Guy Goes On Pawn Stars With 10 Charizard Pokemon Cards

Written by Providr Contributor

During an episode of Pawn Stars, a man named Gary showed up to the shop with a suitcase full of Pokemon cards. Along with the video games, Pokemon also released a deck of cards that allowed players to battle and trade against one another. As the years went by, some of the cards would generate some lofty prices either online or at a pawn shop. There are some competitions, such as the annual Pokemon World Championships, that has a top prize of $25,000.

Pokemon is a giant media franchise that is managed by The Pokemon Company and is a conglomerate of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The very first Pokemon game (Red and Green) came out in Japan for the Game Boy system in 1996. Soon after, the rest of the world caught on to the Pokemon world and became obsessed.

During the episode, Gary opened up his suitcase and revealed stacks of Charizard Pokemon cards. He went on to explain how ten pristine First Edition Pokemon cards could fetch anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000. Gary explained that he was first introduced to Pokemon by his sons but as they grew up and went to college they strayed away from the cards and the video games.

However, Gary stuck with his collection and continued collecting these cards for another 17 years. In his metal suitcase, he showcased a whole bunch of different Charizard cards including the first edition, the ‘Dark Charizard,’ ‘Blaine’s Charizard,’ and the Japanese version of the cards. When Chumlee and Rick (both employees at the store) inquired about the most expensive card, that’s when Gary opened up.

Gary showed off the ‘pristine ten’ which is a set of ten first edition Charizard cards which are considered to be the ‘crown jewel of the Pokemon world.’ Gary went on to say that these ten cards could fetch as much as $100,000. When Rick asked Gary how much he wanted for his entire collection, Rick calmly told him he would sell it for half a million dollars.

And akin to every other episode, Rick had to call in an expert to find out if the cards were real or not. The expert Steve Johnston, owner of ‘Rogue Toys,’ decided to come in to appraise the cards. He explained how Charizard is one of the more ‘collectible’ cards and that there are only less than 50 PSA 10 Charizard cards in the world. (PSA & Beckett are one of the most famous collectible authentication and grading services.)

Steve went on to call Gary’s collection ‘one of a kind’ and he went on to inform Rick that there was 20 percent of the market right in front of him, since there are only 50 PSA 10 Charizard cards in the world. Steve ended up appraising the entire collection at $380 $390,000 dollars. Rick declined to make an offer since it was ‘out of his skillset’ and it was not something that he was fluent in but it was Chumlee who really made a push for those cards. However, at the end of the show, Gary was unwilling to part with his collection at that price and Rick was unwilling to pay for something that he knew nothing about.