The most expensive baseball card ever sold is once again of the vintage variety. PWCC Marketplace says it sold one of the six 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards graded Mint 9 by PSA for $5.2 million, shattering the record of $3.9 million set by the sale of the 2009 Mike Trout Superfractor in August. The Mantle card was sold to entrepreneur and actor Rob Gough, an avid … [Read more...]
Early Impacts: Most Watched 2020-21 NBA Rookie Cards
It was an odd start to their careers, that's for sure. No hearing the commissioner call their name, then walking up to a stage and holding up a jersey. No Summer League. A short training camp with little or no preseason competition. Even the best 2020-21 NBA rookie cards won't likely match the year-long frenzy over Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Tyler Herro and the rest of … [Read more...]
2020 Mikey Awards: Sports Card Hobby Rolls with the Punches
Before I get to some of the follies the sports card and collectible industry enjoyed in 2020, I want to share my hopes that you, your families and your friends all did as well as possible in all ways in the past year. It is rare to find someone who wasn't directly affected either by COVID-19 or by the many implications from it. Sadly a few times this year, I heard … [Read more...]
Hundreds More T206 Cards from David Hall Collection Now at Auction
There are impossibly scarce variations, one-of-a-kind miscuts, a Ty Cobb printing error that turned the famous back from red to orange and dozens of hard to find backs. The latest edition of the auction series that is spreading T206 treasures from the famed collection of David Hall across the hobby is underway. Heritage Auctions has launched Part VI of the ongoing … [Read more...]
CSG to Begin Sports Card Grading in February; Releases Fee Structure
Certified Collectibles Group will launch its sports card grading division next month. Last year, the company announced its intention to launch CSG in the wake of unprecedented backlogs at established graders PSA, SGC and Beckett Grading Services. A large, global company with nearly 400 employees and headquartered in Sarasota, FL, CCG is already well-known … [Read more...]
Gehrig Grail: Bat from Late in Lou’s Career Discovered, Heads to SCP Auctions
Packed away for decades and owned by the descendants of a former Yankees teammate, one of the last bats used by Lou Gehrig will be coming to market for the first time in March. Originating in the personal collection of fellow Hall of Famer Earle Combs and now authenticated and graded, the historic artifact has been consigned to SCP Auctions by the Combs family. It’s … [Read more...]
Chicago Sports Spectacular Moving Forward with Plans for June Show
The first major sports collectibles show to fall victim to COVID-19 last year, the Chicago Sports Spectacular will return to the schedule in 2021, with its first event now scheduled for Father's Day weekend. Show promoters announced Tuesday that it was planning their first 2021 event for June 4-6, with another show in the works for November. As usual, the three-day … [Read more...]
Notes: MJ PSA 10 Record; ’86-87 Fleer Pack Giveaway; Bowman Sapphire; NBA Shoe Auction
A new year, but the same trend: rising prices for cards and no end in sight for what some are willing to pay for a Michael Jordan rookie card. Goldin Auctions broke its own world record for a PSA 10 over the weekend, with one of the 371 graded Gem Mint selling for $222,630, besting the $211,560 record set in December. A year ago, you could have bought a PSA 10 … [Read more...]
Motorcyclist With Explosive Blows Hole in Bay Area Store
Steve Lipary opened LC Galleries in the San Francisco Bay area back in 1980. He's seen a lot since then, but nothing quite like what happened to his store last Friday. In the early morning darkness of New Year's Day, someone rode up to the front of his sports and celebrity memorabilia shop on a small motorcycle, planted an explosive device to the front window and lit the … [Read more...]
Jim Stinson Recalls Hunting for Autographs, Memories in Castro’s Cuba
It was 1998. As I looked out of the jet's window and watched the lights of night-time Havana draw closer I knew that this trip would be different. Since the Kennedy administration most Americans had been barred from visiting Cuba, our Caribbean cousin located just 90 miles south of Key West, FL. I had family on the island and my request for a legal visa had been … [Read more...]