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Man's Pokémon Card Collection Appraised at 7.6 Million Yen

A man's collection of 31 Pokémon cards was assessed by professional appraisers on the Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan (Good Fortune! The Group That Appraises Everything) program that first aired on TV Tokyo on April 9. The collector, whose name is Yoshiharu Takahashi, estimated his collection to be worth 1.2 million yen (US$10,730), but according to professional appraiser Yūya Satō, it was actually worth 7.6 million yen (US$68,674).

Satō explained that all of the cards were promotional cards that were not in wide circulation. Takahashi's rarest card was a "Kangaskhan parent-and-child tournament entry card," which is worth 1.2 million yen each. According to Poke Card Lab, the card was only ever distributed to entrees at a "Kangaskhan parent-and-child tournament" held in Japan in May 1998. Only 34 cards were ever given out. Takahashi possessed four of them in his collection.

Another rare card in Takahashi's collection was a bilingual Lucky Stadium card depicting a beach, which according to Satō was only ever handed out to players who were invited to a card tournament in Hawaii after advancing through the qualifying rounds. This card was worth 1 million yen. Takahashi also had trainer cards with his name printed on them to commemorate his second place win at a national tournament, as well as a first place in a Tohoku tournament. These cards were worth 150,000 yen and 100,000 yen respectively.

A clip of the show's segment is below:

The Pokémon Trading Card Game first launched in Japan in 1996. According to The Pokémon Company, the game has sold over 25.7 billion cards in 74 countries and regions as of March 2018.

Source: TV Tokyo, Poke Card Lab, The Pokémon Company