Excited to have this conversation about PSA Vault Spotlight auction. They have one running. I don't believe it's the first one, but this is the first maybe heavily promoted auction. So we're gonna get into that. I am joined today by Justin, who's the director of marketplace at Collectors PSA.

Justin, welcome, man. How are you? Thanks. I'm fantastic. Thanks for having me on.

Let's let's talk about Spotlight and some of the things we're doing at Collectors. Excited to share that with the audience. I'm excited too. I have had a lot of conversations with folks at on the Collectors team, and, you know, last year, Marketplace was such a, an initiative, and it's fun to see it come to light. And so we're gonna dive into that.

But let's maybe introduce you, talk a little bit about you, your role, what you're responsible for, and kinda any of your career history that led you to your your current role? Cool. Yeah. I'll give you the the the brief summary here. I got into trading cards, in early two thousand late nineties, early two thousands just as a dealer.

Just, enjoyed the space. Had some friends probably like many of us do that like buying and selling and collecting. So worked as a dealer for a while as I worked in other careers just because I love collecting and dealing. Did that. Then I had the opportunity to join a company called PWCC about 2021, and I worked there on partnerships and corp dev side of the business.

And so I did that for a time period. That was great. Awesome people at that company. Really great customers and collectors obviously involved, and they were innovative with a lot of early utility items that we added to this space. Then I had the opportunity to join a company called Alt, dot x y z, and that's a marketplace, pricing evaluation, dataset tool.

That was cool too. Different experience. I started PwCC was pretty mature at the time, had a lot of different things going really, really well. The business has been built up over, you know, fourteen, fifteen years. And then at Alt, that was a venture backed startup that had raised a significant amount of capital.

They didn't really have a clear direction, so I had the opportunity to go there and help them build a strategic plan and grow their exchange business. I was there for a couple years. And then had the opportunity to join Collectors where I'm at now. I'm really excited about that. The idea around joining Collectors was they've got so many different business units and entities where they can just create great customer experiences, collector experiences, obviously, with the grading, the marketplace side of the business, and there's just so many other things we're working on.

So I was excited to be over here and join this team. I've been here for about seven months now as we innovate and grow the marketplace side of our business. There's, that's quite the run, working in marketplaces. Maybe before we dive into the spotlight auction, I'm just curious, what have you seen over maybe that run just on the marketplace side? Obviously, the industry industry has changed quite a bit.

I mean, we're we're in your moment of all time highs, seeing cards we've never seen before sold across the myriad of, marketplaces. What what is maybe in your run been kinda your primary takeaway on, like, where marketplaces are right now and kind of how they've evolved? Well, I would it's a really good question. I'd say that marketplaces are become the the winning marketplaces, the marketplaces of the future are going to integrate as much utility into the product that they can. And and the less fancy way of saying that is they're gonna give customers the experience to be able to identify how how to buy and sell trading cards with signals, with data, with automation.

They're gonna be able to give customers the experience to not only just vault their cards and have additional card, but also follow them and give them access to the entire journey, whether that be trading, whether that be, poly markets, whether that be, selling, or maybe even just, again, building an index. That's what I'm seeing the marketplaces really start to evolve into. They're starting to become these semi mature tech companies as they evolve and grow. And I think that's really cool for collectors like me and you and other people listening to the pod right now. That's what we want.

We've always wanted it. We've had to utilize other things in the in the real world, I guess, to say shows and, you know, maybe maybe different events that we use to take some of that utility and do that, but the the marketplaces are building and growing towards that. The other thing I'd say is everything moves in cycles. When I first started, you could only really make money in vintage. Vintage was, like, the only thing that you could do, and I didn't really like vintage.

I mean, this is early two thousand. I like hoops. I wanted basketball cards, but there wasn't a ton of money in it. And so you had to get into vintage cards. Well, as we've grown and progressed as a as an overall market, now ultra modern has its own space in the category that does really, really well.

And so if you want that to be your expertise and you just only wanna focus on Joe Burrow and Tyrese Maxey cards, you can do that. You can make money. You can build a great collection. You can have fun. Still, there's a whole vintage market that continues to grow and get hot with new people entering the market.

