Collectibles shop loses more than $100K worth of Pokémon cards in burglary
Between $110,000 and $130,000 worth of individual first edition and boxed Pokémon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles, a toy and game shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, July 8, co-owner Will Gilmour told USA TODAY. A person broke into the store at around 2:30 a.m. local time, shoving the high-priced items inside a backpack before making his escape.
1st Edition Collectibles specializes in collectible trading card games, with an emphasis on Pokémon. Gilmour said the shop also sells figurines, like Funko Pops, vintage video games and consoles, and sports trading cards.
After being closed for more than a week to clean up and install a new security system, 1st Edition Collectibles is reopening on Friday, July 18. The re-opening coincides with the release of the new Pokémon trading card deck "Scarlet & Violet – Black Bolt" and "Scarlet & Violet – White Flare," which the shop is celebrating.
As of Wednesday, July 16, the burglary remained under investigation and no arrests had been made, New Bedford Police Department Media Relations Specialist Holly Huntoon told USA TODAY.
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The following items were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles, per the shop's social media:
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Even if you're not in Massachusetts, there are ways to help.
Gilmour said each Pokémon card is issued a certification, or serial, number, which can be used to identify a specific card. 1st Edition Collectibles provided the following certification numbers for the stolen merchandise:
All certified cards can be searched on the Professional Sports Authenticator website. The stolen cards have been deactivated on the website, Gilmour said, to indicate they are missing.
The best way to identify the box sets is by their wrappings, if they have not been opened, Gilmour said.
"I like to think of those wraps as fingerprints because the wrap has the Wizard of the Coast (a role-playing game publisher) logo on them and every box is unique because that wrap has a different placement on it," he added. "If you look up a picture of our box versus the same box, you'll see the logos maybe shifted a little bit on the wrapper just for the nature of how it was wrapped."
And finally, Gilmour said the stolen cards were rare, not ones an average collector would have. If a rare card comes across your desk, make sure to inquire where it came from, he advised.
To make light of the loss and help recover financially, 1st Edition Collectibles has released two t-shirts under what the shop has deemed "The Comeback Collection." One of the shirts sports Pokémon character Officer Jenny with the words "Crime Doesn't Pay." The other features the Pokémon Charizard holding a golden goblet that reads: "Chasing Grails." Both shirts are $35 each, and all of the proceeds will go back to recovery.
"We figured with all the exposure, this would be a good time to put something out there for the community to really show their support, help us recover financially to be able to put this back into revamping the security systems, revamping – we've got to fix the door, we have to recover inventory losses – and really possibly considering moving," Gilmour said.
Gilmour opened 1st Edition Collectibles along with high school friends, Filipe Andre and Sean Vieira, about four and a half years ago. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when trading card games saw an uptick in sales because of the lockdown, the trio also reconnected with a "nostalgic feeling from when we were (children) and opening packs and things like that," he said.
"After collecting for a couple of years that way and really finding a love and passion for the hobby, (we) decided to make a little passion project and open up the store ourselves," Gilmour added.
Despite the recent financial loss, Gilmour said the support the shop has received, locally and nationwide, has been tremendous.
"The community outreach, it's been the silver lining throughout this whole process," Gilmour said. "It's just seeing everybody reaching out, supporting us, sharing their stories, offering advice, guidance, tips. It's good to see that we are so well loved within the community and that everything that we've been doing for the last four and a half, five years has really touched so many people that they're willing to support us like this."
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