house, and changed the heating system from a hot air system, pretty common in old London properties, to modern central heating. As they removed the insides of the system, leaving gaping holes in the walls, they made a surprising discovery – a handful of base set Pokemon cards.
We can guess that they were originally stored in the loft and at some stage, either installation or removal, they fell through from an unknown cubby hole, but the story is a variation on a typical one.
After the absolute craze of Pokemon cards and video games, most people had at least a few – and now, as we reminisce on the fact we should have kept our shiny Charizard, many of us have grown up, and some of us are lucky enough to rediscover them kept somewhere in a box of old stuff in the loft — a forgotten card collection that could contain a secret rare or even the elusive holy grail of valuable cards.
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Whilst you’d think that means you’re sitting on a small goldmine – who needs the lottery when you can find an original energy card, am I right? (no!) – simply being an early card doesn’t guarantee its value. So grab the box from the loft, dust off the cover, and let’s figure out how you know if you’ve made it rich!
How Can You Tell Which Pokémon Cards You Have?
First things first, you need to figure out what you’ve actually got. The highest value cards tend to come from the earliest decks. The first English base set was released in 1999 and included the iconic trainer cards and rookie cards, but there were actually four versions of it printed. The set contained several real favourites, notably Charizard, but also Blastoise, Venusaur, and Mewtwo, recreated in a recent Celebrations Set release. Classics like Charizard and Mewtwo, were part of the original Pokémon TCG lineup, and collectors now hunt these early sports card-style releases with intense interest.
Telling the difference between the sets can be tricky, and of course the highest value rare cards tend to hark from the first edition set. Thankfully, these are the easiest to identify, as next to the description of the Pokemon, will be a small EDITION 1 logo. It moves to the top right for energy cards, and the bottom left for Trainer cards, but is the easiest way to identify the set.
You may also cards from the first set, but not a first edition. You’re looking for the cards to be out of 102, and have no logo for the set. Logos came in the next sets, Jungle, had a flower style logo, and the third, Fossil, had a dinosaur footprint.
If you know you’ve got a first set, but it’s not a first edition, all is not entirely lost. After the first edition came a reprint commonly called Shadowless, which basically says it’s not the first edition, but it still doesn’t have a shadow around the border. These aren’t as sought after as first editions, but demand is still pretty high, especially for the chase cards like Charizard.
After this printing, the so-called Unlimited Edition printed to meet demand, so there are plenty of these on the market – making them generally worth less. The best way to identify these (outside of the shadow) is by the copyright line, as it includes 99, though there are specific card differences between each of the sets, including things like the colour of Pikachu’s blush.
Which Pokémon Cards Are the Most Collectable in Your Set?
Once you’ve figured out whether your Pokémon cards are true originals, it’s worth taking a log of what you’ve actually got. First edition Pokemon cards are usually worth the most. The two main aspects of Pokémon collecting, even now, are having a full set of cards, or specific, collector-preferred Pokémon.
If you’ve got two rare cards like Blastoise, you’re on to a winner over having four different energy cards. Otherwise, if you’ve got a full set of first edition Pokémon cards, you could be looking at a real coup.
How Do You Check the Condition of Your Pokémon Cards
To an untrained eye, the quality of Pokémon cards can be hard to judge. For instance, I am in possession of a stack of well-loved, played with, dog-eared first set cards. Some of them are a little sun damaged, some of them have been squished into binders with multiple other cards, many of them show the wear and tear of being shoved in a school bag after trading – these are easy to tell, they won’t be worth anything much. You could try and sell these kinds of cards in a private sale.
But card quality grading is a strong and particular business, with one of the biggest in the industry – PSA – grade out of ten, and the difference in value between a PSA 9 and PSA 10 can be considerable. That can be based on anything from how even the lines are spaced, namely, is the card perfectly central? To any decolouration in ink. Finding a high quality set hidden in a loft is somewhat unlikely – but worth a look!
What Should You Do After Identifying Your Pokémon Cards?
After that, you’ll have to consider what you want to do with your set. We always ask in What’s in Your Attic if you want to keep it or sell it (or even pop it to the charity shop!), but if you’re committing to selling your Pokemon cards, there are a few things you should consider.
How Can You Protect and Store Valuable Pokémon Cards?
First things first, if you think your Pokemon cards are worth something, rescue them from the box they’re lurking in ASAP. Ideally, you want at least two protections for them – card sleeves, sometimes called Penny sleeves, which are thin plastic covers for individual sleeves. If ever you watch trading card unboxings, you’ll see unboxers tend to immediately sleeve their cards once unveiled, and it’s all about keeping anything from getting to it.
The second step, once it’s been sleeved, is to pop it into a Toploader. The plastic sleeves are flimsy, and may protect it from a gentle drop or something atop it – or your coffee stain if you decide to use it as a coaster (please don’t), but the toploader is a harder plastic that protects the card from being bent. You’ll find a lot of grading companies, if you choose to take that route, will request you send the card in these protections in order to prevent damage in transit.
Should You Get Your Pokémon Cards Professionally Graded?
A graded card is worth more than an ungraded card, and there are multiple ways to do this. If you’ve a full set, admittedly this can be a costly exercise.
Those graded at a 9 or a 10 will be worth considerably more, but those in poor condition sometimes don’t exceed the value of getting it graded at all – so sometimes, it’s best to pick your best condition, or most popular cards to be graded. The knock on effect is that the graded card is authenticated, and also protected within the sleeve it returns in, which lowers the risks for purchasers.
The biggest grader is PSA, followed by Beckett. Keep an eye on the time it takes though, as backlogs can build and it can take a long time to receive your cards back.
Where Can You Get Your Pokémon Cards Valued or Appraised?
Finally, get your cards valued. Not least because some of them are worth enough to warrant being declared on insurances, but it’s so a question of love it or list it – do you want to keep them longer, or sell them on? Knowing their worth may help.
You can find rough sale amounts online through the likes of PSA, who track the sales of their graded cards, and then it’s worth finding your own valuers for the modern day. Approaching specialist Auction houses – much like our feature sponsor Ewbanks – will give you the information and action you may need!