The dizzying amount of money being tossed at sports cards continues unabated.
Saturday night, another modern card joined the seven-figure club when a 2013-14 Panini Prizm Giannis Antetokounmpo Black Mosaic 1/1 rookie card was purchased for over $1.1 million at Goldin Auctions. It’s the most ever paid for an unsigned modern era trading card.
That was just one of a pile of modern and vintage cards trading cards that sold for record prices over the weekend as five auction houses battled for bidders in a wild weekend of auction frenzy.
Another Antetokounmpo rookie card–a 2013/14 National Treasures Rookie Auto Patch (#54/99)–one of three graded PSA 10–sold for $553,500.
Goldin’s multi-session auction also saw a 2009-10 Panini National Treasures Century Gold Steph Curry rated 9.5 by Beckett Grading Services soar to over $600,000–the highest price every paid for a Curry item of any kind.
While cards from all sports are hot, basketball has been an inferno, with new bidders, apparently well-financed, driving prices to unprecedented levels at a stunningly rapid pace.
A PSA 10 copy of Michael Jordan’s 1986-87 Fleer rookie card, readily available for a little over $20,000 just two years ago, sold for $211,000 through Goldin.
The purchase came less than a week after two other Jordan rookies had sold for around $150,000 and a third for over $133,000 in other auctions. There are 317 of them in PSA 10 holders.
A PSA 10 copy of Kobe Bryant’s 1996-97 Topps Chrome Refractor netted $137,760, the most ever paid for a first year card of the late Lakers legend.
Among a total of just over 400 copies recorded in PSA’s census reporting, barely fifteen percent have been awarded a gem mint assessment.
There was also a new record set for Jackie Robinson’s rookie card when a PSA 8 copy sold for over $400,000. Among a total population of nearly 1,400 copies recorded in PSA’s census reporting, just eight examples (just over one-half of one percent) have attained a higher, unqualified tier.
One of 25 copies of the 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Mike Trout Orange Refractor autographed card, this one graded BGS 9.5, sold for $246,000.
The resurgence of trading cards extends to the collectible/gaming sector, too. Goldin set a new record for the sale of a Pokémon card when an SGC Gold Label 10 1999 1st Edition Holographic Charizard sold for $369,020.
The auction also saw a record price for a record album of any kind when the “Double Fantasy” album John Lennon signed for Mark David Chapman on the night Chapman killed the legendary musician sold for $900,000.
Buyers will pay 3% less than the listed sales prices by paying within ten days using a check, money order or wire transfer.
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