One of the first big card shows of the year is underway. The Dallas Card Show at the Watters Creek Convention Center in Allen, TX has become a big draw for collectors and dealers.
Show organizers promised 600 tables.
A sneak peek took place Thursday night with regular show hours from 2-8 Friday; 9:30-6 on Saturday and 9:30-4 on Sunday.
Non-sports and gaming cards aren’t really in our wheelhouse, but a whopper of a fake involving a purported rarity certainly shook up that part of the trading card industry on Thursday.
26-year-old boxer/YouTuber Logan Paul had bought what he believed was a rare sealed case of 1st Edition Pokémon cards from fellow collector/flipper Matt Allen (he’s Shyne150 on Instagram) for $3.3 million last month. Allen says he’d bought it for $2.7 million before flipping it to Paul. The case is believed to have had at least a couple of owners before that but exactly how far back the chain of custody goes isn’t certain.
The case had been authenticated as sealed as original not long ago by longtime unopened authenticator Steve Hart at BBCE. However, Pokémon card experts began raising questions about whether it was actually factory sealed.
Paul, who has over 23 million YouTube followers, opted to fly to Chicago Saturday and open the case on camera. It became quickly apparent that the cello wrap on the individual boxes wasn’t original. It turns out a con artist had apparently resealed them after placing packs of 1991 GI Joe cards inside—worth maybe a buck or two per pack.
Somewhere along the chain of ownership prior to authentication, the case was sealed in a way to make it appear factory sealed.
“We all got duped,” Hart said.
BBCE has had a sterling reputation in the sports collecting hobby for years. They say they will pause authentication of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! products as processes are reevaluated.
A couple of noteworthy number nuggets:
- Goldin Auctions says it did over $330 million in sales last year…and
- Certified Collectibles Group, parent company of CSG, says it certified over 9 million items in 2021 — one every 3.5 seconds.
Launched early last year, CSG has already examined and graded over 600,000 trading cards.
“Collectibles exploded in popularity at the start of the pandemic, and they’ve continued to thrive,” stated Steven R.Eichenbaum, CCG’s Chief Executive Officer. “In more than 30 years, we have never seen anything like the interest that we are experiencing right now.”
CCG, which also grades coins, stamps, comic books, magazines and other collectibles, expanded its Florida headquarters from about 60,000 square feet to more than 100,000 square feet. The company says its branches in the UK, Germany and China also saw “tremendous growth.”
Game-worn City Edition jerseys from the Pistons, Magic, Clippers and Jazz are on the block through NBA Auctions.
The list includes rookie jerseys donned by Cleveland’s Evan Mobley (with the 1970s logo on front) and Cade Cunningham earlier this season as well as one from Utah star Donovan Mitchell.
Also up for grabs are Washington Wizards Association jerseys from their season opening game against the Toronto Raptors.
The auctions close each Thursday night throughout the rest of this month.
Jerseys and pucks used in the 2022 Warrior/ECHL All-Star Classic will be available to collectors beginning next week. The league and MeiGray will offer the jerseys worn during pre-game warm-ups and the first period of the All-Star Classic at auction in real-time through the mobile auction app, Handbid. The auctions will open when pre-game warm-ups get underway on Monday, January 17 and run through 15 minutes following the completion of the game.
Jerseys worn during the second and third period and all three skills competitions, as well as game-used and goal-scoring pucks from the All-Star Classic, will be available for after the game through MeiGray Auctions.
There have been 718 players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 20 who have made their NHL debuts in the 2021-22 season.
The ECHL has 27 teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces.
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