And then, of course, if that's not your thing and you like modern, you wanna chase modern goats in in basketball, that continues to grow and blow up too. So that's a big difference that I've seen over the last twenty years is that new markets have formed, and the audiences are robust now robust enough now in those markets to sustain them individually. I think that's really cool because when I first started again, I was forced to love vintage baseball. I'm glad it happened. I know a lot about it.

It's a cool segment, but it's not where my heart is, my love. My love is modern basketball. I love it. Appreciate that flyby. That all makes a lot of sense.

And what I wanna do here is maybe talk about just kinda set the table, then we can talk about the spotlight auction and how it's different and maybe then talk about some items that are in the current auction. But Cool. Yeah. What what is for anyone who's unfamiliar or hasn't seen, what is the PSA Vault Spotlight auction? Oh, yeah.

Great question. So the PSA Vault in its excuse me. The PSA Vault in itself, you've got it it's a vault. I mean, it's a vault where you can store your cards. You can access them digitally.

You can utilize our app in my collections that didn't make well, we give the name of the tool within the app to actually sort, filter, value your cards. You can then sell them within PSA offers. You can utilize the set registry, on a different app as well. You can sell them fixed price via eBay. You can sell them via an auction.

And then you can just collect and store and digitally archive your cars in there. So that's what the PSA physical vault feeds into is the PSA app and the my collection portion of our app. So that's how that mechanism works. You see that as well with some other marketplace apps. That's that's what we we offer right now, and we're building more and more utility.

Again, I would say one of the most exciting areas that we continue to build on is PSA offers where you put your card in the vault, appears in my collection, and you receive an instantaneous offer from, one of our, business buyers on the card. So that's always fun. Right? Because you buy a car, you're like, oh, did I buy this well? Or, you know, I love it in my collection, and then you get an offer.

You're like, I don't even wanna sell thing. But guess what? I feel good. Like, I'm justified making a a good purchase decision. So that's great.

And then, again, a lot of us love to play the auction market, and that is we want to buy doubles or triples of some copies because we believe in the card, and then we wanna sell a couple there. We wanna see it do well and perform well, and you can do that from the app as well. So that's that is the PSA Vault and my collection on the PSA app. Spotlight auction was something I've wanted to do for a long time, actually. When I was at Alt, I wanted to partner with eBay and to utilize eBay's reach and infrastructure to sell mid to high end trading cards.

And it's not like I'm creating anything new here. This was done really well with PWCC, you know, five years ago, and I think they did a great job with that. But what I have the ability to do coming to PSA is now I have the access to all graded trading cards when they come through our the grading side of our business. And I've always wanted that to have access to the supply rep and say, I wanna take these cards, and I wanna curate these special events. I wanna give collectors and and people the ability to experience these rare cards that just come out of grading that may not ever come to market or may come to market later.

And so it's my job to work with customers to help them develop a go to market buy sell motions for the cards that they grade, and that's what we're started started doing with Spotlight. So the idea is this. Cards that are valued above $5,000 are gonna be listed in a ten day auction format. They're gonna be heavily curated and marketed throughout all of the channels and the verticals, and we are going to blend in there a mixture of celebrity collections, athlete signed collections, unique, maybe rare cards that come to market from international destinations since we have such international reach now as a company. And those are the cards that we want to showcase in the Spotlight auction so collectors can come and they can see these unique pieces that they really may not see anywhere else on a regular monthly basis.

And, again, it runs for ten days. Cards are curated. They're marketed. They're promoted pretty heavily. And then for this event, which is super cool, we partnered with Sports Card Nonsense to do a closing show live at the Super Bowl, multicast event on eBay live, and we're gonna be promoting some of these pieces.

We're gonna have Steve Smith on the show, which will be cool, Antonio Pierce, and a couple other I'll I'll I'll tease this. Look at some of the cards in the auction. We're gonna have a couple other guests potentially on that are gonna be joining us talking about the trading cards and the experience and what the stories mean to them. So really excited about that. I mean, listen.

I'm kinda living the dream to get to be a part of this and and, not only sell trading cards and and help collectors buy and sell, but, you know, get to interact with a larger audience now with the NFL and the Super Bowl. So I I've I love that. I I think about these worlds we live in as collectors with the cards that we're looking for. And, you know, we either check these major auction sites on their weeklies and see if cars we want are available. All of us check our safe searches on eBay routinely.

