Auction talk 52. That's an entire, calendar year full of auction talk episodes.

Nick, that seems like a lot. That does seem like a lot. Let's pat ourselves on the back for that one, man. I I we got through, what, like, 48 without missing one, and then I got the sickness of all sicknesses and had to miss one.

But, one miss in a year isn't bad. We'll see if we can go year two without any misses. Pre Presidents' Day, we always record these on holidays too, so it's Presidents' Day.

No one's getting our mail today? Yeah. Yeah. No mail. No no, no card mail today. We should have thought of that when we picked Monday to record, because it feels like all the holidays They're all this day.

Are on Monday. So but here we are. We're we're doing it anyway. Okay. So we're we're I'm excite we were chatting beforehand.

I did a entire weekend solo with two children, so I am more energized than ever before to not, change poopy diapers and watch Gabby's dollhouse and all the other stuff you have to do inside because it's too cold to go outside.

So I'm really I'm pumped to to talk sports cards, and maybe we we start here. And we didn't coordinate this at all, but I, of course, I'm a follower of you on Instagram, and I, you know, was banging through the stories like we all do.

And then I saw you had some cards for sale. And then Oh, yeah. You kind of you'd kinda and they weren't just some cards.

They were really good cards. And then you you kinda tease the fact that, like, you know, like, maybe we'll talk about this next week. So Yeah. I don't know what's going on, but I'm excited to dig in.

So let's talk about, like, your decision to take some of your cards, put them up, and what are you up to? So I'm on the line of, like, strongly just considering selling all of my cards right now.

And and it's it right? You laugh because that's, like, a huge deal. Right? But it's like, so some things have come up on the funding side, like, some huge opportunities.

So that that's really the the, driver here is, like, okay. If I'm if I'm being smart for my family, really, because that's what this business does is provides for my family, then I probably should consider selling these cards.

It's not easy because, I've I've been able to trim my collection down a lot. Like, I have, like, ten ten cards.

I no. I don't count the cards that are, like, hundred dollars and less that I just have fun with. Like, I don't I have, like, probably 50 of those cards. Right? I don't really count those, but, like, significant value cards.

But the hard part is, like, I've trimmed them down to cards, like, strategically to cards that I think are super rare and hard to acquire that haven't sold for a long time or and or, like, I think I have a lot of value potential in the long term and, obviously, players I enjoy collecting.

But I I've been trying to cut it down to literally just one card of a of each player that I wanna collect Rather than having 90 Jerry Rice cards, like, what is the one Jerry Rice card I really want in my collection?

And it might be, like, this is what it is now.

Like, for for, I still have a few more Jerry Rices, but, like, at the moment, the biggest one I had was the 96 Select Mirror Gold PSA nine. It was, like, $44,000 card, 45. I I did sell that one for $4,500.

But, like, if a if one of the cards higher on my list would've came up, like, I would've tried to consolidate into that, and that would've been the Jerry Rice representation representation in my in my collection.

I had the, the Barry Sanders Select certified 96 premium stock red PSA 10, which is a Pop one. Like, to me, that's like so what I can realistically afford, that's like the best card I could get for a Barry Sanders.

Like like, I can't afford much much bigger than that, and I think that card has a ton of upside. It's a pop one PSA 10. They never sell. There's only 20 of those, but, like, I don't wanna sell that card.

But if I can get, you know, $20,000 for it, like, that can go a long way in the funding situation. And then I had the 02/2006 Bowman Chrome red out of five, Tom Brady. Right? A card I love.

You guys know how I feel about that set in that parallel, but, like, $20,000 for that card goes a long way with the funding. So I do still have the only one I sold was the 96, certified Select certified mirror gold Jerry Rice PSA nine.

And I haven't been aggressive with the other ones because I'm trying not to sell them, but, like, there's probably gonna be a point where I need to. And I just wanted people to know they're available type of situation.

But it it's funny. It's it's it's an interesting spot to be in myself. It's like like, you guys send me consignments, and I can, like, market the heck out of those. Right? Like, the goal is to get as much exposure to those as possible.

Hopefully, they sell for as much money as possible. I can't do that with my own cards. Right? Because it looks a certain it looks a certain type of way or it's it's shilling or whatever people think of it.

So it's really, really tough because, if these were other people's cards, these would be, I'd be marketing the heck out of these.

But, like, I'm trying to be considerate of you know? It it just looks different when you're doing it for your own cards. Right? So it's an interesting spot to be in, but, here I am.

And and like I said, like, I've talked about this before. It comes down to it, like, I gotta make the the best business decision with my collection, and that's just where I am right now.

So there's actually a question in the mailbag regarding, like, it was directed at me, but it would be good to I mean, you're in a very similar spot being a business owner in the hobby and, you know, also being someone who collects cards.

I guess question for you is, ultimately, like, everything maps back to you know, you gotta understand priorities.

You obviously want an awesome collection, but I think what's probably most important is, like, you having a, sustainable business that can provide for your family.

So maybe, like, what is your mindset when you're, like, having to make that decision?

Because I I would imagine, like, even if you sold all your cards once we got off of recording this, like, and you had the capital to then go put into funding or another, something else you're working on at the worst sports card.

Like, eventually, like, you're not gonna never buy a cardigan. Like, you're gonna buy a cardigan. So Yeah. Maybe just, like, talk us through just, like, those decisions that you're having to tackle and make.

And, ultimately, like, the reason why you're evaluating something is maybe, extreme as getting rid of the cards that are currently in your collection.

Yeah. So I've been doing this for four years now too. So I've learned, you know, sometimes the the hard way, like, what the right decision is and when to make that decision.

And it's like, when you when you run a business in this space and you have a collection in this space, like, you're you're you're all in. Right? And that can be that can be stressful at times, when you when you feel like you know?

I think we've all probably had a moment. It even if it was for five seconds where you're like, this whole thing is gonna blow up. You know? Like, like, for whatever Dude, every day every day of my life, I think Right.

Every day. And it's mostly because, like, if this blew up, what would I do? Right? Like Yeah. I have all my eggs in this basket. So so it's like, I don't want my collection to be stressful.

So when it when it gets to a situation where it's like, okay. You have this big funding opportunity. Like, I could get capital from outside sources, but it's gonna cost me interest.

Right? So if I could raise that capital myself, it's it's it's not gonna have any interest on it, and and I'm gonna make more money on that funding situation.

So, you know, it's just smart business at that point, and it takes the stress off of me. But also, like, through this four years, because I've had to operate this way, I've become somebody that really likes to shuffle my collection.

I've really gotten to a point where I appreciate, like, pursuing and acquiring cards that were on my list and then moving on from them and, like, kinda creating a new list.

Right? Or or, like, even, like, here's a challenge. Can I get this card again? That took me two years two years to get.

Like, is it possible for me to get this card again? Like because for me, it's like the challenge of, are you you you had to sell this for whatever reason it is. You didn't think you would have to.

It took you forever to get it. Like, the next level of that challenge is can you do that all over again? Can you get yourself to a position to where you can do that all over again? And, like, I know that's not for everybody.

Like, I know, you know, a true collector probably wouldn't appreciate that. But, like, for me, it's become more about appreciating the pursuit because I I know realistically I can't hold on to these cards forever.

Not right now. Not just not right now. Eventually, I think I can get to that spot, but it's not smart business for me to do that right now.

So I'm gonna actually bring this one up front. The the we'll bring one mailbag question to the up front because it's completely aligned with what we're talking about here, and this comes from our good friend Drake at Drake's PC.

And I would Nick, I'd love for you to weigh on this as well.

But Drake said, for me, Brett, he said, when you say that you're you sell cards to put money into stacking slabs, for those of us not in the business or content side of the hobby, what does that mean?

And this was a great he, like, asked, like, afterwards asked if, like, if this was appropriate or okay to answer, and I absolutely, it's appropriate and okay to answer.

This is actually a fun topic. I think, you know, my I think number one priority is I I want to be doing this for as long as possible.

Like, oftentimes, I wake up and I'm like, I can't believe, like, after I drop off my kids, I get to go talk about sports cards all day, and I can be my own boss. And I'm I feel very fortunate about the opportunity.

And so for me, as a business owner in this hobby who loves the intersection of content and collecting, I'm constantly trying to figure out ways that I can protect my current position, and that current position is me being able to put out all this content, have, stacking slabs grow.

And so when you start to and also provide for my family.

