07/11/2025 General News
As Christmas approaches, the media will once again be full of reports about the latest must-have craze for kids, writes Emily Turner. For parents thinking that they are about to spend their hard-earned cash on something whose appeal with quickly fade, and which will likely turn into worthless landfill, I would say: don’t rush to judgement.
It’s true that often children grow bored with that latest fad, but that lack of enthusiasm might not last forever. And if it does come back later in life, the chances are that anyone who has put the offending items in the bin might live to regret it.
A good example of this is Pokémon cards. Launched in the late 1990s, this was a simple trading card game which became a worldwide phenomenon. It is estimated that a staggering 43 billion Pokémon cards have been printed, with nearly 50,000 unique cards created in English and Japanese.
Usually something which is so mass-produced has limited rarity value and so is not so sought after in the saleroom. But a new generation of buyers – those who grew up playing the game at the turn of the millennium – are seeking to indulge their nostalgia. Demand for Pokémon is very strong.
When they were launched, a pack of 11 cards cost £2.50, not an insignificant pocket money sum in those days. But anyone who had the foresight to keep that pack sealed and in mint condition would now own something which could sell for thousands at auction. Even single cards, especially the holographic ones from 1999/2000, are selling for hundreds of pounds.
In our Popular Culture Sale next week, we have a collection of such cards, which have a fairly typical provenance. Belonging to someone who is now at university, his mum fortunately ignored her son’s advice to chuck them in the bin and instead brought them to us for appraisal. She was staggered to learn that the contents of the box were worth a sum well into the thousands.
From a more distant era, but nevertheless falling into the category of items which are again in demand in the saleroom, is the genre of vintage crime comic books from the 1940s through to the 1960s.
In an age of AI art, it’s not hard to see the appeal of these: drawn by hand, with witty, creative scripts, and with a true artistic passion invested in them, these are a world away from sterile, computer-drawn comics which are becoming more common today.
We tend to think of comic books featuring superheroes, but the crime genre was more down-to-earth and grittier. They were also slightly subversive, even naughty, and were often centred around women, a contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated comics of the era.
They emerged as a genre during the 1940s, especially among a post-war audience seeking gritty realism and sensational storytelling. Often the tales of gangsters, murderers and detectives was inspired be real crimes, with lurid covers and sometimes violent imagery which audiences loved, but which also attracted criticism for their graphic content.
The creation of the Comics Code Authority in the mid-1950s imposed strict censorship, banning depictions of violence and disrespect for authority, but the crime comics genre then reinvented itself, with espionage, noir-inspired and detective narratives which adhered to the Code, but which still hinted at darker themes.
In the saleroom, condition is critical, because these comics were made to be read by children, and not always printed on the highest quality paper. Buyers want to inspect the internal pages as well as the covers to ensure they are well-preserved. Those that are will be rewarded with strong hammer prices.
So remember as you buy your kids this year’s must-have Christmas present: don’t be in too much of a rush to throw them away when your child moves onto something new. You never know what the saleroom stars of the future will be.
Keys Popular Culture, Music, Film and Sporting Memorabilia Sale takes place on Friday 14th November. A full online catalogue is available at www.keysauctions.co.uk.