And I've always been I've always thought, like, what if these worlds were maybe brought together in a more cohesive fashion where central point, central marketplaces, eBay were want to have eBay do these sorts of events where cards are might be more handpicked, selected, curated, and it sounds like that's what the role you're in and responsible for doing, with collectors. How do you anticipate just from a, like, demand perspective and, like, a collector behavior perspective that collectors realize, like, this is available. This this sort of thing is a routine thing now that the PSA Vault is is, doing. Like, how how long do you think it takes until this really becomes integrated in the process of, collectors as they're going through their workflows to make sure they don't miss any cards on a on a weekly or monthly basis? Well, I hope it happens pretty quickly.

I think that, like anything, you need to prove it out and make sure it works well. And so last Spotlight auction, we've ran one previously. We sold a PSA two, it wasn't it was an okay copy. It's a pretty good copy. But we sold it for $76,000 on eBay.

That was one of our our really solid sales on there. And then we had three or four other really strong record breaking sales. We had a Tom Brady, mirror red PSA 10 go for $37,000, which was significantly higher than the evaluation. So what it's proving out is with with what eBay is actually starting to really put some work into, and they've done a good job, is that you can sell sell mid to high end trading cards, and they will perform at or above market value. And, naturally, that makes sense because I don't I don't know where you started buying trading cards at, but I did on eBay.

That was it. Back in the day when you actually couldn't see pictures and they only you could type out of the listings and text, that's when I started buying trading cards on there. So they've come a long way, and we're proving that out. And they put a lot of work into their payment rails because we know one of the biggest problems in our space are unpaids. And so the payment infrastructure is so good.

I can tell you from the last Spotlight auction, we had about a 100 cards running the last one, and we only had one unpaid. Only one unpaid. And that because of my experience at the other marketplaces where I've been in a leadership role, I can tell you that unpays are still the biggest challenge in our space. And only to have one out of a 100 is really, really good. I'm not always saying that's going to be the case.

But we're again, we're proving out that the rails that eBay's put in place to protect unpaids with some of the things they've been done, like automatic payment, right after purchase, more verification or KYC of bidding, it's actually working. Because this would be normally the category where unpaged would happen, in large troves. So we didn't see that. I also think people just we're used to getting on the eBay app, like, at any point in time that we need, like, a dopamine hit or a stress relief point, and we're just like, boom, scroll because it's still the most user friendly with the biggest amount of reach. It's got the biggest global reach in the world.

Part of that is eBay is one of the biggest companies in the world, and they've actually mastered global shipping. So that's a really, really big deal because, you know, when you're in my role, I get I'm fortunate enough and blessed enough to travel around the world and meet all these different collectors. It's a big part of our space still. The domestic US is important, but you there are a lot of people and a lot of buying power internationally. And if they don't feel like that they can utilize your platform and get their card and actually not even get their card, if they can't feel like they they can declare what they need to declare in customs to get the card and get it fairly at the price point that they purchased that significant time taxes, they won't bid on your platform.

That's been an issue at other marketplaces I've been at. And while you work to sort to solve that, you just don't have the war chest nor the nor the talent and or maybe the the history that eBay has. So that's a big part of why I feel very confident about what we're doing here along again with just the ability. PSA markets really, really well. We've got such a great marketing team.

And so I'm really impressed by what we've done there. And, again, I think it's all tying together to be a really impressive, opportunity for us to bring these cards. And we're gonna add more, right, I mean, we're gonna add a lot more to the spotlight auction. We're gonna add signals to the specific cards, so unique icons that tell you, what the card is, like, if it's the first time to market. If it's a ghost card, meaning the card hasn't been sold in three years, we're gonna add a lot of signals to these different cards, image overlays, better descriptions, better video content.

And so we're gonna even build upon what's been done in the past, but just gives a little little time as we say in, when you're playing hoops, like, you know, just get me in the paint and let me work a little bit. So we're we're sixty days in. Let us work a little bit in the paint, and, we're gonna add some more cool features. At the end of the day, man, I'm like I'm like you. I'm a collector at heart, and I just wanna create a really cool experience where we can bring the best of what's happening out in trading cards that and curate it in such a way where people can have a really great buying and selling experience.

