Meet Gary Haase, whose Pokémon card collection is worth an estimated $10M

For most people, Pokémon cards are childhood keepsakes tucked away in old drawers or binders. For Gary Haase, they became the centrepiece of a lifelong collecting obsession that eventually grew into one of the most valuable Pokémon card collections in the world. Known as “King Pokémon”, the Las Vegas collector began collecting Pokémon cards in 1998, importing them from Japan before the trading card game was available in the United States. Decades later, Guinness World Records lists Haase as the owner of the most valuable Pokémon card collection, with an estimated value of $10 million. His collection is not simply large; it contains rare cards from the earliest years of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, including highly sought-after vintage cards. Haase's story began long before Pokémon existed, however, with a childhood fascination with collecting everything from bottle caps to trading cards.How Gary Haase turned a childhood collecting habit into a $10 million Pokémon card empireHaase's passion for collecting began during childhood, long before Pokémon became a global phenomenon. According to Guinness World Records, he collected items such as Coca-Cola bottle caps as a child before de...