We’ve screened the HBO Real Sports segment on the collecting boom that’s scheduled to air tomorrow night. It runs about 14 1/2 minutes and is probably worth your time.
Correspondent Jon Frankel talks with Adam Ripps, a recent high school graduate who built a $3 million collection over the last six years by buying and re-selling cards, starting with Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2015 which paid off in a big way. Ripps tells Frankel he’s passing up college to keep buying and selling cards.
Also interviewed is shop owner Nate Burns of Grand Slam Collectibles in Tennessee who, as we reported last month, packed up a private plane with $500,000 cash and millions of dollars worth of cards and headed for the National Sports Collectors Convention where business was booming. You’ll also see the eye-popping security force that Southern California real estate investor Kurt Rappaport had to employ to transport $40 million worth of cards to a secure location, including the T206 Honus Wagner he bought earlier this year for $3.7 million.
Frankel interviews Brian Brusokas of the FBI’s Art Crime Team at the National who talks about the search for fraudulent players and material.
“There’s such a high dollar amount going through this industry right now, nobody should be shocked that we are looking to root out the bad players,” Brusokas tells Frankel.
The final element of the story centers on the NFT market, especially NBA Top Shot.
The show airs at 11 PM Tuesday on HBO and the series is available to stream on HBO
PWCC seems to be shaking off eBay’s allegations OK.
The company closed its August Premier sale with over $13 million in sales, led by a 2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady autographed rookie card graded PSA 10 that went for $2.88 million.
Other sales included a 2018-19 Prizm Black Trae Young BGS 9 at $444,000, a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #53 PSA 7, which set a record for the grade at $138,000 and 2017 Prizm Gold Patrick Mahomes PSA 10 at $528,000. The same card sold in April for $35,000.
Heritage Auctions says its just concluded Summer Platinum Night sale saw 2,600 bidders participate.
In addition to the $1.5 million spent on a Magic Johnson jersey from his signature win in the Game 6 clincher of the 1980 NBA Finals, someone paid $348,000 for a 1998 Peyton Manning game-worn Indianapolis Colts jersey worn in his first NFL game against Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins–the most ever paid for a Manning item.
All told, the two-night close saw $25 million worth of memorabilia and cards sold.
“One of the most exciting things about this event was the significant number of new bidders, who helped prove that the sports collectibles market remains extraordinarily healthy,” says Heritage Sports’ Chris Ivy.
Considering some of the numbers above, that’s hard to argue.
Where there’s Dodgers memorabilia in an auction or a major show, you can bet David Petersen will be checking it out. Chances are, though, he already has it.
TrueBlueLA.com has the story of one fabulous collection of Dodgers cards and memorabilia.
Topps miscuts weren’t totally uncommon a few decades ago, but here’s something that’s pretty odd–an entire set of 1985 USFL cards from a boxed set with all 132 having misaligned backs.