I love it. The I'm thinking about just the marketing team at PSA and traditionally the type of brand activations, things that the team has been marketing and always getting those products and services out in front of people in the most innovate innovative ways as possible. Now I think about this shift in your role, and I'm not here to call you a disruptor. I'm just as I'm looking at the way everything is laid out, I'm like, okay. Well, now the PSA brand is responsible for marketing and selling cards through spotlight auctions like this.

So it's a little bit of a shift maybe in what's been done in the past, I guess. When you are plugging into, like, the the the marketing engine at PSA to work with kinda different stakeholders, like, what has that been like to kinda go from this shift of, hey. We're gonna market this campaign to, you know, try to get more people to grade and submit cards with us to no. We're now we're going to be focusing in on the spotlight auction to highlight some cool cards that we're handpicking and curating. Like, what has that dynamic been like for you and your role working with kinda your internal team?

It's been I mean, it's been awesome. Naturally, we've got just a really great marketing team and people that are really passionate. I mean, you get a job at Collectors, legitimately, it's a dream job. Right? I mean, you're like, I gotta work at Collectors.

I can be around all the trading cards. And so it's been really easy because we've got really smart, talented people. And it's a it's a natural extension, you know, in in a lot of our leadership calls. Matt will talk about the flywheel experience, how that is, something that you you build for your audience, and you wanna be able to support them through every segment of the journey. This is just a natural extension of that is that you grade your cards with us or back it now.

Right? So you grade your cards with us, and then you want to have them marketed, promoted, and listed in the best way possible. And so we're that's why we want to do this. We want to be able to add I keep using that word utility, but, essentially, what it means is that we support you on your entire journey across trading cards. And so the home page for trading cards, and that's we've gotta curate it because we sell something visual, so the images have to be good.

The stories have to be curated correctly. I mean, we probably need another podcast for this, but you and I could probably go on for hours about, like, the stories that we we've either told or told ourselves about buying into a particular card. And to me, that's more important even than what the visuals of the card are sometimes. And so we've got a pretty mature mean, we've got some really great creators in the space now that tell fantastic stories. But those those are usually done on one channel within social media.

And so we've got some ways that we're gonna do that within the spotlight auction too. We're gonna have user generated content on some of their cards. So the user will be able to actually generate their own content story around the card. Because I'll tell you this, Brett. When when I'm buying a card from somebody and it's an important purchase for me, that person usually has their elevator pitch just locked in on why the card's special, rare, unique, or interesting.

And if they do a good job at it, usually it hooks me, and I'm just like, okay. I'm gonna do what it takes to get that particular card. So we wanna bring that to eBay and to our consignors and so you can tell your own unique stories because they're gonna tell them better than I am or you could, candidly, because they're passionate about the cards. I'm excited to get into the current auction. Before we step into that, I wanna ask you.

You mentioned that Brady Mirror Red sale. I remember seeing that hit. It probably hit a card letter graphic, and I was like, that's a bit that's a big sale. So Yeah. First auction, you have headline worthy cards, big sales.

Is there anything from the first Spotlight auction that you learned that you're incorporating maybe into this one? Yes. I great question. Yes. I think that what we found is that you can sell really any category on eBay.

I was somewhat I was somewhat I won't say hesitant because that's not the word. It's not me. But I I was curious to see how high end vintage would perform on eBay. Because, traditionally, when I think of high end vintage, I think of heritage or I think of REA or I think of, you know, some of those other third party platforms out there that have that that vintage audience. But we had a huge audience of Vintage.

And one one one advantage we have, I'm just gonna call it out because it's really a moat for our business, is that we have the set registry. So we can target the entire set registry with a campaign and say, hey. These cards are running. And whether they already own a 52 mail or not, you're gonna get that message to the people that directly are interested in buying those cards. And so I won't say, again, I was hesitant.

I was curious as if to if that would work, and it worked really well. So vintage high end vintage sells really, really well. When historically, over the last ten years, I would say that companies like PWCC, now, you know, Financial Collect or maybe even Golden or Heritage or REA Those guys own that market, but I just if you look at the data, high end vintage does really well on eBay. So I'm I'm geeked about that. I'm really, really excited.

I knew the modern stuff would do fine. I know cards that haven't been sold in five years. You know? A blind squirrel can sell a card a a a important Brady card that hasn't sold in five years. But high advantage, was really, really excited about.

And, yeah, that's what I learned. Awesome. Let's jump into Do you have any learning lessons from me for for it? Any feedback? I think I'm just excite excited that this is happening.

