£26,000 sale at Ewbank’s shows how auctions are the perfect format for retro video games 

Auction has proved to be a great platform for selling Retro Video Games and Consoles, as Ewbank’s proved today (Nov 18) with their debut sale in this collecting field.

It is thought to be the first ever dedicated sale of Retro Video Games and Consoles by any UK auction house.

Specialist Roy Raftery, a well-known figure in the gaming community and the world of collectable trading cards, notched up a premium-inclusive total of over £26,000 among the 129 lots sold.

Top lot was a Nintendo Game Boy, complete with UK/PAL/European Red label console (1990 model sealed, verified and bundled with Tetris). This took a premium-inclusive £3,875 against an estimate of £2,000-2,500.

A factory sealed Pokémon Yellow Gameboy, with PAL/European Red Nintendo took £2,250 against an estimate of £700-1,500, while a factory sealed copy of Metroid 2 return of Samus – Nintendo Game Boy – with UK/PAL/European Red label, in excellent condition, took £1,000 against an estimate of £200-300.

A rare Industry Preview Nintendo Wii console – fully working and tested – sported a green front cover and was used by industry developers to preview games. It took £600 against an estimate of £20-60.

Another lot containing a fully working and tested original grey Nintendo Game Boy that had belonged to a Games Developer in the 1990s came with two development ‘review not for official release’ games. It took £400 against an estimate of £30-70.

Roy, who was delighted with how well the auction format suited the sale of video games and consoles, said: “I expected the sealed games to go well, and they did, but the prices went even higher than I had hoped.

“The live online bidding format means bidders can log on from home rather than having to physically visit an event, and the research and cataloguing is effectively done for them by the specialist, so they know exactly what they are getting – even to the point about whether an item has been tested and verified – when they bid for it.”

The oldest system on offer was a Commodore Amiga 500, launched the year Roy was born. Estimated at £40-90, it sold for £162.50.

The broad range of games and consoles on offer included fully tested consoles such as the iconic Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast, collections and individual games across many platforms, as well as Japanese imports such as the WonderSwan and even a Panasonic-Q, one of the most coveted gaming systems on the market.

“Ewbank’s are offering more than just your average Fifa title, we’re helping clients who can’t really take their unusual items elsewhere – mainly because the high street chains of today won’t take them,” says Roy. “The results here show how the auction format can fill the gap in the market.”

• Ewbank’s Sports & Entertainment Memorabilia department took over as the company’s leading specialist department in 2019 with over £1.25m in annual auction sales.