So when you start to think about, like, these big topics of, like, providing for your family and growing a business, you look at your cards and your cards my cards mean so much to me.

But, also, now, the cards I I can look at cards and the way I think about cards that I love, the measurement of love and cards that have to stay changes a lot when you put in your, like, livelihood in comparison to that.

So when I say I have to I'm selling cards to put it into stacking slabs, typically, that means I wanna try something within the business that I'm not currently doing.

And instead of taking out of, like, the pot of funds that I have that are sustaining the business, it growing, you know, making sure I'm paying the bills at my house, those sorts of things, like, I instead can go sell a card or two, and that will give me the funds to then go try something new that and that's something new, whether it's a new type of media, video, that sort of thing, that then could lead to further growth, which might then lead to further opportunities.

So without question, there are throughout this, you know, short time doing this for myself, there is, there has been decisions I've made of getting rid of cards that I would I would never have made if I wasn't in this position doing this full time.

But Yeah.

To me, the cards provide some sort of sense of security, and also it also provides some sense of opportunity. So I said, I think about this every day when you made the comment about, you know, this could just blow up or whatever.

I I said I I said, like, yeah. I think about this every day like that because, like, I wanna do whatever I can to avoid that.

Yeah. From happening. And a way for me to avoid that for happening is instead of taking out of the pot, I then can look at my collection and be like, you know what?

These three cards, great time in my collection. Mhmm. Love these cards. But what I love more is the idea of not having to take my money out of what I'm building Yes.

And go apply it to this new thing. So, Nick, I don't know. Like, I'm sure you can relate at some level to that, but I wanted to make sure I addressed Drake's question that felt like a good time up front.

I love that you got to tell people that because it's it's probably a little more obvious for my business.

Right? Because it's like funding. It's ease it's easy to see. Like, I take this money out. I fund a card. I make a percentage of that.

Like, it's simple for people to see, and it's like I'm out there with it. For your type of business, it's a lot of what you do, people don't see. Right? And it's hard to it's hard to know that those things cost money to pursue.

Like you said, the video. Like, if you have somebody doing, videos for you or reels or YouTube or something like that, like, they cost money to pay that person to do that stuff.

And then a lot of times, it's not it's not very cheap. Or, gosh, whatever whatever it is. Like, there's a million things that you do behind the scenes that just it costs money to pursue those things and start those things.

So, like you said, where you're pulling that money from can be, like, less stressful if you allow it to be.

And this is this is what makes it less stressful for you is pulling it from your collection rather than pulling it from what you feel like is more your family's funds.

Right? Like, your collection is kinda your your thing, like, your extra play money.

So pulling from that, it doesn't impact your family. But, so so yeah. Sim similar for me, but yours yours is a little less in front of people. Mine is a little more in front of people. So I'm glad people got to hear that.

A little behind the scenes, at the worst sports cards in stacking slabs. Good way to kick off the episode, Nick. We talked about these cards last time, but I figured, you know, it is the week that these cards are ending three days.

And I figured, like, let's do a check-in on these two cards that we talked about Okay. Last week. So the first one is the 98 Flare Brilliance Randy Moss, twenty four karat gold PSA eight. This thing is at 20,500 with 31 bids.

It ends the day this will go live Mhmm. On the main feed. I did not do my homework. I should have to, like, go back and look at comps, but, like, how are you how are you feeling about where this is at currently?

So it's, the highest, Moss twenty four karat gold already. I'll I I'm looking. I think it might have just barely passed the, highest Moss sale ever.

So with BP, this would be, like, over 24,000. What's the math? $2,024,000 on a 24 karat gold. That feels very appropriate. There you go, dude. $24. 06 is where this is at after BP. This is officially the highest selling Moss card ever.

And it hasn't even sold yet. And it hasn't even sold. And and it's gonna sound crazy because I I feel like there's a lot of room left on this one. I feel like this one's still got some room to run.

The more I just look about and think think about this card, the more excited I get. Like, for me, the Jerry Rice twenty four karat gold is probably the card I would want the most in my collection that I can actually swing. Right?

Like, his credentials now, sure, I'd love that. I'm not gonna pay $350,000 for it. But 24 karat gold is a card I feel like I could, at some point, afford, and and it would be the card I would want to represent my Jerry Rice collection.

And that's what this is for Moss. Like, I can't even imagine if it was a Jerry Rice rookie card. Right? Like, this it just blows my mind how big this part is for Moss, especially when you compare it to the rest of his rookie catalog.

There's, like, three huge Moss rookie cards that aren't one on ones. And then it's just like a bunch of cool cards, but not, like, significant or rare super rare or anything like that.

Like, this is just a monster card, man. And I feel like it's amazing that it's already the highest seller, but, like, I feel like this is a 40 to $50,000 card.

I don't know if it'll get there this auction, but, still a ton of upside, I feel like. I just love the flair brilliance of it all.

And we were talking last episode about how, like, four four or five years ago, like, there's no way this card would even think about being a piece or wouldn't be in consideration for being a piece of an auction like this premier, but the fact that not only is it in here now, but it's thriving.

It's not only a cool moment for nineties football cards, but also for Randy Moss and Randy Moss collectors. Yeah. For sure, man. Alright. Next one is the Emmett Green PMG Yeah.

97 Green PSA five, fifteen copies. This thing has 38 bids. It is currently at 26 k. Mhmm. Some heavy hitters, man. Yeah. How are you feeling about this one? Yeah. That one got running over the last few days.

Ran, like, $10,000 in bids. So it's over 31 k right now with the VP. I think I wanna say this exact copy sold for around that. Let me look it up here. But the last one was a is this PSA five sold in December 2022 for $38.

04? So I think it will pass that, I believe. And remember the last the last two sales, I think, are just super interesting to me because the last sale was a PSA eight in December 2023 for 40,000.

It was a buy it now. The in August of twenty twenty three, so four months before that, a PSA seven sold at auction for $43.

02. So, again, I just think that buy it now price was just low. Like, I think they coulda got 55 for that probably. And then we would be looking at the comps completely different.

I say it's fascinating because these these are the comps that are out there, not what we think we could have listed that bin for. So, like, people will their psych their psyche will naturally work off these comps that are visible.

And that that's why it's fascinating to me rather than, like, I don't think a lot of people will read between the lines and say that was a bin for 40 k and a lower graded copy sold at auction for higher four months before.

They're just gonna say, last sale was a PSA eight for 40 k, and they're gonna work off that. So it just it just the the whole, like, how people work off comps thing is fascinating to me.

But if you read between the lines, like, that that last sale of a buy it now, I don't think represents what that card could have actually sold for at that time.

So the buy it now situation is an interesting one and one that maybe we'll spend a second on.

Listing your card at buy it now, how do you how do you think and I know most everything is they're selling to a sports card. It's for the most part, it's all through auction. But, like, I don't know, man.

Listing your cards at a buy it now price, you can list it very, very high or maybe, like, would be the all time high. But the first move, anyone who wants that card is gonna do, they're gonna go look at the last comp.

And even in that scenario, it could it could just scare people off from making an offer because they feel like the current owner is way too far away. But in fact, that could be what the market would command.

So I don't know. Like, we have to make this decision all the time as, people who are selling cards, whether it's independently or through someone, like, what we would list a card at.

Like, what what do you find is the is it is is being like, with a car like this being priced to move, is that a better strategy in your mindset so you could get cash and go put into something else?

Or is it being hopeful that you know what you have and we're gonna put it really high and hopefully hit an all time high, but knowing that it probably will take a lot longer to sell?

Like, how how do you think about those two situations?

So I think, like, it depends on your situation. If you need the money fast and you're like like, if this person that sold that for 40 k, they might have bought it for $5,000 10 years ago. You know?

Like and they could have been fine. Like, I need this money quick. I know if I listed it at 40 k, it's gonna sell quick. And, you know, maybe they have like, I know for me a lot of times, I'll have, like, a timeline. I'll be like, okay.

I'm gonna fill this on, buy it now for, like, a week. I'm gonna see what traction it gets, see if I get any offers, what the offers look like, and then I'm gonna make a decision after a week on what I'm gonna do with it.

Like, honestly, I'm kind of in that boat with my stuff now. It's like, I know what these cards are worth. I wanna see if I can just throw them out there at a price and if people will know what they're worth.

Right? And if they don't, now I have to reevaluate. Do I wanna auction these, or do do I just wanna pull them back and see if I can work around them?

So it really depends on how fast you need the money and if you need the money. But the more rare a card is, the higher I would list it on a buy it now.