I think I've been and probably anybody from the collectors team who I've worked with over the course of the last two, two and a half years, I have been especially when I've seen collectors and PSA move into more of a marketplace mode, I have thought a lot about, like, I think there's tremendous opportunity to get more specific with how we promote cards on eBay. Right? We're used to events every Sunday, auctions closing. And I've always wanted more curated auctions based on categories that are specific to me. And I just, the more we shrink the c and we do stuff like this, I think it builds better engagement throughout the community.

It gets people excited, then ultimately, like, it ends with typically, card selling for higher than they did last time. So I'm I'm excited about this. I'm excited to talk about this. I've got the auction up right now. And for anyone who is listening to this, this ends on February 7.

So make sure you head on over to we'll have link in the show notes. You head on over to the spotlight auction to check out some of these cards. But let's talk about some of these cards. Like, talk about this auction. What stands out to you?

Like, what are some of these cards that you you wanna highlight? And if you you mention them, I'll try to search them real quick and bring them up on the screen to make it as seamless as possible. Yeah. I think first thing I'll mention that you're looking at on screen right now is kinda cool. A friend of mine, he was Maxi's AAU coach.

Tyrese Maxi's AAU coach, and his son played on his team. And he built the biggest and most robust Maxey collection in the world. I mean, for almost four years, he just spent time building out his Maxey collection. He acquired most of the important ones, I think, other than the rookie logo man. He has most of them.

And so it was a really fun chase. I mean, I went to Indonesia. I went to China. I went to Tokyo, and I got cards for him when I was traveling out there. So he's a really neat guy, and he was Maxi's AEU coach.

And so he then has decided that he's going to sell off. That journey ended. He's gonna sell off a big portion of the collection, and we're gonna list those in Spotlight over the next two or three months. And so for everyone that reaches out to me about the collection, we are going to list it on Spotlight because I have a lot of people that are interested in Tyrese right now the way he's performing and playing. I mean, like, he's probably a top five player in the league right now, and we are listing those.

So you can see a variety of things on there. We've got gold prism rookie. We got a gold shimmer rookie, tie dye. We've got some really interesting, gold, ruby, silver, flawless RPAs. We've got black prisms, three different black prisms, two rookie year, one third year running, in the event.

So it's gonna be a really great way to move more of this collection. And the other unique thing and interesting thing about it is he's built up one on one of the biggest Ron Holland collections. That's another guy he coached in AAU. So, it's really fun when you get the opportunity to participate in these journeys, and we're gonna be bringing most of the Maxi collection to Spotlight auction. So if you're looking for a Maxi card, most likely, we have it in our vault.

That's right. They are going to appear on Spotlight auction. So that's the first thing I'd call out. And, again, you just don't it's cool seeing black come to market. Anytime black come to market or a true black, it's kinda fun to participate in and to see those.

And, again, most of these cards, Brett, where we've been held for the last four years have never ever seen market. So that's why when you look at the Tyrese Maxi market, there's not a lot of comps because they've all been sitting in our vault. So that's the first thing I'd say. Second card I'm really excited about is this 2017, the Panini National Treasures, Patrick Mahomes rookie in a BGS nine five with the Tenado. Now that is the rookie photo shoot patch, but it's numbered out of five.

It's got the rookie year Mahomes signature. Isn't Mahomes rookie year signature awesome? It's just so so nice. It's just beautiful. I know he changed the SIG, but, like, that's just a gorgeous SIG.

It's got a great patch on it, and this card has not sold recently at all either, number to five. I think I said this before, Brett, and I'll just give my read because I'm sure, like you, a lot of people, the two questions they ask me are, hey, Justin. What's this worth, and when should I, you know, buy or sell it? And for me right now, I love Mahomes buys. I think they're brilliant because guy has one down season.

He's 30. He's got three chips. You don't think he's gonna come back and knock out a couple other chips? He's the best quarterback in the league. He's he's right up there with Brady as the best ever.

And his his market's really flat right now because people have short term memories, Brett. And so I'm geeked about this card coming to market. I think it's gonna do really well. It's just a beautiful copy. And, you know, that year as well, they didn't make a vertical RPA from Mahomes and NTs, so they're all horizontal.

