Pokemon master set sells for £130,000 at Ewbank's, with fees changing the comp
A Pokemon Legendary Collection complete master set sold for £130,000 including buyer fees at Ewbank's October 21 auction in Surrey. The winning bid was £100,000 before fees, and the lot contained a full collection rather than a single Charizard card.
A Pokemon Legendary Collection complete master set sold for £130,000 including buyer fees at Ewbank's October 21 auction in Surrey. The winning bid was £100,000 before fees, and the lot contained a full collection rather than a single Charizard card.
That distinction matters when the result appears beside a card listing or in a live-break pitch. Lot 1078 included all 110 cards in the set, all 110 reverse-holo "Firework" cards and four box toppers. Its price is a comp for that bundle in its described condition, not a new standalone Charizard sale.
The result was part of Pokemon: A Decade of Masters, an auction that drew a reported £1.56 million for a retired decorator's collection. Ewbank's says it sold 41 of his master sets; he kept another.
The £100,000 headline leaves out the buyer fees
Ewbank's post-sale announcement gives the Legendary Collection lot a £100,000 hammer price against an estimate of £15,000 to £20,000. The sold-lot page shows £130,000 including buyer fees. Those are two stages of the same transaction, not competing sale results.
Use the fee-inclusive result when comparing what the buyer paid. Use the hammer figure only against another hammer result. Neither number establishes the seller's net proceeds after any selling costs.
The auction took place on October 21. It is a completed sale, not a current bid or a £130,000 asking price.
Near-mint Charizard does not mean a mint master set
The lot description calls its Charizard near-mint. The condition report is more specific about the collection as a whole: cards range from excellent to near-mint, and the Blastoise box topper has some discolouration.
Those details are more useful than treating every card in the binder as mint. They also put limits on comparisons with individually graded cards. The listing does not assign a slab grade to the Charizard, and a near-mint auction description is not a PSA 10 result.
For another Legendary Collection master set, compare the included reverse holos and box toppers as well as the condition of the main cards. A binder missing part of the reverse-holo run is not the same lot just because both listings use "complete" in the title.
One owner's collection is not the entire auction catalogue
Ewbank's says the seller had stored his collection in an attic for 15 years before bringing it for valuation. The auction house's head of trading cards, James Spooner, said the owner had 42 sets and sold 41.
The wider October 21 catalogue lists 160 lots. That is not a claim that the retired decorator sold 160 master sets. Keep the owner's reported £1.56 million collection result separate from the number of lots in the event.
Ewbank's also reports a £75,000 hammer price for the seller's Skyridge set. That is another set-level result, not the sale price of its Charizard alone.
The venue described the event as a UK trading-card auction record and suggested a possible European record. The European claim was unconfirmed in its announcement. The individual sold-lot result is the firmer number for a collector comparing purchases.
A binder sale does not price the next pack
This auction offers evidence of demand for a particular collection with a documented card list. It does not establish the value of a random card from the same expansion, or the likely contents of a sealed pack.
If a seller cites the £130,000 result while offering a single card, ask which part of the master set the card matches and compare its condition. If the pitch is for a break spot, the auction result does not tell you which cards that spot can receive.
The useful takeaway is narrower than "old Pokemon cards are worth six figures." Here, the full reverse-holo run and box toppers were part of the purchase. Fees mattered too. Match those details before using the result as a comp.
Related reads
More from Rip Wire
FAQ
Did one Charizard sell for £130,000 at Ewbank's?+
No. Lot 1078 was a Legendary Collection complete master set with the 110-card set, 110 reverse-holo cards and four box toppers. Its Charizard was described as near-mint.
Was the sale £100,000 or £130,000?+
The hammer price was £100,000. Ewbank's sold-lot page lists £130,000 including buyer fees.
When did the auction take place?+
Pokemon: A Decade of Masters took place at Ewbank's on October 21, 2026.
Does this result value every Legendary Collection master set at £130,000?+
No. It records one completed auction transaction. Contents and condition need to match before another set can be compared with it.