Rare Pokémon card expected to fetch more than £8k

Jon Free has been collecting Pokémon cards for a number of years

A man's rare Pokémon card is expected to fetch more than £8,000 when it goes to auction.

Jon Free, 32, from Great Blakenham in Suffolk, is one of the world's largest collectors of fourth print Pokémon cards.

His fourth print Charizard card is the highest graded of its kind in the world by Beckett Grading Services (BGS).

The card will be auctioned on 30 September by Richard Winterton Auctions in Staffordshire and could bring in between £8,000 and £12,000.

The card has been given a grade 9 by BGS with three sub-grades at 9.5 for its centering, corners and surface which is higher than any other fourth print Charizard in the world.

The grade 9 means it is in "mint" condition with 9.5 meaning "gem mint", and 10 meaning "pristine" by BGS's standards.

Mr Free, however, believed it could be crossed over to the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) that could value the card as a grade 10.

The last PSA grade 10 of this card to exchange hands sold privately for more than £40,000, according to Richard Winterton Auctions.

The fourth print Charizard card owned by Mr Free has been grade as 'mint' by BGA

Mr Free described the collectible as being part of "literally the rarest print run of the most well-known set" of the cards in the world.

The rare occurrence came about due to to copyright issues around the turn of millennium, with unusual holographic cards that were only printed in the UK for around two weeks.

Mr Free could see his card fetch over £12,000 based on previous sales of similar cards

Mr Free admitted he was sad to see the card go but added "sometimes life has to take priority".

He believed the card held "more prestige being the highest BGS graded card".

"This card is a piece of Pokémon history and a niche gem of the most iconic card ever made," he added.

'Hot market'

Auctioneer Richard Winterton said it was a "privilege" to be responsible for selling the card.

"We are inundated with emails and calls from people wanting to auction their Pokémon, which remains a seriously hot market internationally," he said.

"It’s a privilege to be auctioning Jon’s card... this is the highest value single Pokémon card entrusted to us and we are anticipating a huge amount of interest from all over the globe."