$ 3 Million Collection: Baseball Cards Not Only Hot Commodity: Now It’s Pokémon

Sports trading cards aren’t the only memorabilia skyrocketing in value. Heritage Auctions has put a Pokémon card collection, valued at an estimated $3 million, on the auction block July 24-25.  This is potentially the largest sale of a non-sports card lot in US history.

Bart Kiser, had a love affair with Pokémon which was almost as big as the love he had for his children, earning him the nickname “Rad Dad.” So much so, that he gifted his massive collection to his children on Christmas morning 1999. Some 20 years later that collection will be up for grabs, expected to attract spirited bidding.

Kiser passed in 2018 but the colorful cards depicting “pocket monsters” will remind his now adult children again of his Pokémon passion and generosity.

His son Matt Kiser and Joe Maddalena, Executive VP at Heritage Auctions, are available to the media on mutually convenient times and dates to discuss the Bart Kiser Collection.

Highlights from the Rad Dad Collection offered at auction includes sealed box sets such as a Pokémon Japanese Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Media Factory, 1996) released only in Japan (est. $40,000). These boxes were released in Japan on Oct. 20, 1996, which was a little over two years before the English version. English versions of these boxes came with 36 card packs but Japanese versions came with 60 packs.

Pokémon Unlimited Edition Base Set Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast) remains sealed since 1999, the year the set was released (est. $20,000). It includes 36 booster packs, each with 11 cards, for a total of 396 cards. The cards have never been touched and they are all likely gem mint condition.

Bart Kiser obtained a rare Pokémon First Edition Jungle Set Sealed Booster Box (Wizards of the Coast, 1999) (est. $15,000). This was the second set of the mega-popular Pokémon Trading Card Game, released on June 16, 1999. The set included a total of 64 cards and it was the first set to include copies of the holographic cards in non-holographic form.