Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner may spend the next ten or fifteen years deciding who ultimately owns this generation of men’s tennis. The strange part is that collectors don’t seem interested in waiting. The market has already started leaning towards Alcaraz. High-end trading cards sell for several thousand dollars, signed cards attract strong prices almost … Read more
There was a time when the final whistle almost automatically led to the same scene. Two players met somewhere near the centre circle, pulled their jerseys over their heads, exchanged them with a smile and walked back to the dressing room wearing somebody else’s colours. It never felt organised. Nobody announced it. Nobody asked where … Read more
Joe Montana is one of those athletes whose importance is actually larger than his memorabilia market. Four Super Bowls, four Super Bowl MVP awards, the San Francisco 49ers dynasty and one of the most important quarterbacks in NFL history should probably produce a market that feels completely untouchable. The prices are certainly strong, but they … Read more
I have opened a lot of packs, but I had never pulled a redemption card before. That changed with a Topps Series 2 box, and honestly, I still do not really know where to put the feeling. It was a redemption for a Munetaka Murakami 1991 Topps Baseball Autograph Gold Parallel, card 91B2-MUR from Series … Read more
David Beckham is one of the few athletes where I am not entirely sure whether collectors are buying the football career, the celebrity, or both at the same time. Of course Beckham was a great footballer. Manchester United, Real Madrid, England, free kicks, Champions League, the No. 7 shirt, the red card against Argentina in … Read more
My Bernie Williams card made me think about a question collectors do not always separate cleanly: when does an autograph become an inscription? You can see the card above. Under the signature there is a small extra mark, almost like a heart or personal symbol. At first glance it looks different from a standard autograph, … Read more
Nobody wants to pull a redemption card. You open a box, get to the hit, and instead of the actual autograph you get a placeholder. A code. A promise. The real card is supposed to come later. That might be in a few weeks, in a few months, or after enough waiting that the whole … Read more
Michael Jordan is one of the biggest names in sports cards, but his card market is not one clean market. The 1986 Fleer rookie card, the 1986 Fleer sticker, rare 1990s inserts, Upper Deck autographs, game-used cards and important high-grade copies live in a completely different world than ordinary late 80s and 90s base cards. … Read more
I was looking through Etsy again for sports memorabilia, and it is one of the stranger places to search for autographs. The selection is huge: Jordan, Brady, Ohtani, Kobe, Messi, framed jerseys, signed photos, balls, helmets, display pieces. A lot of it looks good at first glance because Etsy is built for presentation. Nice photos, … Read more
A cracked PSA slab does not always mean the card inside is damaged. I know that grey area myself. I have a cracked PSA 5 Markelle Fultz Prizm slab in my collection, and for that kind of card, I can live with it. But a cracked or badly scuffed holder is still not the same … Read more