Like, %. Like, I would try to be patient, and I would make people reach for it because there's just less copy. There's less supply. Right? So the the demand usually will outweigh the supply, so you have more leverage as a seller.

But but then the other part is, like, I there's there's something to a card sitting available for sale for a long time diluting the value of that card.

Right? Like, if I if I had this Brady Bona chrome chrome red sitting out there for six months at whatever I priced it at, I don't even know, like, say, $24.

99 or $2,025,000, let's say. If I sit out there for six months at 25,000, majority of people are gonna say, okay. That's not worth anywhere near 25,000.

So if you do send it to auction, guess what? You already created a ceiling for a lot of people. Like, that that was for sale for 25,000 for six months, and nobody touched it. So it's definitely not worth above this.

So you're you're putting a ceiling on on the value of it at at auction if you go that route. So I think you gotta be that's what I always tell people with, like, trying to sell stuff on Instagram or social media and buy it now.

I'm, like, just putting the card everywhere. You gotta be careful of of people seeing it too much and it not selling for what you're asking for, and then you're actually bringing the value of it down.

Because all people see is, I saw this card everywhere for this price, and it didn't sell. So it's not worth close to that price.

Over overexposure with cards is a very, very real thing. I see I'll see cards being shoved in my face through someone maybe on Instagram or whatever, and then I'll see them, you know, months later a month later up for auction.

I never really, like, cross check, like, because I don't really care. But I would imagine to me, it's less desirable, especially if someone's been pushing it hard for a while.

And that's the thing. Like, we see it all the time where somebody will throw it up on their story sale once, doesn't sell, they send it to auction, it sells for more than they were asking. We see that all of the time.

Now if you throw it on your story sale for a week straight every single day, you're you're probably screwed when that card goes to auction, because you're just reminding people that it's not selling for that price, like, over and over.

100%. Will those cards end Thursday as this goes live?

I'll we'll put the links in the show notes. If you're feeling frisky and you wanna throw a bid or two, on the final day, Nick, I'd be remiss not to move over and talk about the release of WNBA Prism 2024.

Yes. The the Dude, I've been following this I've been following this, pretty closely, like, at all on all facets ever since, like, launch day. So I'm, like, really excited to to dig in and talk with you about this.

But maybe, like, just out of the gates, what what are maybe some of your early observations of the product, the reaction, anything you've seen that is interesting, to talk about?

I gotta be honest. I haven't seen as much, like, social media hype as I thought I would. Dude, totally. Okay. You feel the same way because I'm like Same way.

I'm not following the the right people or something, but it I mean, I thought, like, 2024 Prism Football was all over the place, and I feel like I'm barely seeing Prism WNBA, on social media.

So I don't know if this good stuff hasn't gotten pulled yet or what's going on. Let me let me react to that because, in my mind in preparation for this, I was thinking exactly on that train of thoughts.

Twenty twenty four Prism Football, and it's put Prism Football versus WNBA regardless of who is, there's gonna be a difference in Sure. The way the market reacts.

But, like, coming completely off the heels of the twenty twenty four Prism Football launch, like, that was the most, like, aggressive, like, launch of a product, and it's still going on that I think I can ever remember.

It was so I think part of it was, like, the bias of seeing that and then but then and then seeing the, like, WNBA on the other side and, like, I it hasn't been, like like, nothing, but it it's the volume of, like, kind of, two things.

I think there's two things that I've noticed.

Number one, like, when Prism Football comes out, like, you can go to eBay and dude, the best cards are, like, suddenly available on eBay or the best cards are on someone's Instagram account. Like, that first week, it was insane.

I I feel like that we have hardly seen the best cards in the WNBA product, which tells me that the the volume of, cases that are being ripped is nowhere even in the same hemisphere of what was happening on the football side.

Mhmm. So that that's been an interesting note to me because I've got my safe searches, dude.

I'm checking those safe searches more than anything else, over this last week because cards pop up, and I I wanna be able to take a crack at it if it's popping up.

Mhmm. But I just I haven't I haven't noticed, just the volume of cards come to a platform like eBay at the rate that we we've seen in other sports, obviously.

So For sure, man. And it looks like I didn't look at the whole, like, checklist and, like, all the parallels and stuff, like like on, like, Cardboard Connection or Beckett or anything like that.

So, I don't know how many parallels there are, but just seeing some of these Caitlin Clark sales, like, it was interesting to see some of the parallels they used in Prism that we haven't seen before.

But we'll talk about it going through some of these sales. I'll point them out. Yeah. So okay. The first one, this was the we're we're gonna focus in on Clark, because and then we can expand out.

But I think it's good to focus in on Clark where this card, I I put a note in the format, like, check the safe searches before or check the card ladder history, prior to hitting record.

And this the the number one selling card of the product happened yesterday night, and that was the Mojo out of 25, which sold for 7,500 Caitlin Clark, via best offer.

And so that like, that's a good starting point because you've got a a a parallel that has been involved in WA NBA PRISM its entire life cycle.

Another thing that I just can't stress enough, especially if you're trying to get educated on this stuff and you're trying to figure out what stuff should be worth.

The this is the like, the card that sold, the Mojo, it is her, true base card, rookie card. There is also the variations, and the variations are being positioned by a lot of collectors.

Not they're not, like, deceiving you, but no one is calling them variations when they're listing them. And to me, there's a huge difference between time. Those two, especially how I collect Prism.

So $7,500, best offer, but that that that's the number one Clark sale that's happened so far. To to to tell me that, like, we haven't seen a gold come to market. Obviously, we haven't seen her her one of one comes to come to market.

I think there was a gold listed by someone in China who posted something that it had been pulled, but I don't know. Like, that's that's where we're at so far in terms of top of the market after the the launch day, which is a big number.

Don't get me wrong. But it's not one of her major primary cards or top tier cards from the product so far. I have a a a pop quiz question for you. Yes. What what did the Wendy Prism Mojo rookie card sell for?

The first the first one to sell, it was raw. How much is this for? Yep. It's gotta be at least I was gonna say it's gotta be at least 20,000. I'm gonna say 20 I'll do Clark's number. 22. It was $16,877. So a little more than two x.

I I think that's such a cool comparison because Yes. He feels like a generational type of player. I feel like Clark is more generational to her sport, but, obviously, the NBA, much bigger sport, many more collectors.

You know, There's gonna be a price difference there. So thought that was fun. The it sold for $16,877 raw when it first came out. A BGS nine five, it was a MinGem, sold for $16,200 last night.

So a PSA 10 sold for $18,000 in December. So it's it's leveled out quite a bit, but not a not a ton. But, yeah, I think that's that's who I would be comparing these two is, like, Wambi on the Okay.

On the NBA side. I love it. We'll hit maybe a two more of these. You've got the this is the new Parallel, the black Velocity out of 39, which Yes. This card looks awesome. And love this.

This one sold for this is her true base to, $4,550. The what I love about this, this is eBay. This is an auction. So it's like somebody actually, actually, like, got their hands on it and made a decision to run an auction really.

It had to have been, like, a three day or whatever and got 4,500. But really cool card. Again, like, it's the first appearance of this, but, yeah, that's kind of the newer parallel that's been brought to market.

Yeah. So this, I thought, was super interesting and smart by Panini because they don't have optic WNBA. So, like, let's use those parallels. Like, the the velocity parallel and optic is a huge part of optic, releases.

So let's just bring those over to Prism and and and capitalize on those, the popularity of those parallels, and then put the Prism name on it. So I think that was super smart by Panini.

These are like, I've said this before, the velocity parallels before they started making, like, 90 different colors of them, like, when it was just the black velocity and I think maybe the blue velocity they had pretty early on, those were my favorite Panini parallels, like, in hand.

It's just one of those cards where you could just tilt back and forth, and you just, like, see a different part of the card pop all the time.

It's so cool. So I'm I'm really glad they did this, and it's a cool looking card, man. 100%. And then here's the this is so we're at three k on the teal prism at a 49, variation. So this was best offer via eBay.

So you've got an out of 49 variation selling for 3 k, which tells me, like, if it's numbered, we don't, like, we don't care if it's numbered and Clark's on it. Like, we're we're ready to pay some money, which is which is wild.

It makes the Mojo, the true Mojo for 7,500 look cheap. Yes. Because this is the abbreviation, and there's twice as many printed, and it's sold for, like, you know, a a little less than half the price.

