A masked thief stole over $100,000 in rare Pokémon cards from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Using a hammer to break in around 2:30 a.m., the burglar went straight for a display of high-end cards and fled with them, co-owner William Gilmour told the New York Times.
“They were in and out of our store within 30 seconds,” said Gilmour. “They went straight to these high-value items.”
The thief stole five rare Pokémon cards and vintage box sets worth an estimated $100,000–$113,000, according to Gilmour. Among them were a BGS 8.5 First Edition Shadowless Charizard and a BGS 7.5 First Edition Shadowless Blastoise.
“They are really rare because how many sealed boxes are still there from 1999 to 2000?” Gilmour told the Times.
BGS, or Beckett Grading Services, authenticates trading cards. Among the stolen items was a sealed Pokémon Base Set Unlimited Green Wing Booster Box with 36 original card packs. The New Bedford shop, located 60 miles south of Boston, sells Pokémon cards, sports collectibles, and vintage video games.
“We’re literally just three guys. This is our passion. This is what we have loved since we were children,” Felipe Andre, another store owner, told NBC Boston. The shop plans to reopen this week as police continue investigating the robbery, with no arrests yet made.
Pokémon, short for “pocket monsters,” rose to fame in the 1990s through video games, trading cards, and later TV shows, movies, and toys—most notably featuring Pikachu, the lightning-shooting yellow mascot.
WATCH: A thief broke into a Massachusetts collectibles store earlier this month and stole over $100,000 worth of rare Pokémon cards. The suspect has not been located. https://t.co/hIPrgHLG99 pic.twitter.com/EJlrCLIDaZ
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) July 13, 2025