And so there is no other option. It's like, you wanna get one of the emeralds, one of the silvers, one of the golds, or do you wanna get one of the low numbered out of fives with a nice grade and a great auto grade, and you got an opportunity to get one here in Spotlight? I wanna hit this card real quick because this is a card that I think traditionally, you would see this one featured in a pre premier auction in a major auction house and maybe would be a card that would be maybe more resistant that the the the owner of the card would sell on a platform like eBay, not disparaging eBay. Like, I work with eBay. EBay is great.

We're all on eBay. But I'm just saying from a price threshold perspective. But we we see it we see it here. And so I think having kind of these spotlight auctions, having brands like PSA and collectors associated with that gives, you know, Collectors confidence that, you know, they can get, you know, top end dollar for their high end card. Like, is this this card to me is kind of like a symbol that this is the direction we're moving, and we're gonna be seeing more of these types of sales on eBay.

Is is this similar or adjacent to kinda your mindset when you see a card like this and where we might be headed with some of these high end cards listed through the vault? It's a it's a perfect bellwether of what we want to bring to the Spotlight auctions and, what we believe we can do. So you're right. There's a perfect representation of that, and there's four or five of those, I'd say, perfect representations. And, again, they're unique.

They're rare. They've historically maybe be featured on a catalog or front page of another marketplace. But, again, we believe so much in our reach, in the relationship that we have with our audience. And I'll say this too, Brett, for people that maybe aren't as familiar with third party marketplaces. When you're running a I've been a part of two of the major ones in leadership roles.

And when you're running a third party marketplace, you have to focus on both the sell side, so the consignors, and then the buy side to actually get the buyers. With eBay, the beauty is is you don't really have to focus all that much on the buy side. The buyers are there. I mean, do you still buy cards on eBay, Bret? Every day almost.

It's it's like, yeah. There's something. Yes. There's something. Right?

Yeah. And me too. Me too. It has been part of my life and always will be probably till I till I hit the grave. But, yeah, I don't have to focus on that.

I can put all of my resources and our team's resources into the sell side, creating better stories, creating better experiences, better curating the card, bringing it to market, better reach an audience. And at the end of the day, this is an awareness and reach strategy. If you get that, you can sell mid to high end trading cards. So oh, green kaboom. We gotta talk about that.

So I just what did I just see? The '25 Josh Allen green kaboom, which was an eBay sale selling for 90 k. So there's obviously a a massive appetite. We all know that for kabooms, but the green kabooms, especially out of 25, are just going insane right now. So, yeah, you've got a Matthew Golden here, rookie from the Green Bay Packers.

Is this one of those cards that you were thinking about that maybe wouldn't typically be a part of something like this but now is? Yeah. I'll I'll explain the theory behind this, Brett, for the audience is, generally, people chase comps. So if they see a cards I'll give you an example. I sold and the opportunity to sell and partner with the guy that pulled the, Brock Purdy, Black Finite one of one.

Really neat guy. He got on the backyard in the morning at, like, six in the morning because he's in the military. So he's getting up before he goes, and he does his his physical training. Gets on there. He hits the Brock Purdy one of one.

Yeah. I got the opportunity to talk to him and to sell the card when I was previously at another platform. And after that sold, guess what? Every Brock Purdy owner was like, hey. I wanna sell my Brock Purdy cards with you, which is what we do in our space.

Right? I mean, we all do it. I do it. You do it. And so what's cool about this is there's been some big green kaboom sales going on all over the market.

And so this one, I had to just really sell the idea that we've got the reach, and it's not selling it. It's just the truth that's authentic. We've got the reach of collectors. We've got the reach of now the Super Bowl audience, NFL Network, NFL, eBay Live. We've got all these different channels that we're gonna get the most reach for.

And already, this is going to be the highest Matthew Golden sale of any one of his cards of all time. And we'll see where it ends at, but it's pretty cool. Green kabooms. I missed that one, man. I don't know.

Do you have any green kabooms? I'm I'm not a kaboom guy. Not anything against it, but it's just I'm more of a a a base set parallel type of a collector. But, you know, we I have another show, and we we talk about whenever we see one of these big sales, we gotta enter the Kaboom room, and we gotta talk about and break it down. So, it's hard hard to ignore what's happening on the Kaboom side of the I said they were dumb when they first came out.

