Pokémon Fan Funds Wedding With $44,000 Charizard Card Sale

A Pokémon fan has been able to fund his own wedding, after rediscovering a trio of rare Charizard cards hidden away in his attic.

Speaking to BBC News, Andrew Braund said he'd sold the three Pokémon cards for a total of £32,800 ($44,000) last week at an auction house in Surrey, England. The money has gone to pay for his wedding, which is set for this summer.

Braund revealed that he uncovered his old Pokémon card collection while tidying his attic, and was stunned to find that several of the cards now held huge value.

According to local auctioneers Ewbank's Auctions, the three top-selling cards were all versions of the same 2003 Skyridge Charizard Holo, with one selling for £17,000 (around $23,000) on its own.

"When I saw how much the cards had sold for, I thought, 'Wow, blimey,'" Braund said, describing the total amount he'd gained from their sale as "mindboggling."

While much of his childhood collection is now well-worn, Braund, of Wimbourne in Dorset, owned several rare cards in better condition.

"I came across them when I moved in a few years ago as my parents asked me to clear out my stuff," Braund continued. "I took them to a friend who runs a trading card shop and got his opinion on them, thinking it would be £500 and fairly run of the mill. My friend got to the last tin, looked at them and asked me to sit down."

While $44,000 is certainly nothing to complain about — especially when you have a wedding to pay for — Braund's haul falls a long way short of the most expensive Pokémon cards to be sold at auction. Earlier this year, the record was broken (once again) by Logan Paul's bejeweled PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator card, which sold for a staggering $16,492,000.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social