For sure. So that's you know? And don't get me wrong. I've been following some Facebook groups and stuff, and there's been some Clark cards made available, and I'll still be following it.

I I am two of the I'm of the mindset that, like, whatever Clark comes up that I really want, I'm gonna be way priced out of at this point.

So but I that doesn't, that does not preclude me from trying to make make some some buying decisions on cards within the product that I think might be a good one.

So I I actually I did I did I haven't I have bought one card from this product so far. You oh, so to to be revealed at some point, I'm sure. Yeah. I bought one the download? Yeah.

Well, I'm trying to yeah. So, actually, you know what? Let's just talk about it real quick because this this will make for fun this will make for fun content. So I made a decision, and it wasn't a decision that I was planning on making.

However, you know, the hobby comes at you sometimes, and you're just like, you have to make these decisions. So, we'll start here. The someone listed out of the gates the Angel Reese TrueGold.

Not a variation. TrueGold popped up. It was listed at six k out of the gates, and I was just like, oh, I can't wait to see where this goes. Hit favorite on it. I wake up the next morning, and the price had been dropped from 6 k to 4 k.

And I'm like, they're trying to get rid of this. They're trying to move this card. Yeah. And so I'm thinking I'm like, man. Like, you know, I'm obviously a Caitlin Clark fan, but there's a history there, obviously, with Angel Reese.

I mean, they they're they're they're rivals. Like, they're part they're part of each other's stories. And so I was like, man, you know what? Like, I wonder what this to go for.

So I I made an offer. It got countered. And, eventually and this is like a note for everybody. The the seller compared the gave me the Cameron Brink sale of the variation gold as a reference point with the wrong sale price.

They weren't using card letter. They were they were you so I I took a screenshot of it and said, actually, like, this is what it it went for, and this is why I'm offering you what I'm offering.

And once they saw that real data from card letter thank you, car car I'll blame card letter for making me make this decision. It helped in the the process, but they the the seller said, oh my god.

Like, thanks for thanks for this information, and, yeah, I accepted your offer. And so I ended up landing the, Angel Reese TrueGold for $500 more than a hobby box cost. And Interesting.

When I when I thought about it from that context, it's like, this is, like, to me, one of the best cards in the product. It's not Caitlin Clark, but it's Angel Reese who's, you know, a extremely popular player, really good player.

Clark's archrival, I was like, this not not only like, I can buy this card from a collector perspective, and I can attach it to my Clark collection, and there's a story there.

I can, you know, get the card graded, and then maybe at some point, like, that card can help me get into the actual Clark card I want. I I don't know.

But to me, in that moment, it was like that was a decision that I made, and it just felt based on all the other hype cycles of all these other rookies and all these other categories and all these other sports that, like, fit within all the criteria.

And on the other side, there was a very reasonable, seller who was willing to just, like, have a conversation and figure out a way to get a deal done.

That's funny, man. I saw that sale because I was looking I was trying to find, like, some some of the bigger, non Clark sales, and I saw that one. So it's it's funny to attach that to you, but that's that's cool, man.

And it's it's a good way to participate knowing, like, I'm not gonna be able to get the best cards of the player I want right now, but, like, this can kind of, be a placeholder of some sort until I can hopefully get one of those cards, and it still reminds you of that player.

So that's really cool. Yeah. And and like like I said, for as for as long as I've been following Clark, I've been following Reece because you you you had to based on just the their all the way back to college.

So I don't know, man. To me, also, it was like a I I have a lot of conviction around I just I have a lot of, like I don't know.

I have a lot of if I if I were to put all my money, not all my money, but a a large portion of, like, disposable money into cards, like, to me, like, I just I think very highly of, like, WNBA cards and Prism specifically and Mhmm.

Where that league and where the products are now to maybe where where they're going.

So, I'm excited about that. Also too that, you know, maybe it was because I was, like, I was watching I was on the heels of watching the unrivaled one on one, and it was so awesome. I was like, this is this is just such good basketball.

So, yeah, I made that splash and figured since we were talking about it, might as well just share some of that experience and thought process and processing I went through to kinda come to that decision.

No. That's cool, man. And, you know, one thing as I was talking through this, it is interesting the timing of when it was when it's released. Right? It was after the first season, and it's in the dead of the off season.

Right? There's, like, no there's, like, barely any WNBA chatter right now. So I wonder if that's affecting the whole release as well. And it and it gives you opportunities, I think, going into the actual season.

Like, now you can actually buy these brand new cards in a, like, in a true off season, and maybe have some you know, if people are approaching it from a from a speculation perspective, like, there might be some opportunities to flip or or or sell these cards and get other cards that you want, like, once the season gets rolling.

So it's interesting timing when this came out. No doubt about it. We'll be talking more about this stuff, I'm sure, as it continues to sales continue to happen.

I'm excited. And I also like, final note here. It's like the community of people who collect the WNBA stuff is it's awesome. Like, they're very helpful. People are super passionate.

So it's been a, a fun space to, get into. Awesome. But let's move on. So we've got auction house recap here, and I, of course, don't have I've got too many tabs open, so maybe bear with me. I'm a little unorganized here.

I just gotta click something. So we do have a big one, ending this weekend. Right? The Golden Elite ends this this coming Saturday. It's got the Kobe credentials now. Yes. Big ones. I think the Wembley Nebula is in that auction.

There's some huge cards in that auction, so that'll be a fun one to talk about next week. Yes. Good reminder. Didn't have that going. But, yeah, go that golden ends on Saturday. Is that right? It's Saturday. Yeah. Okay.

Awesome. Alright. So let's get into this. This is a card that got talked about on, a show with I did with Hoodies on Passion and Profession, but this is crazy. Like, this card came into their shop in a screw down, and they graded it.

They created they created a PSA test. That's crazy. Yeah, dude. Yes. Everyone, the screw down narrative, like, cards cards can still gem apparently if they've been in a screw down since the nineties.

But this been MJ 9899, Skybox Thunder, MJ Noiseboys PSA 10 pop '26. This thing sold on eBay February tenth for $31,123.

The previous, sale of it So there was one let's see here. There's one that sold on Golden for 39, which was on the first, and then, one sold in December on Fanatics for 33. So, yeah, like, what do you think about that?

Like, this one, but, you know, prior to that, in 2023, this was selling for 24. So, obviously, we talk about, like, when cards sell too close together, they're probably gonna go down, especially like a card like this.

But, I mean, still, just a really strong sale. But what what is where does your head go when you look at this data around this noise boys, PSA 10?

Well, and the one on Golden had the NBA black diamond, sticker on it, which might some people might not care about that. But when it's the black diamond, like, it it actually does there's data out there.

It does it does help to set that Good call out. 100%. So, really, like, if you take that sticker off there, they were all probably that that probably would have sold for around 30 to 35. So they're all, like, within range of each other.

But the fact that three have sold within the last three months or one, two, really, like, two months, two and a half months, and all were within a couple of thousand dollars, like, within, like, 8% of each other, I think that's kinda it's it's wild, man.

The MJ PSA ten nineties market is strong. And, you know, it's just it gets people excited about parallel segments because not all of us can afford, you know, every nineties Michael Jordan PSA 10 when they cost $30,000 a piece.

But we might be able to afford, some cool Isaac Bruce PSA tens or some, you know, who's your guys, you know, from the Colts in the nineties?

Marvin Harrison. Marvin Marvin Harrison, PSA tens. You know? So it's it's cool to see. It's it's I like to follow the Jordan market even though I've rarely ever owned any Jordan cards, even though he's my favorite athlete of all time.

I just can't afford his stuff and, like, a real collection that I would want. But I follow that market because I feel like it just it gives us so much information to learn from for other markets.

What do you feel what do you a top 26 on a insert like this in the nineties, like, is is that a is that a help us understand it, though.

So so in the non Jordan market, that is a high number. In the Jordan market, it's not because the demand is is so high.

He he like, he's the most desired player to collect in all of sports. So, like, we're talking about a different beast here. Like, if it was a pop 26 Jerry Rice, it wouldn't be very attractive to me, honestly.

Like, I look for below pop 10 for sure. I try to stay five and below. It's like my my my ideal scenario. Like, if you find if I find the nineties insert or parallel that's a PSA 10 and it's below a pop five, like, I'm pumped about it.

If it's a card that that's like, okay. It's it's there's less than five of these because nobody grades these.

I don't you know, that's a different story. But if it's like like the platinum portraits was a PSA 10, it's a pop seven. But if that was a pop four, I woulda went even more ham on that card. So it just depends on the player.