So I'm here eating my words right now, but I because they're really cool now. I want one really bad, and I can't afford one for the price to come out. So Oh my. That was a miss by me, but listen. I owe my misses, and and that was one.

But what a cool card. So I think we have to keep going and talk about the autograph collection. These are so cool. If you look up if you look up right now, Tom Brady autograph collector. There's one right there.

We'll talk about that. That's the 2,000 SPX, which is it's an authentic card, but a 10 auto, and it's inscribed. So that is such a cool cool card. And these we're gonna continue to bring these to market. So we partner with the athletes, a variety of different athletes, and they inscribe cards.

We then authenticate them, and this is gonna be the channel and vertical that we sell them in. And for this particular card, Brett, I to be totally honest with you, the 58, 36, 38, those were the scores. Is that right? The maybe the the Super Bowl let's know the wins, the the years, the Super Bowls that they want he won. Super Bowls that they want.

Thank you. There's a couple of them in here. But no. So, I mean, cool piece. Don't I know if I've ever seen this card come to market.

Of course, know SPX. It's one of Tom Brady's best rookie cards. But this has got a 10 auto, which is tough, and it's inscribed. One that I gotta talk about that's running right now that is running in parallel is if you type in Tom Brady actually, go to the natural search, if you don't mind real quick, because this will be helpful to us. Just type up there Tom Brady jets suck.

Doing this in real time. There it is. So we got this one running too if you'll click on it. This is a super cool card. I'm gonna get the audience hyped up at the Super Bowl.

We're gonna be having jets suck chant. So this is this is gonna o five upper deck Tom Brady card that he had signed, and it says, Jet Suck Go Pats, autographed by Tom Brady. And the card itself is is cool. It's part of Tom's collection. So Tom got this card from upper deck, the manufacturer at the time.

He had it, and then he inscribed it with one of the classic Pats saying jets suck, and I love it. I'm a you know, I went to grad school in Boston. I'm not from Mass originally, but I'm a Pats fan. I've got listen. It's a weird Super Bowl for me, Brett, because I live in Washington State, longtime Seahawk, season ticket holder.

But I really gravitate towards the Pats because just living in Mass and going to grad school there. I love Tom Brady, so it's a repeat of the the former ones. But I'm gonna get the I'm gonna get the audience hyped up. We're gonna be yelling jet chanting jet suck. That's a really cool card.

Again, I don't think I've ever seen that card come to market. But if you're a diehard Pats fan or you love Tom Terrific, what a great card to to own. That's that's incredible. Yeah. We're seeing some unique inscriptions.

That's for sure. Is there is there maybe one or two more cards you wanna hit? Yeah. I think I think so. I think are you primarily a you primarily collect football, don't you, Brad, or are you a basketball fan as well?

I get I primarily football, some basketball. I also dabble in wrestling cards. Oh, you do? Primarily Okay. Football is my my primary.

Yeah. I thought I thought from your collection, I remember over the years you you love football. Well, we we've got some great, obviously, ultra modern football and scribe cards here, but I don't I think we actually need to give a shout out to some of the really great modern basketball cards. So we have the '98 Skybox premium autographics. Really tough card right there.

It's they give you right above No. Here we go. The Rodman? Yeah. It's Dennis Rodman.

Yeah. The Dennis Rodman. Is a hand numbered out of 50. It's the blue ink signature on it. There's only there's a pop three card, so there's only, three of these, none higher in the world.

And, the total PSA pop is five on that card, which is really kind of a cool tool. When you go on eBay, you can see the pop real quick. But that card, is a ghost is what I call it because it hasn't sold in over three years when it comes to market. Generally, you know, the people on Instagram that chase these day and night. They want them to tuck them away in their collection.

They become cards, and people don't really see them again. So it's fantastic. The thing I wanna say about this, I picked this card up along with another one, you don't mind pulling it up. We'll call it the sign of it's the sign of the times, Jordan Gold, s o t t gold. Thank you.

These cards came from a customer and friend that I've known for many years. Keep going up. And I know know this. That's a UD black. There we go.

Right there. Here we go. Yeah. Another really rare, highly desirable Jordan autograph card from '98 SP Authentic, one of his earliest, you know, sets in which he autographed. And so this customer lives in Indonesia, and I got the cards when I was in Macau from him.

