FOCUS-The cash-flush amateurs hunting game cards, handbags and art

* Alternative investment values surge during pandemic

* New platforms make it easier for anyone to buy

* But risks are growing as some values keep surging

By Elizabeth Howcroft and Tommy Wilkes

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - 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 $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% in a year, after YouTube star Logan Paul paid
$150,000 for one in October. Recent auctions have valued the
card at $300,000.

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

'PICK-ME-UPS'

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 on Wednesday 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% last year, according to Knight Frank, Hermes' iconic Birkin
handbag first launched in the 1980s, rose 17%, ahead of fine
wine and classic cars.

Andrew Shirley, who edits the Knight Frank report, said last
year's most expensive Birkin sold for $200,000, with Asian
luxury collectors in Asia "very happy to bid on handbags
online".

For people unable to stump up $200,000 per item, there are
platforms such as New York-based Otis which launched in 2019.

These platforms buy anything from a Pokemon card to a
basketball jersey signed by basketball legend Kobe Bryant,
securitise them and then offer investors shares in the items
that they can buy and sell.

Last year, Otis offered customers the chance to buy shares
in a work by British street artist Banksy at $20 a share. Those
shares hit $34 earlier this month, a 70% gain that valued the
piece at $722,000, Otis said.

Investors tend to be aged 25 to 45, with disposable incomes
of $100,000-plus, Otis founder and Chief Executive Michael
Karnjanaprakorn told Reuters.

He said the most expensive item on Otis is a 1986 Basketball
card set by sports cards maker Fleer -- sold two months ago at
$10 a share, it has since surged 305% to over $40.

Reuters could not independently verify the price gains.

'DON'T INVEST YOUR PENSION'

At another collectables platform, Rally, the number of users
is doubling every 30 days, according to CEO George Leimer. He
said "several hundred thousand" investors used the platform but
declined to be more specific.

The platform has also seen sought-after Pokemon cards surge
into six-figures, Leimer said.

"The drive behind this is very similar to what we are seeing
in the rest of the retail investing world," he said, pointing to
the surge in popularity of Robinhood and other such apps.

But few seem to be banking profits; Leimer said the
percentage of investors who withdrew their winnings rather than
reinvest was in the "low single digits".

As more punters flock to alternative assets, many warn of
risks.

John-Paul Smith, a former senior equity strategist at
Deutsche Bank, now dabbles in buying northern British art. He
sees little difference between the behaviour of some
"alternatives" investors and the equity frenzy.

"Banksy is pure momentum, it's like a hot tech stock," he
said. "The psychology is similar in any market."

But conceptually, it seems "less foolish" to buy
unconventional assets today than at any time in the 30 years
Smith says he has followed markets. Not only are stocks
expensive, vast central bank and government stimulus will
eventually spur inflation, he said.

He urges investors to differentiate between what might be a
passion or a hobby and an investment. If they set out solely to
profit, they probably won't, given how esoteric each part of
markets like art can be.

"I would not advise anybody (to) put their pension in," he
said, a stance also taken by Pokemon investor Browning.

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Sujata Rao and
Emelia Sithole-Matarise)