A retired Surrey decorator who was expecting a £250,000 payday from Pokémon cards stored in his attic for 15 years has seen his collection sell for a staggering £1.56 million.

The anonymous collector's 42 complete sets went under the hammer at Ewbank's Auctioneers in Send on Wednesday, October 21, with the final sale value exceeding the original £250,000 estimate by more than six times.

The sale, described by the auction house as the most valuable Pokémon trading card auction in UK history, achieved a record-breaking hammer total of £1.2 million.

The decorator from Woking had no idea of the cards' value until he read a newspaper article about a single Pokémon card selling for more than £6,000.

Some of the cards in Master Sets found in the attic of a Woking retired Painter and Decorator
Some of the cards found in the attic of a Woking retired painter and decorator. (Ewbank’s)

Realising he owned several similar cards, he took a sample to Ewbank's, where specialists were astonished by what they found.

James Spooner, head of trading cards at Ewbank's, said at the time: “When we saw what he had, all in mint condition, we couldn’t believe it, or the fact that he had no idea what they were worth.

“When we then discovered that he had 42 such sets, our jaws hit the floor.”

The collection began in the late 1990s when the man's son became caught up in the Pokémon craze sweeping school playgrounds.

Rather than buying individual packs, the decorator decided to purchase complete sets through a seller in Malaysia he had found on eBay.

His first set cost around £300 and included the highly sought-after Sky Ridge Charizard, later valued by Ewbank's at between £20,000 and £40,000.

Over the years, he acquired 42 complete master sets, carefully preserving the cards in special binders.

When his son lost interest in Pokémon, the collection was packed away in the attic, where it remained untouched for around 15 years.

“He had his own cards, but he never got to touch these, I’m glad to say,” the collector previously explained.

“I know people always talk about finding treasure in the attic, but in my case that is literally true. I had no idea what I had until the team at Ewbank’s explained it to me.”

Wednesday's auction attracted intense international interest, with several sets selling for far more than expected.

A Legendary Collection Complete Master Set, featuring a near-mint Charizard card, fetched £100,000 against an estimate of £15,000 to £20,000.

Another set, originally bought for around £300, sold for £75,000.

Andrew Ewbank, who conducted the auction himself, joked to bidders that he was “going for a lie down” afterwards. He later told the BBC that international interest had been exceptional and the sale had lived up to expectations.

The sale marks a milestone in the auction house's 36-year history and another remarkable Pokémon discovery in Surrey.

Earlier this year, teacher Andrew Braund sold three rare cards from a collection stored in his parents' attic for two decades.

The cards fetched £32,800 in April, helping to pay for his wedding.