But 26 is a lot for pretty much every other player but MJ, and then Kobe's kinda like borderline there. Like, you'd rather have it probably closer to 15 or 20 for Kobe. Awesome. Good context. Let's move on to the next one.

This is, Patrick Mahomes. Last week, we were talking about him, and the Internet was, you know, kicking the man while he's down. This week, we're talking about his '20 '17 green scope prism out of '99 PSA '10.

This is a pop 29. What's interesting about this card so this guy just lost the Super Bowl. Everyone thinks he's not as good as everyone as what everyone else said he was, which is a fun debate.

But what I thought was interesting is, like, post Super Bowl, this thing sold for 9,599, and the last sale was February, was a year ago, almost to the t of when the this sold it. It sold for 7 k.

So it went from 7 k to 95 9,600 in a year, and it's a pop 29. So what does that what does that tell you? I mean, Super Bowl into consideration, just his prism catalog, like, what do you think about just the increase in this parallel?

Yeah. I think, you know, it doesn't surprise me. Like, yeah, we're we're we're fresh off of, like, not the best Super Bowl performance, but he made his third straight Super Bowl in a row with people.

Like like, he he he finished he he went farther than however many other quarterbacks did, 30 or 28 or whatever it is that did not make the Super Bowl.

So, still a heck of a season and accomplishment. And, you know, it's been fun reading all the, like, hate on Mahomes, but then it's also been fun, like, when people can actually, like, zoom out and say, okay.

Like, we're not comparing, like, 45 year old Tom Brady to 28 year old Mahomes.

Like, let's where was Mahomes nine years into his career, and where is Brady nine years into his career? And, like, when you look at it just like that, like, Mahomes looks like he's in a pretty good spot.

Right? So it's about perspective, but, of course, like, coming fresh off of a of of a bad Super Bowl performance, like, people are gonna hate.

But as we get further away from that and closer into the next season, I think his stuff's gonna be holding strong if not if not going up in value.

You know, he's one of those players within Prism and his rookie card where I just find value in all of his like, you don't need to just buy the gold, like, all of his stuff, because this card is, to me, is such an iconic card from this era that it just makes sense that and this one, aesthetically, is really cool.

But it just makes sense that why his parallels up to '99 and even higher, command this kind of, price is just like this card means a lot to a lot of people.

And I think that's that's kinda my primary takeaway from the sale. I have a fun comparison. Yeah. LeBron James, two thousand three, Topps Chrome, black refractor out of 500. PSA 10 sells for a hundred thousand dollars consistently.

There's 500 copies of the card, people. Now I think there's, like, 25 PSA 10. So if you break it down to PSA 10, it's pretty comparable. But, like, he has the first year of exquisite in his catalog as well.

So, like, Mahomes doesn't have much else. He has nothing game used. Like, his Prism stuff is the stuff. Right? So, like, when you when you look at it like that and you're like, Mahomes has, like, that type of trajectory.

Right? Like, LeBron is is up here on the mountain, but, like, Mahomes like, there's a clear path to seeing Mahomes be to be that for football.

So when you look at it like that and you look at what else Mahomes' rookie card catalog has to offer, like, a prism at a 99 has a ton of upside from 9 or 10 k when you look at a tops chrome out of 500 for LeBron selling for a hundred k.

Putting everything into context, that's helpful context. The last card I wanna talk about just, I'm, like, all about let's talk about some defensive guys when we can, and this is the 82 tops, Lawrence Taylor, rookie all pro, PSA 10.

It's an NBA gold, man. We're on NBA streak here. This old Fanatics Weekly, it's a pop one ninety seven for last night for 6 k, which is up from let's see here.

It's, it's the highest highest sale since December 5, yeah, December fifth of last year. And as you can imagine with a card like this, it sells somewhat frequently.

But Mhmm. Yes. I don't know. Like, this card, obviously, like, is an iconic card to a a category of collectors. Lawrence Taylor, obviously, one of the best defensive players ever to do it.

What do you think about, like, this sale or this card specifically in terms of, like, broader hobby themes and things we should be thinking about? I think it's cool, man. Like, LT is, the only defensive player to win an MVP.

He's at least the last one to win an MVP, which is insane. When you think about the odds of a defensive player winning an MVP today, it's like like you have to, like, you have to Arise.

Yeah. Yeah. You have to get creative with the story you tell to get a running back to to be considered for MVP when they when they, run for over 2,000 yards.

Like, Saquon wasn't even seriously an MVP candidate, and he was on the the the team that won the Super Bowl and he ran for over 2,000 yards.

So, like, it's kind of wild. But, so what he did, like in the grand scheme of things, is extremely impressive.

And then he doesn't have like he doesn't have many cars. I don't think he's in any I don't think he's in any of the good '90 stuff. Like, he wasn't playing in in, you know, '96 and beyond.

I don't think. He might have he might have in the mid nineties there. I don't remember when he retired. But, like, there's not much to choose from when it comes to good quality cards for LT.

So I think that makes his rookie card, even though it's a pop 100 and whatever, like, an extremely desirable card for him. So I think it's a strong sign that that it does sell for 6 k with that many PSA tens out there.

I love it. Also think there's a lot of fun to be had focusing in on defensive guys. What dude, this is I meant to, like, bring this up to you when we before we hit record, but I forgot to.

And then, I don't know, for some reason, we were talking what we were talking about in this last segment, I was like, oh, let me go look at this because I wanna bring this up in this conversation.

But here's one for you. This is off the script. But this is this is fun. This is, like, collector's yes. So last night, dude, I think I saw the 2024 Jalen Hurts gold prism.

Super Bowl year, gold prism out of 10. I saw it got listed on eBay, and it was listed for $8. 35 or best offer. And I was just like I looked at this card, dude, and maybe it's like the way I think about my Colts Prism collection.

But I'm like, you've got the Super Bowl NP of your team, the the card that represents the Super Bowl. In that year, the card's really nice.

Like, he's getting ready to run. It's just to me, that car like, I saw the card. I I, like, I don't I'm not an Eagles fan. I'm not a I don't collect hurts, but I was like, man, that card makes me feel something.

And so I naturally, like, hit the best offer just to see, like, there was at the time, there's two best offers, and I was like, oh, that card will be gone.

I woke up this morning. There was three best offers, and the card was still available.

And I was just like I was like, dude, if this were me, I'm I'm like All over. You rationally smash it. It's under a thousand bucks, and it's like that card is like, that card is going to mean something forever, like, forever.

You've got a story with it. And so, anyways, I'm like, let me let me bring it up in this chat and to, like, just talk about so I went to go, like, see where it's at now, and it hit sold.

Somebody finally was like, alright. Like, this is Did it say the price on it? It, I haven't looked in card letter yet. Why don't you pull pull it up in card letter? Yeah.

Yeah. On eBay, it doesn't have the, like, cross out on it. Oh, yeah. It made me think that somebody just, Monday at 10:27. So literally while we were recording this, I think someone just smashed Ben. And it was the 2024, where we at?

Jalen Hertz Prism Gold. Dude, so a few of these sold. It's weird. Oh, there's a gold streamer. So it looks like a well, one of them was all I see is an auction sale from last night, and maybe that's just wrong.

But it's Yeah. It It did $8. 00 7. It might not have been I don't know the timing, but it it might not have, like, registered into card lottery because it just happened.

And then he had, his jersey number, one out of 10, gold b g s nine five men gem did 1,227 to like, it must have it must have ended early this morning because it says February 17 on auction.

So, yeah. But, dude, I just bought the McLaren twenty twenty four black for, like, $1,500, and McLaren is, like, 11 tiers below Jalen Hertz.

Yeah. You know, like, his like, Jalen Hertz's black should sell for, like, five times what McLaren sells for. So it makes no sense that that would be below a thousand dollar card.

Dude, I couldn't believe it was sitting there with offers, and I was just like, are people, like, who've, like with the offers, are they just, like, comparing, like is the move there?

Like, I'm gonna compare other golds that have sold for Hertz in the last two years, and this is nowhere close.

Where for me, I'm like, I'm I'm so excited that I have this opportunity, and I don't know. To me, that's, like, is that's that is a cool free gold prism of a Super Bowl MVP that year. That is a cool card to me.

Dude, a %. That's I mean, that's why I bought the 2024 McLaren Black because, like, I'm gonna remember the 2024 year for the for the commanders because it's first year we went to the NFC title in, like, thirty some years.

