STOCKS, bonds and commodities? Old hat.

Once the preserve of the super-rich, or just the eccentric, all kinds of unusual investments from vintage handbags and shares in fine art to rare Pokemon cards are now the happy hunting ground for stuck-at-home punters.

Often armed with lockdown-era savings, such amateur investors are seeking higher returns beyond conventional markets where rocketing prices are prompting warnings of bubbles. They have in turn driven prices on some “alternative” assets up several hundred percent higher in the past year.

And just like the no-fee trading apps such as Robinhood that enabled hordes of small-time equity traders to rattle seasoned hedge funds during the recent “Gamestonks” episodes, digital platforms are empowering wannabe investors with as little as US$20 to dabble in collectables.

Value can apparently lurk in all sorts of places.

Collectors’ cards based on Nintendo’s hit 1990s video game, Pokemon, have exploded in value in the past year.

One first-edition of its fire-flying character “Charizard” has rocketed 800 percent in a year, after YouTube star Logan Paul paid US$150,000 for one in October. Recent auctions have valued the card at US$300,000.

Chicago-based Pokemon enthusiast Zack Browning, who purchased four of the cards in 2016 for less than US$5,000 each, estimates his overall Pokemon collection is now worth US$3 million-US$5 million.

Browning, who embarked on his Pokemon investing career after studying finance at university, described the game card’s resurgence as “astounding and incredible.” He said that parts of the Pokemon market were more predictable than stock markets, which he said were overvalued.

Of course, measuring profit or loss on a painting or gauging demand for such collectables is a lot harder than in equity or currency markets, given items often have little in common with each other and can be traded only occasionally, such as by auction.

But a luxury investment index published by compiler Knight Frank yesterday showed that although top-end assets such as fine art fell in value during the pandemic, “relatively affordable luxury pick-me-ups” did well.

While the AMR All-Art Index, based on auction prices, fell 11 percent last year, according to Knight Frank, Hermes’ iconic Birkin handbag first launched in the 1980s, rose 17 percent, ahead of fine wine and classic cars. (SD-Agencies)