It won't come as a surprise to most at this point, but the fall edition of the Philly Show has been cancelled. The second show of the tri-annual series had been scheduled for September 25-27 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort. Dealers were notified of the move last week. As of now, indoor gatherings of 25 or more remain prohibited in Pennsylvania and anyone … [Read more...]
eBay Sports Card Sales Have Skyrocketed During COVID-19
We've all seen comments that a lot of sports cards have been selling during the COVID-19 pandemic. We've heard from regular hobbyists, dealers and hobby shops about increased business. We've even gotten a few cold hard facts about sales of Michael Jordan items. Now, though, we're getting a much deeper look at just how significant the increase has been compared … [Read more...]
PSA: Ultra-Modern Price Hike Temporary; Hiring Continues
Faced with continued unprecedented demand during the ongoing pandemic, PSA is now grading and authenticating deep into the night, has hired 45 new employees since early April and expanded its weekend hours to try and reduce an ongoing backlog of trading card submissions. The company says it has also added more than a dozen temporary employees while expanding its … [Read more...]
Revisiting Those Pandemic Impact Hobby Questions
Back in mid-April when the quarantine orders had taken hold, shows and shops shut down and the hobby was beginning to feel noticeable impacts of COVID-19, I posed a boatload of questions about what the future might hold in the days, weeks and months to come. There weren’t many easy answers in the days that followed but with more than two months behind us, I thought … [Read more...]
Notes: Hobby Hot Down Under, Too; Virtual Expo Wrap; Panini’s ‘Welcome Back’ Kit
The sports card market isn’t just enjoying a boom period in North America. The Sunday Age in Australia spoke with some hobby shop owners and others there about the hot market in basketball, football, baseball and Australian Rules Football. The first Virtual Sport Card Expo is in the books. Promoter Steve Menzies put the two-day event together as an online … [Read more...]
Plans for 2020 Industry Summit Still in Place
Covid or no, the Industry Summit is a go. Beckett Media announced Wednesday that the annual gathering of hobby shop owners, distributors and others will take place as scheduled September 13-16 in Las Vegas. “Throughout the nationwide pandemic we have been in constant contact with key partners,” stated Co-Chairman Ted Barker. “We have monitored the Covid-19 statistics in … [Read more...]
What’s Hot: The “I’m Sorry” Edition
"Greed is good." - Gordon Gekko "It's only worth what you can sell it for." - Paul Fruitman "I'm sorry." - Mike Fruitman Hello fellow card peeps, I can safely say I have not wrestled with writing a story this much since I began sharing my thoughts with Sports Collectors Daily several years ago, but I am sorry for where the market has gone in the past few years and … [Read more...]
Photo of Masked Players During Spanish Flu Leads Off RMY Auction
This was a healthy rivalry. On Jan. 26, 1919, the Pasadena Merchants hosted the Standard-Murphys in a Southern California Winter League game to decide what was billed as the “Southern California baseball championship.” But it was more than that. In an article previewing the game at Pasadena’s Carmelita Park, the Los Angeles Evening Express called it “baseball en masque,” … [Read more...]
PSA Backlog Continues to Exceed 1 Million Cards
PSA is still facing a backlog of over one million trading cards in its system as the grading and authentication firm ramps back up following a temporary closure earlier this spring. The division’s parent company, Collectors Universe, saw revenue and income drop during the third fiscal quarter of 2020, but attributed the decline to the impact of a sudden shutdown due to … [Read more...]
New Product Rollouts Could Be Coming Soon
The parade of new sports card releases from Panini should resume by the middle of this month. The Dallas-based company’s printing and packaging facility was forced to shut down in April because of stay at home orders in some Texas counties. Those restrictions have been lifted enough for work to resume and several new products are scheduled to be on their way to … [Read more...]