They won the freaking Super Bowl. Right? Like, that's that's what I'm doing times 10.

So I don't know I don't know how people weren't all over that. I'm glad it I'm glad it's off the board. If you bought this card, post it because I wanna first of all, I wanna say, like, if you got this for $8.

35, to me, it's Yeah. It's still a Yes. I I like it. For sure. Alright. Let's hit the mailbag real quick. We got some mailbag stuff.

Eighth wonder cards. Eighth wonder cards wants to know, pick a certain type of card to send to FedEx, collect, alt, golden, and heritage. Example, nineties and b a insert, modern insert, modern basketball, vintage baseball.

Example for one per site. So, like, I don't know. Without much thinking, Nick, if you were to go through that and advise, do you have obviously, you sell your cards on Fidelity Selects, and we all know that.

Yes. But is there, like, is there anything, like, in terms of, like, people deciding where they should send their cards, if they're trying to think strategically or based on data history that you would advise or recommend?

So this is a topic I've been looking into so much. I think there's some interesting things that go on here. Like, a lot of people will say, like, here's here's a random one for Golden that I've heard.

Send your high your your high dollar, like, prism nebulas, go to Golden. And if you look at the sales data, only Golden has sold, like like, the biggest nebulas.

Interesting. So to me, it's like, okay. People are saying that because Golden has sold the biggest ones, but nobody else has had a shot to sell them. So, like, who's to say, like, fanatics wouldn't sell for that much or Heritage or Alt?

So I think people get caught up in that where it's like, this is where you send this card, but it's like, no. Because only Golden has sold those five cards. Like, Fanatics never got a chance to sell them.

Heritage never got a chance to sell them. Alt never got a chance to sell them. So I think it's in my opinion and and take this from somebody that I could do what I do on every single marketplace.

I have that offer out there. I choose to sell everything on fanatics because I think, I believe in Fanatics the most, and we've gotten the results that people like, like, we've desired on Fanatics.

And and I think it confuses people to say, like, sell this here, sell this there, sell this there, sell this there.

So take that into consideration. I wouldn't do that, and I don't believe in it. But if I had to choose for this question, I would say alt is where you send your, like, ultra, ultra modern stuff.

Like, send your kaboom, your 2024 kaboom gold, like, of the cool wide receivers. Send it to all you'll probably get a good number. Golden, I would say, like, maybe send your super rare stuff that never sells.

It's like $400,000, send it to Golden. Ken Ken Golden will walk down the street on, on on, you know, Times Square with with your with his card in hand and telling everybody it's a single greatest card ever.

Ken Golden will do that for you. Heritage is vintage. Like, to me, it's vintage.

Or if your last name is Yao and you own a bunch of 2,003 exclusives, and they'll put it on the PSA label, they will sell those at Heritage as well. And then I would say, like, fanatics, I feel like is a much more of a catchall.

Like, I think a lot of different stuff does good on fanatics, but this is where I'm spending the most time. Nineties football does better on fanatics than every other platform every single time, like, every single time.

So if I was gonna narrow it down, I would say nineties football for sure, fanatics. I would say nineties stuff in general, but for sure, football.

Those were the four. Right? Fanatics all Yes. Heritage, so I knocked them all out. Awesome. Well, let me I'm a I'm I'm cherry picking this week on some cards because I realized I missed the seg segment earlier.

Oh, no. All good. Here's one from Matt, McDoilliell Sports. Talk about the cycles you've seen in your relatively short time back in the hobby.

Speak to patients. You know, been back for the last six years and which is a short time when you compare it relatively with someone like Matt who's been in the hobby forever and has seen probably everything. I don't know.

Like, I think one of the biggest things that I think about now in terms of my overall buying is I think I'm really glad even though it was devastating probably for many, the going through the pandemic boom and just the pricing of everything.

Like, I think that was very important upfront, and it was a great learning experience to know that just cards don't go up forever. And especially when stuff moves goes up too quickly, it always likely comes crashing down.

So I think for me, it's always evaluating what is new, especially if it's something that I want. What is new and what is my threshold to either make the move to pay up for a card at that moment?

And and if I'm making that move to pay up for that card at that moment, I have to be okay with that card going down in value. That those are decisions that I have, I consider regularly.

But, yeah, I don't know. It's I think that pandemic experience and starting off back into the hobby, seeing that, and then trying to make sure I never forget that as a, something that can happen has been really important.

What about you, Nick? I'll try to get some specific, kind of boom bust things that have happened just just since I've I've been back in for eight, nine years now.

So, but, like, specifically around the COVID area. Right? Like, leading up to COVID and kinda early COVID, I don't know if you remember this, but the flex was, like, having 50, like, optic based PSA 10. Oh, yes.

Right? Like, think of if somebody flexed that now, they'd get they'd get hammered on Instagram. So that was the thing, though. Like, everybody was trying to get as as many as much quantity of, like, the basic PSA tender they could.

Then it evolved into, like, the silver or the refractor, like, the next most, the next most rare or the first, the the the most, printed parallel essentially is what it was. It was like the silver prism or the refractor.

Then it became like the n t RPA was like the thing. Right? Like, you went from buying the silver prisms and and maybe some prism parallels to, like, n t r p a was the card, and then n t, shield one zero one was the card.

Now we're in this thing where it's like, a lot of people would rather have the gold prism out of 10.

Most people would rather have the gold prism out a 10 than the n t r p a at a 99. And they would rather have the black finite prism over the n t shield or logo man, one zero one auto.

So, like, just those cycles of, like, what people want in the moment and what's, like, gonna go up in value for that moment changes all the time, and it's not always easy to predict.

Right? Like, we're in this Prism run now, and it's everybody thinks, like, Prism's gonna hold on for the long haul.

And it's and I'm not saying it won't, but I'm saying, like, there's gonna be a next prism here in within the next year that people jump all over.

So the you know, that's just a few of the cycles that I've seen in the last four year, but there's been many more.

And and that, like, with the prism and, like, especially with the example with the angel reese, like, the the decision the the the the layer I always put over it too is and and this has to be true in order for me to buy a card at the price, is I always ask myself, like, are you okay if you bought this card for this price and the the it goes it goes down?

And the if I'm able to answer yes, then that means, like, not only is it a card that I want, in my collection or is a card that I believe has a lot of upside.

So that's just, like, one thing I've I've learned about, like, myself in buying cards is just to always ask myself that question, especially if it's a card that's, like, you know, over a thousand dollars.

Yeah. In a in 18 or through whatever thousand dollars is, it's not it's a lot of money.

Right? But, like, it's easier to swallow, like, okay. If this goes down from a thousand, like, it's easier to swallow than it am I okay if this goes down from 10,000?

Or am I okay if this goes down from 10,000? Or am I okay if this goes down from 10,000? I that's I can't play in those I can't play in that territory now. But other people can. The other people can, and they do.

Yeah. So, like, for other people, it might be $300 is their threshold. Right? Like, it's different for each person. But, yeah, I think that's a great start to approach and just understand, like like, what it it can it will change.

Whatever's hot right now will will change, but it doesn't mean those things are done forever. It just means, like, that, you know, you gotta wait to see how the long term cycles play out.

But I've also noticed, like, things kinda always tend to come back around as well. We'll do one more, here, and there'll be one that I'll probably reference in a minute. But Aaron, two two sports cards.

Good conversation on Iowa Dave, the shallow winds podcast. Aaron was on this past week. I listened to that. It was a fun chat. He has a question. If you could go back to any year to start collecting as a kid, what year would it be?

Man, I mean, I liked collecting when I was a kid. Like, it was cheap. It was like, when I collected when I was a kid, I wasn't I didn't even know what a PMG I didn't know what a PMG was.

If if if you were a kid if you were a kid now and, like, you had the options of every tie every year Okay. Even, like, stuff that's today, like, stuff that just came out.

Do you do you have a I think that's what Aaron's trying to get out. Would you would you have a specific year that you would you would collect? Probably probably '97 or '98 because it's, like, my favorite nineties football parallels.

I think it would have been cool to have started collecting in, like, the early like, in, like, February a m being an NBA collector because it was, like, the dead of NBA.

Like, it was, like, the bottom of like, the some of the worst times for the NBA.

And then LeBron happened in 02/2003. So I think it would have been cool to have been collecting, like, not just started, but been collecting for a year or two and then see the LeBron thing happen as an NBA collector.

