Youtuber Loses $55,000 Pokemon Card
One of the rarest and most valuable Pokemon trading cards in the world has just been lost. Needless to say, the owner isn't happy about it one bit.
Lee Seinfeld, a.k.a. "Leonheart," is a YouTuber who focuses on building and curating his Pokemon collection. Specifically, Leonheart has been putting together an impressive collection of original Pokemon cards since he launched his channel. He typically does unboxing/unwrapping videos, in which he shows off the latest cards that he's found and shows his viewers his real-time reactions to what he's gotten.
In a monumental video from just last month, Leonheart finally found the card that he had been looking for. Leonheart had gotten his hands on a Wizards of the Coast 1st Edition Base Set pack of Pokemon cards. As pointed out by TheGamer, these packs are usually worth around $7,000. In other words, finding a good haul of rare cards inside that pack is the name of the game for collectors, offsetting the cost of the whole pack with some valuable single cards. The cost of each pack vs. its possible value is what makes these unboxing videos so thrilling for fans and collectors alike.
However, Leonheart wasn't ready for the jackpot that he had stumbled upon. His hands shaking, he discovered an original 1st Edition holographic Charizard, a card that has previously sold for $55,000. It was an excellent moment for the channel, as well as the culmination of a passionate search on Leonheart's part. Sadly, this excitement was short-lived for the YouTuber.
In an update posted to his channel over the weekend, Leonheart explained what had happened. Normally, Leonheart has his Pokémon cards graded at Beckett Media in his home town of Dallas, Texas. However, he felt that a card of this rarity and magnitude should be graded by PSA in Santa Ana, California. Therefore, he took the card to the local post office and paid for the highest level of package insurance and safety to have it shipped off to California. Unfortunately, it never arrived at its destination — at least not yet.
Leonheart expressed in his video that he is trying to stay busy and keep a positive outlook on things. To prove this, he even did an unboxing video while he told this story to viewers.
According to Leonheart, he contacted USPS online as soon as he realized something was amiss. He filled out a missing package claim, but received no response. He reached out again a few more times online before going to the office he mailed the cards from and asking them what's going on. He was issued a refund and was told that the matter was now being investigated. Still, this does not bode well for Leonheart's missing package.
The Charizard wasn't the only card to be lost in this unfortunate fiasco. He also mailed away a rare Crystal Nidoking that has been valued at around $1.4,000. As Leonheart put it, he may have lost over $57,000 altogether.
What is especially disheartening about this, aside from the obvious monetary value involved, is what a journey it has been for Leonheart to get one of these cards in the first place. The YouTuber has spent months on end hunting for these Base Set packs in an effort to find that rarest of the rare, the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard.
The hunt for this card became something of a recurring joke with his fans, as well. Prior to the great Charizard discovery, one fan was rallying others to subscribe to Leonheart and join him on his Pokémon search.
Since Leonheart broke the news of the card going missing, one user on Twitter has expressed that they understand the pain of losing a valuable card. This person mentioned that they'd had a Dutch version of the Charizard card stolen from them when they were younger, only to find out years later that the card was worth a fortune. It seems this is a shared experience for more than a few folks in the Pokémon collecting community.
Despite the frustration Leonheart is holding out hope that this will be resolved. "Yes, it's lost. However, it has to be somewhere," Leonheart said in the video. "But it being almost a month later, basically getting no help from USPS, it still has me worried. But me being my casual, optimistic self, I hope it eventually shows up to the proper place."
Hopefully that is the case. Now that USPS is finally investigating the missing package, there is a chance that Leonheart will soon be reunited with his Charizard card that he waited so long to find. Hopefully this story will have a happier ending than the one the Pokemon anime almost got.