I love collecting things now as an adult, mainly toys from when I was a kid.  I was sitting at home last night thinking about items I had as a kid that are now worth money.

Pokemon cards were a huge when I was in grade school.  The problem was we didn’t have the money to buy them like most of my friends did.  I remember I saved $30 and asked my mom to take my to the card shop to buy some Pokemon cards, so she did since I was using my money.  These were the first packs I ever bought.  In the packs they had regular cards and then they had special holographic cards.  The holographic cards are the ones all the kids were looking for.  I remember looking at my mom and saying “if I pull a holographic Charizard I am going to freak out.”  Literally, the first card out of the first pack was that card, I started screaming with joy in the parking lot.

The hologrpahic Charizard at the time was the Holy Grail, everyone wanted it.  I took it home, put it in a protective sleeve and made sure nothing happened to it.  As the years went on, I got older and I lost all my Pokemon cards.  I don’t have the slightest idea where they went.  Every time I go to visit my mom I search her house looking for them but no such luck.

So, when I buy toys for my kids now, I tell them they have to keep it in the plastic and can’t play with it because it may be worth some money some day.  They don’t listen and think dad is nuts, they tear open the toys and have fun.

I looked up on Ebay to see how much the holographic Charizard is going for now, $7,500.  Basically, I discovered I threw away thousands of dollars for no reason.