North. This Lille is one of the biggest collectors of Pokémon cards in France

Monday January 3, 2000. Like every morning, thousands of children start their day in front TF !, The youth program of TF1. That day, a brand new cartoon is scheduled on the grid. His name, Pokémon. A manga where heroes are looking for more or less cute monsters with extraordinary powers. At the time, Mathias is still a very young boy Who follows religiously the adventures of Sacha, Ondine and Pierre from the family home, in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). It is the beginning of a passion that will never leave him again. Because today, this 29 -year -old man, living in Lille (North) for three years, is One of the biggest collectors of Pokémon cards in France. Encounter.

Philo lessons in YouTube

Mathias’ level of expertise is such that it has ended up Make your livelihood. “Basically, I had studied philosophy, and I passed the CAPES in 2020,” he says. But it was the year of the covid, the places were very limited and I did not have it. I was still able to work a little in the field by giving private lessons. And in fact, this period was a click, I wanted to develop other projects. »»

Mathias then begins to make a place in the world of videographers in Creating his YouTube channel, “Rayquamaster” (Inspired by Rayquaza, the name of his favorite Pokémon), on which he approaches all the subjects linked directly or indirect to the universe created by Satoshi Tajiri. “” Everything that revolves around Pokémon, it takes me at the gutshe says. There is obviously a nostalgic bias but it especially punctuated several stages of my life. It’s a bit like a friend, a companion. »»

Buyer and card reseller

But his favorite theme remains of course Playing cards, inspired by the franchise, which he started to accumulate in 2007. “I tend to favor quality to quantity. But right now, I would say that I must have between 20,000 and 30,000. ”Just that.

To expand his collection, Mathias could not be content to buy card packages in specialized stores. The risk of accumulating duplicates is considerable and financial investment, colossal! So the young man developed a Buyer and reseller activity Of these precious illustrated cardboard pieces. For that, he goes through several Online platforms, like Whatnot, or GCC.

“In general, I do not buy the cards into the room but by lot,” he explains. I look at the coast on the market and withdraw 20 % in order to pay myself. Once the lot has been acquired, you have to take advantage of it! And to be sure to do good business, the expert dwells on several criteria: If the card is newit’s all Bénef! Mathias sends it to a gradation company to better assess its market value. Used cards that he acquires are generally sold at auction. ” However, If I see that it is a card that I don’t have, there I keep it!»

A collection estimated at more than 1 million euros

This small business allows Mathias to ensure that completely comfortable income, which vary from one period to another, as for any other commercial activity. “” Sometimes I can get 1,000 euros in the month, and at other times, it can go up to 7000 it’s quite random, but I live very well. »»

But no question for the specialist to touch his collection of cards to get rich. However, there is enough to be tempted: Its loot is estimated between 1 and 1.5 million euros (Everything is kept in banking boxes, editor’s note) “For comfort or leisure, I will never touch it!” But if it is to treat my mother or to avoid being on the street, then there, yes, I can, in any last resort! In my opinion, Pokémon is above all a story of passion before being a question of money. »

As in many manga, Pokémon has federated around universal values, such as friendship, surpassing oneself, courageAnd in which Mathias is found, which largely explains his attachment to the franchise. And then we must recognize the authors a certain talent to maintain the flame with the fans over the years, already with 27 seasons on the clockthousands of derivative products and innovations, such as the applicationPokémon Go who panicked in the summer of 2016, or more recently,The Pokémon TGC Pocket Virtual Card Gamewho relaunched the craze around physical cards.

The icing on the cake, the year 2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the launch of the saga. Suffice to say that the “hype” is not about to fall back, and the business for Mathias, to collapse!

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