I hadn’t spotted empty shelves at the store for a while, not since the earliest days of the pandemic, so seeing a swath of blank red metal on a trip to Target this week gave cause for pause.
It was the trading card section – and there was nothing there. All gone.
“What we are seeing is unprecedented,” Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions told me via telephone this week. “The demand for trading cards — new, recent and vintage — is outstripping supply by 10-to-1, sometimes 1,000-to-1.
“A friend of mine distributes to some of the chain stores and he has people following his truck around, offering money. People are buying a box for $19 at Walmart and selling it on eBay the same day for $125. It is a wild time.”
Once predominantly a way for children to show off their fandom, the modern trading card world is a long way removed from flimsy patches of cardboard in wax packs with a stick of gum, occasionally to be stuck in the purchaser’s bicycle wheels.
Or, if you grew up in the 1990s, gaudier but drastically overproduced offerings that weren’t worth a ton then and are valued at next to nothing now.
A new era is here, one that adheres to the fiscal principles of scarcity and has caused growing numbers of investors to view trading cards like art – something to be appreciated, sure, but also a sound investment providing both a safe landing spot and the potential for exponential growth in value.
For Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Cassius Marsh, the mega boom in card collecting provided the opportunity to turn his hobby into a business.
With business partner Nick Nugwynne, Marsh has started up Cash Cards Unlimited, a brick-and-mortar store in Westlake Village, California, to capitalize upon a remarkable time in the market.
He is hoping to reimagine the trading card shop experience with novel features that include a studio for filming the increasing popular “box breaks” – where a new product is opened and inspected online.
Despite his athletic credentials, most of Marsh’s collecting history came from his love of the game “Magic: The Gathering.” Having compiled a collection worth $20,000, he was devastated when it was stolen from his fiancee’s vehicle in 2016, while he was with the Seattle Seahawks.
When he posted about his plight on the internet, it generated a significant response. Magic players sent him cards to replace those lost and helped him track down others. The game’s producers – Wizards of the Coast – visited him at the Seahawks facility with new product and, in general, there was a sense of delight that a pro athlete was putting his love of collecting on display.
“I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since I was 11,” Marsh told me. “The publicity that came from having my cards taken turned me into a kind of influencer in that market and that community.
“I always wanted to own a card store and have it as a passion project. Seeing everything that is going on in sports card trading and other collectibles makes this the perfect time. I am looking to connect the sports worlds and the nerd world.”
The money world might be the hungriest addition to the market. Financial products specializing in collectibles have sprung up with huge funding rounds. The rarest and most sought-after cards have sold for eye-popping sums.
A one-of-a-kind Mike Trout card commanded $3.96 million in August. LeBron James’ rookie card sold at an auction in July for $1.845 million.
Years ago, card makers realized that over-proliferation was killing the industry, and now veer towards bespoke, limited edition ranges that often include ultra-rare inserts with special features like signatures or patches of uniforms.
Goldin Auctions’ current collection closes on March 6-7, but there are already 36 lots where the bidding has reached at least $100,000. The highlights are a telling microcosm on what has the most value in the market.
There is a mint condition Mickey Mantle rookie card, an ultra-rare, pristine condition Kobe Bryant item and even a Giannis Antetokounmpo “Top Shot” collectible, a digital highlight backed by blockchain. Confused? Get a teenager to explain that one to you.
Athletes themselves are taking notice and Goldin has personally corresponded with Kevin Durant and other big stars.
“Athletes are sophisticated and savvy investors and investing in something that’s centered around sports makes perfect sense,” Goldin added. “They are looking to me for information, asking me what is hot, what trends I am seeing, who they should be collecting.”
The idea of Durant collecting, say, a James card, is really quite intriguing in itself.
As the market booms, fresh opportunities have been sought. Marsh said soccer cards experienced a dramatic recent surge, while Goldin pointed out that the market – once U.S.-centric – is now truly international, with his auctions having had buyers from as far afield as Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The pandemic has actually enhanced demand, due to a combination of factors. The public has become more geared to nostalgia, there is increasing open-mindedness about new investment sources and then you have the simple, rather sweet fact of people spending more time at the family home, finding their old collections, and falling in love with it again.
That reminds me, don’t I have a bunch of cards sat in a closet somewhere? “Might be time to check them out,” Goldin said.
Here’s what others have said …
Ross Hoffman, CEO of Goldin Auctions: “If I gave someone $1,000 to invest in the stock market, they’d read some analyst reports and invest by the end of the day. I don’t know where they’d start on collectibles. The younger generation doesn’t want to invest like the previous one. They don’t want to just diversify across mutual funds. They are looking for alternate investments they can touch, feel and understand.”
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg: “Trading card sales climbed throughout the 1980s. But the industry contracted after the top trading card companies flooded the market with new products, producing more cards than anyone could ever want. Sales and interest waned. Spending on sports cards began to increase again after the 2008 financial crisis, as people looked for alternative places to invest their money … The surge in valuations has led to talk of a bubble. There are concerns that the market is hot because everyone is stuck at home getting nostalgic about their card collections — something that may not last after the pandemic eases.”
Jeff Rosenberg, President and CEO of Tristar Productions: “Over the last several years, I’ve seen a bunch of younger folks come in. And some of them like the cards. [To] others, it’s really a strategic asset. These cards to them are no different than a stock portfolio.” |
