One of only three 1971 OPC Nolan Ryan cards graded PSA 10 caused a stir in the late spring of 2013.
While no PSA 10’s of this particular card have sold in recent years, a PSA 9 sold three years ago for just $2,178, illustrating again the large premium collectors are willing to pay for a grader placing a card in a ‘10’ holder.
Ryan cards continue to be hot, long after his playing days ended. A look at the current most popular Ryan cards on eBay is below.
In September 2012, Memory Lane sold an OPC rookie card graded BGS 9.5 for $40,000. The two OPC Ryan rookies in SGC 88 (8) grade that have sold in recent months went for $3,200 and $2607.
Ryan’s Topps rookie card is somewhat hard to find in the highest grades. Only one ‘10’ exists and just 61 9’s in PSA’s Population Report. Two 9’s have sold recently—for much higher prices than they’d brought in recent years. The cards sold for an average of about $7,900.
The scarcest vintage Ryan card is his 1968 Topps Venezuelan issue. With no high grade examples ever hitting the market, collectors compete fiercely for the lesser graded cards when they hit the market, which isn’t often. In 2010, an SGC 40 sold for $3,658.
While the best Nolan Ryan cards are not always on eBay, we can provide a real time list of the current ‘most watched’ auction listings.
