Man funds wedding with £32,000 Pokémon cards sale

A man has funded his wedding by selling three rare Pokémon trading cards for £32,800.

Andrew Braund found his 20-year-old collection of Pokémon cards when he was clearing out his loft and said he was astonished to discover their value.

The cards were be auctioned at Ewbank's in Woking, Surrey, on Thursday, selling respectively for £17,000, £13,000 and £2,800.

"When I saw how much the cards had sold for, I thought 'wow, blimey'," Braund said.

He said he was at work during the auction and was getting messages, describing the final sum as "mindboggling".

Braund had collected the cards as a child, and it was only when he retrieved them from his attic to show them to a friend who is an expert collector that he discovered the value.

Braund said: "I was a very keen Pokémon card collector between the ages of about eight and 15, but most of my collection is quite dog-eared and loved, so I really didn't expect it to be worth anything.

"I came across them when I moved in a few years ago as my parents asked me to clear out my stuff.

"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."

Andrew said that he and his partner, Rachel, who are both neurodivergent, will no longer need to worry about the funding for the wedding day now.

He added that the couple will also look to book a honeymoon in due course, with a quiet week in Devon planned.

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