How One Man's Love Affair With Pokémon Made This Father the World's Most 'Rad Dad'

DALLAS, July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pokémon was bigger than a game for "Rad Dad" Bart Kiser. It was as big as the love he had for his children.

Kiser gifted a portion of his massive card game collection to his children Christmas morning 1999. "Some of us were a little too young to know what was going on," says son Matt Kiser, watching home video of that holiday morning. "But we see our family …  We see, especially our dad who loved us and was doing everything he can to share in that passion with us kids."

Bart Kiser passed away in 2018, but the gift he left his children that Christmas morning is creating a lasting legacy for the Kiser family. Proving that it's not just sports cards that collectors will pay hefty prices for, the Kiser collection is expected to fetch an estimated $3 million when it is sold by Heritage Auctions on July 24-25 as part of the Trading Card Games Signature Auction,. That would be a U.S. record for a sale of a trading card collection that is not sports related.

The loving father, Bart Kiser earned the nickname "Rad Dad" from his career as a radiologist. He connected with his kids through the colorful cards depicting "pocket monsters." This Kisner family is once again reminded of his love and generosity in sharing the family's Pokémon passion.

"This is by far one of the most extraordinary collections I've ever seen and one of the most extraordinary families I've ever seen," said Joe Maddelena, Executive Vice President at Heritage Auctions. "The Kisers are a loving family and Bart's delight at sharing the Pokémon experience with his children is evident in just how far he went to build this epic collection – the 'Rad Dad Collection.'"

Pokémon, the trading card game that swept the world 26 years ago, has once again gone mainstream during the past year. This year Heritage Auctions garnered world-record auction prices for sealed box sets, one of which sold for $408,000. Newfound nostalgia driving the market is the push behind Heritage's inaugural Trading Card Games Signature Auction, its first sale dedicated to cards from Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and others. Sealed boxes and individual cards date from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s.

"I happened to go in our closet and there were two or three of these sealed boxes, plus 20 other boxes and I was like, OK, this is real," Matt Kiser said.

Highlights from the Rad Dad Collection offered at auction includes sealed box sets such as a Pokémon Japanese Base Set Sealed Booster Box (Media Factory, 1996) released only in Japan. These boxes were released in Japan on Oct. 20, 1996, which was a little over two years before the English version. English versions of these boxes came with 36 card packs but Japanese versions came with 60 packs.

Hi-Res images available:
Eric Bradley, Public Relations Director
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SOURCE Heritage Auctions

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