I think that would have been a lot of fun. Yeah. I was thinking that would be a fun time.

I was thinking about this question. I just couldn't get off of, like and it it'd be interesting, but, like, if 2012, like, prism was available when I was growing up and a kid, would would one like that would it appeal to me?

Would it matter to me? I'd like to think that I like these cards now for the most part because they make me feel good because they're shiny and there's consistency throughout, and I can collect over a long period of time.

But but that's kinda where my head went. It's like which there were people that are still very, very active today that have stories that nobody wanted this stuff when this was on the shelf and Yes.

Which I find I love those stories and find that interesting, but that's where my head goes. It the the the only hobby, case I ever bought was 2013 prison basketball, and it was, like, a few it was, like, $500 for a whole case.

And and I and I Did you rip it by yourself? Oh, yeah. I did. How much fun was that? It was amazing. Dude, literally, this was in, like, February probably it probably was around 02/2015.

Because I was, like, in and out for, like, a few years there, and I was like, man, I just wanna rip some packs because I have that's what I liked to do when I was a kid.

And, I literally threw away a few Giannis base rookie cards because I had all of these cards. I'm like, I don't know where to put all these. So I took all the base cards.

I'm like, Giannis based rookie card. Like, nobody's gonna want this. It's like a $2 card. And I I threw two of them away, I think it was. And then there was a point where they were selling for, like, $500 raw during the COVID period.

Selling PSA TEDs during the highest? Oh, it was, like, $3 or something something crazy. But, like, I was looking at Rawls were selling for, like, $500. I'm like, cool.

I literally just threw away a thousand dollars, right there. But I pulled I'll never forget. I pulled a, Daryl Dawkins Black Prism one zero one auto, and I thought it was, like, insane that I pulled it. It's it paid for the case.

I sold it for, like, $700 or something. I was like, that's a win, dude. But but, yeah, like, I don't I don't even know what that case would sell for now. Insane. I'm sure. Yeah. Gosh. Cool. Good good questions.

I'm gonna probably come back to a question, but one of the questions I wanted to ask you, Nick, is around, like, this hypothetical of if you had 100,000 to spend on one active player right now, who would it be? And there's a kicker.

You they can have won a championship or an MVP yet. Who are you picking? Dude, this is fun. So so the easy answer for me would have been Jaden Daniels. I did not pick Jaden Daniels. That's what I thought you were gonna pick.

Yeah. But I I didn't wanna pick the easy. If I mean, that would be the answer, and I would buy, two two of his gold prisms and my collection would be done, because I wouldn't have any more money.

So, it would be fun, but I I I wanted to mix it up and I wanted to, because I think you'll probably take more of a collector approach. Maybe you won't.

I wanted to take a little bit of an investor approach too for those people out there. I'd go Trae Young. And the reason is, like, if we can zoom out, the kid is, for his career, averaging 25 points and 10 assists a game.

Like, that is absolutely insane. I didn't even look it up, but the list of people that did that further their career might only be one. He I'm not sure. Like, there's probably less than five, I would imagine. So it's pretty impressive.

I think within the next one to three years, something big is gonna happen with the team that he plays for. Most likely scenario is he gets traded, or or leaves Atlanta. I don't know when his contract's up and all that good stuff.

But the worst case scenario so, like, obviously, there's opportunity there. Like, when he gets if he gets traded to the right team and they're a contender, like, people are gonna get excited about his cards.

They're gonna sell for more money. Worst case scenario, he plays for Atlanta his whole career. They just do what they've been doing his whole career.

They make the playoffs every couple years, maybe maybe make a little run, you know, deep into the playoffs every now and then, but, like, no MVPs, no titles, like, none of that type of stuff.

I I still think he's the type of dude that people will have nostalgia for, like, after his career, and they're gonna zoom out and be like, this guy averaged twenty five and ten for his whole career.

Like, nobody's ever gonna do that again. He was fun to watch. He was exciting to watch. And and and now I wanna collect him.

So I think, like, I think you're almost kind of protected both ways. And then you get to have fun with the twenty eighteen rookie set. Right? Like, a lot of us can't afford Luca, but some of us can afford Trey.

Does does the fact that his market got so heated up and then came, like, came over the course of and I haven't looked at the the data and card letter, but does does that appeal to you, or does that make it harder for you to pick Trey Young knowing that, like, his market has come down?

Like, does that scream opportunity for you?

To me, it's opportunity because there's data out there that says, like, people were paying this for him at one point. So the, the idea of it happening isn't crazy because it's literally already happening or it's already happened.

Now the flip side of that is a lot of those people that got burnt, they will never touch another Trae Young card no matter what happens. So you have to keep that into consideration, as well.

But I I think it generally screams opportunity. Okay. So my turn to my turn to address this. And I'm, like, literally going completely chalk on this one, and I tried to not go chalk, but I'm going chalk. And my answer is Caitlin Clark.

So I'll start here. Obviously, fan, obviously, on my favorite team, in my city. And so it's those those factors of, like, hometown, they that's a big thing for me and my collection, so it's hard for me to veer off off of that.

Now I think about, in one year's time, what the, organization has done in support of her. New coach, I think, are you can argue a lot of different ways, but has always been, I think, one of the best coaches in the league.

New front office, brand new team, brand new facility. Literally, there I drive my daughters to work or drive drive them to school, before I go back to work.

And the I'm seeing Caitlin Clark change the landscape in our city. They're tearing down the building, and they're building another one.

So I'm just like and then I'm thinking about this. And I'm, like, observing, like, WNBA Prism release, and this is not even, like, accounting for everything else that has happened up until this point.

But you're I'm seeing people who I'd never imagined talking about WNBA product, talking about WNBA product because of Clark.

And so I think about, like, my limitations when it comes to Caitlin Clark. And it's like, I don't have a hundred thousand dollars to spend on Caitlin Clark.

But if I did, I would better damn sure I could get a, gold prism out of it because I believe I believe she has an opportunity to be the one of the most important athletes that I've ever seen in my lifetime, and it's happening in my backyard.

So I I go with her, and I think about if the limited supply of cards that she has, and I think about the the the ability to focus with that kind of coin on exactly what I wanted.

Mhmm. And to me, that type of, operating around buying, spending money and buying it putting it into a player, is really exciting to me.

And I'll, like, pair that with the question we got from, the card father 13, and he asked, can Caitlin Clark Prism Singles hold value in the near or long term, or are they overpriced?

You know, with any new release, stuff is likely gonna shoot up really high, and some of the stuff might go down.

Maybe some of the stuff won't. But I think, like, you look at that what we just talked about with the Patrick Mahomes, the the green scope out of '99 and what that card has done, and it's not only held value, it's gone up in value.

And I think it's, like, pretty fair to, like, to to start thinking about Caitlin Clark from the perspective of what could be possible.

And, like, you gotta look at the players who have, exceeded expectations or continue to to grow and, like, Mahomes is one of them.

And people hate the cross sport comparison, but I think when you're looking at an era and, like, the Prism arrow we're leaving, I think that's a a pretty important thing to do, especially if you're spending a hundred k.

So if I had a hundred k, I'm spending it on Caitlin Clark.

We can't be mad at you for that answer, man. You have every reason in the world to to pick Caitlin Clark. And I do think her Prism singles will hold by you. I mean, we just saw with the Wembley example, like, it's gone down.

And that probably will happen with Clark. Like, it'll level out. It's gonna happen with Jaden Daniels too. It'll level out a little bit, but I don't see it changing much.

And I think it's interesting with with Wendy's, like, there's still LeBron. There's still Luka. There's still other guys, like, in in the WNBA. Like, it's it's pretty much Caitlin Clark's league, like, right now.

I mean, like like, there's there's Asia Wilson. There's there's all these people that have done way more than her, but, like, people, like, people that aren't in the WNBA are Caitlin Clark is the face of the league.

Right? The WNBA is doing whatever they're doing to try to to figure all that out. But, like, for us, when we think of the WNBA, we're thinking of Caitlin Clark first.

So I think it's a little bit different scenario for her versus Wendy, so I could see her cards holding value more for the long term. And then the fact that they're selling in the off season, I think could be interesting.

I think that might help them hold value more because as they would normally start to level off, well, then the season's gonna start, and people are gonna get excited about what she's doing, and they're gonna want her prisms.

And and what what final note is what excites me is that because some people only know the w through Caitlin Clark, it's like the collectors and fans getting into it, like, understanding the how many like, dude, if you watch, like, Nafisha Collier's run, one on one on unrivaled, like, it just dude, she is so good.

