A Pokemon collector traded his luxury Audi R8 for Pokemon cards — and some say the collection could soon be worth more than the car

In many cases, that might have been the end of things. But last week (3), Pritchett returned to the group to announce he had made the trade, though on slightly different terms than he originally proposed.

"Finally closed the deal trading my R8 for a huge Pokemon collection," he wrote. "All in $75,000 worth of sealed and $65,000 in singles all dating back to sun and moon era. I have a ton to go through and organize after a pretty exhausting trip."

For non-collectors, "sealed" refers to unopened Pokémon card products — such as booster boxes, elite trainer boxes and special collections — which can become especially valuable over time if left untouched. "Singles" are individual cards, often rare holographic or limited-edition pulls that are bought and sold separately.

The haters quickly changed their tune, sending congratulations and theorizing that the cards would be worth much more than the car in a few years.

The trading-card frenzy keeps getting more extreme

Pokémon cards have never seen their popularity dim, but they've become almost an analog equivalent of Bitcoin lately. Earlier this year, influencer Logan Paul sold his PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon trading card for nearly $16.5 million, a record amount. (Paul paid $5.27 million for the card in 2021.)

While the trading card industry as a whole has seen price run-ups in the past few years, Pokémon is far and away the industry leader. Here's how the value of Pokémon cards compares to other collectibles and investments. In the past 20 years:

• The value of Pokémon cards has increased 3,261% (4)
• The value of professional American football cards increased 1,290%
• The value of baseball cards gained 721%
• The S&P 500 increased 421%

From childhood hobby to six-figure asset

Pritchett told Polygon (5) the stated value of the card collection he got was $130,000, but he believes it could actually be much higher. Some cards have not been professionally graded, which could increase their value, and some of the rare cards were miscut, which could boost the value of one from $4,000 to $22,000.

That wouldn't be the rarest card in his overall collection, either. Pritchett has been collecting Pokémon cards since the 1990s, and his crown jewel is a Mewtwo card that was only printed 36 times, which he says could be worth $1 million down the road.

In the meantime, he says, he would be open to more trades along the lines of the R8 swap. After all, he says, he didn't drive that car very much anyway.

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Facebook (1),(3); Kelley Blue Book (2); Fortune (4); Polygon (5)