It already happens with high end comics and baseball cards etc - do you guys reckon that high end Pokemon cards could be sold in real life auctions one day or are they too specialist? 
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“Real” auction houses will accept any consignments because, after all, they are profit making businesses.
I consult with two different major auction houses whenever pulp lots are submitted. I’ve offered my expertise in non sports cards too but they use another very qualified expert (moreso than me lol) in that category.
If you put something together that may be considered highly desirable pm me.
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I can speak for the comic side of things as I am into that. The comics sold at these big auction houses are ones that RARELY ever come up for sale either in any grade or they are in the high grade category. Most Pokemon cards can be found if you have the money ready this is not the case with most high end comics, and sometimes you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy this comic - thus bidding wars occur.
There needs to be a higher spectrum than PSA 10 for people to go bananas in a real auction maybe Beckett 10’s will evolve to fit that category.
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There are plenty of Trophy cards that would warrant bidding wars. In fact at Worlds, a couple higher end collectors were discussing the amount they would drop for certain cards that rarely appear. The problem you have with pokemon is that potential customers might not have the liquid assets lined up if one suddenly appears.
Pokemon has nowhere near the general publicity with the older generation. They are the bulk of the bidders at an auction house. There was the 1938 Action Comics #1 which sold last year for over a million dollars. It is of course a historical piece to own, but its date draws the older generation, who lets face it, have the deepest pockets.
Magic the Gathering already has people that are spending more on higher end cards. I believe that if pokemon continues to grow as it has, it will follow this trend as well. You have to remember that the items sold in auction houses usually range in age, and the older, typically the more valuable.
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I hope in the future there is the first $1 million sale of a Pokemon card! With Pokemon cards we have to realize that most of our favourite cards are printed in very high numbers - there are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of EACH 1st edition holos - compared to MTG with approx. 85,000 TOTAL rares printed. That is why there is a desire for only PSA 9/10 right now. Hopefully in the future the lower grades will get some love when the PSA 9/10’s are in the tens of thousands of dollars lol.
Comics share a similarity with Pokemon cards in the fact that some were printed in high numbers - Incredible Hulk #1 for example had approx. 200,000 printed but if you find one in a scale of 2/10 grade, it would cost you upwards of $5000 if you are lucky.
Hopefully these Trophy cards can bring in the outside collectors, just don’t tell them yet I want to get a few more cards while they’re ‘cheap’ first!
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Well… in Belgium/The Netherlands we have someting called Catawiki. They hold online auctions especially for collectors and have 'profesional" valuers. It started with stamps, coins, comics… but since some months they also do trading cards. Nothing special has popped up yet, though.
But… it is a start for ‘real-life’ auctions.
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