Like, there is there's so many so good players.

And I'm like, man, they might not have, like, the, the just, like, the the machine and all the clips and whatever behind them, but I think that's a fun part about, separating, like, you know, Caitlin Clark with overall collecting WNBA.

I just think there's so much talent and and so much opportunity for people to have a good time collecting that stuff.

%. Alright. Nick, the Wharf Auctions. Yes. What happened this past weekend? We sold a 39 cars. They did, $187,000 187, 1 hundred and 80 7. Is that how you say that? $187,000 a hundred and 80 7. I don't even know how to say it.

$1. 87 80 $1. 87. One of the one of the cards we talked about that I thought was interesting sale was the o nine Sean Marion Topscrom Super Factory. It did $2,640. That was the third highest Sean Marion card sale ever.

The first two were one on one exquisite. It was a one on one patch. I I don't I don't even know if it was the auto. It might have just been the patch from o three exquisite, and then there was a patch auto from, o four exquisite.

So it was cool to see, like, a a o nine. Right? That's like a trying to think when Marion was drafted, like, had to be early two thousands.

I mean, you're talking about, like, a seventh, eighth, ninth year card selling for and not a first super, like, a fifth super probably, being his third highest selling card ever.

That's pretty amazing. That is incredible. Awesome, week. We got some more cards coming through. Let's Yes. This first one, dude, I saw this, and I was like, this is I knew this one.

Catch you. Yes. I haven't seen him in this one in a while and especially since the jump he's been on, but this is a this is a this is my kinda card right here. Yeah. These five were like I'm I put these together.

I'm like, this might be the most fun batch of five I've had on on auction talks. So way to end the the one year of episodes. But this is the February Galactic, Shay Gilgeous Alexander PSA ten rookie card. It's a top 10.

This is the first PSA ten to sell since July of twenty twenty four. So you're talking about, before you're talking about the off season. Right? Like, before the Olympics, before the start of this year, like, he's MVP favorite.

They're the best team or or best record in the, in the NBA. A lot of people are high on the Thunder to make a run here. So, like, it's a much different spot than it was when this sold in in July.

So it's a it's a card that, like, man, if you can't afford some of those number per like, some of his I wanna say his blue prism PSA 10 was selling for, like, 8 or $10.

Like, there were some big numbers for, like, some kind of high numbered prism rookies. So to me, it's like, man, if I could get a a galactic PSA 10 for a fraction of that, like, I'm going that way all day.

I just think it would be a cool spot to land for a SGA rookie. It was only, like, $131,500 dollars. Like, something crazy low. Like, I mean, this has to be like, without knowing the SGA market, this card came in.

I said, this is easily a $3,000 plus card. I don't know if that's the case, but it just feels that way just knowing, like, what other guys have sold for and, like, at this at the times and all that kind of stuff.

I don't know if his Clippers jersey holds them back. I don't I don't know. But, man, for the price, I feel like this is one of the best value, SGA rookies you can get.

What what not only is, like, the pose and the galactic aesthetic incredible, what I like about this card is that it's an SGA rookie card with the with the rookie emblem on it.

Yes. Let's go. It's in there. It's right there, right in front of you. Oh, really cool. I mean, yeah, this card's great. I I thought this one this one caught my attention.

For sure. Well, Shaq Diesel Centurion's. Yes. This is the '98 finest, Centurion's refractor at a 75. Shaquille O'Neal PSA nine. It's a pop, five, it looks like, with four graded higher. The PSA 10 hasn't sold publicly since 02/2011.

So, like, good luck finding a PSA 10. I can only find 12 public sales of any copies of this card since 02/2005. So you're talking about the last nineteen, twenty years, only 12 copies of this card have sold publicly, which is nuts.

The last sale was a raw for $1,250 in September. So this is one of those, like, insert sets from the nineties that might not be as mainstream, but, like, the the true nineties collectors love this card.

They love this card. They want it. Like, the Kobe guys want this. Like, the, like, every everybody that has a guy in this set from the nineties, they they want this refractor.

So it's it's caught my it caught my attention a year or two ago when I started to just kinda see the demand for other players. So when this one popped up, I knew it would be one that people would, be going hard after for sure.

Shaq in his most dominant state there on that card. For sure. This one so this one might not seem like a big card, as big as it is off the jump, but let me tell you what it what it is and why it's it might be bigger than you think.

So this is the o three ultra platinum medallion out of 100 Thomas Brady, BGS nine five, True Gem.

It's pop three, none higher. I I didn't look. I don't know if there's any PSA tens. But this is Brady's first platinum medallion wearing a patch uniform.

He has a 2,000 rookie, but he's wearing the Michigan uniform. I don't I'm pretty 98% positive he did not have an o one or an o two platinum medallion. So you're looking at o three, and he's obviously in the patch uniforms out of 100.

So you you've got the built in rarity there. And this is the highest grade copy of this card to sell in, more than five year more than four years, about four and a half years.

So, finding a copy this high grade in his first pass uniform platinum medallion, I think, is a really cool card. And it and it'll be affordable. It'll be, like, I don't know, maybe $1,500.

Like, I feel that's that's a pretty affordable card for what, what the importance of this card is. That's awesome. Always good to see. It's a Brady you just don't see all the time, so it's just like those cards out there.

This one is like, I love this card. This is the 02/2012 Panini Crusade, gold out of 10. LaVon James, PSA 10. The pose is sick. He's in the, There's only 10 copies of this too?

Serial number to 10. It's a pop three. But the front of the card, he's, he's in his heat uniform doing his, like, coveted, you know, like, cocking it back as far as he can with one hand dunk.

Like, it looks like he's just floating in the air. But the reason I love this card is because, like, we talk about the ninety eight crusade, Donerous crusade, like, on the baseball and football side all the time.

Like, this is the reboot with Panini. This is the first year, and they they kind of stole the whole concept in in design, really tweaked it tweaked it a little bit to make it their own.

But this is the the reboot of that. And these these never sell, man. Like, this was this is the first copy of this to sell in almost four years.

And then the Curry PSA eight sold for just over 4,000 PSA 8 Curry sold for just over 4,000 in August 2024. Like, if I was a LeBron guy, this would be I would be very high on this card.

Like, it just checks a lot of boxes for me. It's a little bit less mainstream, but super important and rare. The imagery is beautiful. Like, the card in hand is beautiful.

I mean, I I'm obsessed with this card. So I I feel like just I feel like in my network, I just I know a few people that, like, I just look at this card, and I'm like, that's exactly the type of card that they put in their collections.

Exactly. Exactly. So it may be maybe a little more niche than than some other cards, but it's it's gonna do a big number, and some some collectors are gonna go very hard after this one.

I love it. Final card. This one is the '99 Flare showcase legacy masterpiece, one of ones, the row two Derek Jeter. This is a PSA seven. I mean, it's a January Jeter from the Flare showcase legacy set.

Like like, you know, I could stop there on how important it is. But, it's one of the cooler designs. Like, once you get past I I love how collectors approach the the different, '97, '90 '8, '90 '9 Flair Showcase Legacy rows.

Because, like, once you get past, like, the first year row zero, like, everybody kind of agrees that's the the most important.

But then after that, it's like, okay. It's like design, really. It's like, what's what's your favorite design?

And this one kinda sneaks up on people, like, with a number in the background. It's it's one of the cooler designs, in my opinion. The last one of these sold in October like, this sold in October 2023. This is part of a consolidation.

Like, that's why this person is selling this. Sold for 8,400. A 97 row one sold for $16. 08, like, right around that same time. And then that card is sold since for $20,000 So that card has gone up, like, 20% since this card sold.

And then just to compare it to, like, some other sports, like I love to do. Right? The same card of this for Randy Moss, ninety nine legacy masterpiece row two, PSA seven as well, sold for $13,800 in November on Fanatic.

So I think that gives you some context on, like, maybe what some other guys in other sports, comparable popularity type of players are selling for.

Always just a batch of really fun cards that we get to talk about coming through the War Sports Cards. A fun episode, action packed as they always are. Nick, anything you wanna get out before we get on out of here?

No. That was a fun one. Wrapped up a year's worth of episodes. Thank you guys for sticking with us for a year, listening to all of my ridiculous takes and still coming back for more, man.

We love you guys. Yes. We love the reaction, the passion, and everything in between. Thank you so much for listening to Auction Talk. Until next week. Thanks, everybody.