We got them graded, and we're gonna be launching a lot of their collection. Here's what their story is. His Instagram name is yellow egg collectibles. Fantastic guy. But his uncle bought a bunch of wax in the early two thousands in in Indonesia.

And the goal was this. He was an accountant, and he identified that if I bought wax and I gifted it, I didn't have to pay taxes on it. And so they have a they have a huge trove of late nineties, early two thousand grails that are still raw, that we are going to grade over time, and we are gonna release them into the market and spotlight auction. And so this is part of that collection. That's the honey hole for someone like you in your role.

That is. It is the honey hole. Absolutely. So, yeah, I met with him and Macau when I was out there at that show, got some of the items created, and sign of the times gold was one of them, the autographics, Dennis Rodman, so we're running both those in this event. We got two or three other great Jordan inserts here.

So, again, UD Black. I think last thing I'll cover before we we probably leave is the 2,000 playoff contenders autograph rookie ticket Tom Brady of BGS nine ten. We just saw a couple of these run. This card is getting a run up again. I mean, this card is starting to be heavily desired again.

This is BGS nine ten auto. People really want the nice 10 auto on this particular copy, And we've seen a couple sales recently on this. This would be a card that historically you would probably sell to third party marketplace, but it is doing really well on eBay right now. What's it at already? 48,000.

So, I mean, it's doing really, really well where we currently pace, and we've got, what, four more days until the Super Bowl close. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe Tom will come talk about this card. We'll have to wait and see, but another card that you would generally see at one of the third party marketplaces that people consigned here because they believe in the reach of what we're doing.

Incredible collection of cards. I'm excited to see where these ones end up. Any anything further about this auction, like we mentioned, ends February 7. Anything else you wanna highlight? I'm sure just as these keep getting pushed forward, I would love to continue the conversation and be able to talk about cool cards being sold through the vault.

So anything you wanna highlight before we get out of here? No. Nothing more other than I would just state that if you wanna be a part of the Spotlight auction or you're looking forward to vaulting your cards within our our infrastructure, the next Spotlight auction is on going to be on the February 27, and we're gonna have two different events that time. We're gonna have a Pokemon Day on the twenty seventh, TCG spotlight auction, and a trading card spotlight auction. And we've got over 75,000 customers that utilize our vault, which is such a massive number when you think about customer base in other marketplaces that the reach in the audience is there for these cards.

And so, watch the closing. Check us out at the Super Bowl on the seventh. We're closing from five to 6PM on eBay live. We'll be covered on Instagram, Facebook, and other networks as well. Should be a really cool event.

Amazing stuff. Justin, great chatting with you. Well done on putting this auction together. Excited to see where everything lands and looking forward to having another one of these conversations down the road. Awesome.

Thanks a lot. Appreciate you having me. Doctor.

Alright. We have a fun conversation today. We have been back and forth talking about doing this for a while, and maybe the the catalyst for this conversation I was just telling today's guest was I spend a lot of time digging through data and digging through nineties sales and cards and love listening to content. I'm very curious about what's happening with nineties, and there's not a collector who I'd rather have this conversation with than, my good friend, Andy, who goes by at buybuy baby cards on Instagram. So we're we've got a lot.

This is gonna be dense, but I think you, the listener, will really appreciate this whether you collect nineties, you don't collect nineties, you're interested in nineties. But without further ado, Andy, how's it going, man? How's it going? It's going well, Brett. You know, I I worry for you.

Anytime you DM me to come on a a pod, I think you've reached rock bottom in terms of the talent cesspool barrel. Right? You know? This could be marking the end, or maybe this is the bottom and you rise with with whoever you bring on next. But, anyways, doing good.

Doing good. How are you doing, buddy? Super Bowl week. Happy Super Bowl week. Yeah.

How, how close are you to the action? I'm about ten minutes away. With Bay Area traffic, that's probably two hours. Right? You know?

But, yeah, probably about ten minutes away, Santa Clara. You know? So it's gonna be interesting. I was it's funny because look. I I work in real estate.

Yeah. I'm a realtor. Right? I'm one of those guys. Right?

Trust me. I hate myself too. So don't worry about it. But there's a lot of, like, people, like, renting out their houses, right, for this event. Right?

And the World Cup's gonna be here too and and everything like that. And some of these modest houses are getting, like, 10 k for a week or or whatever it is. It's insane, right, and and, and everything. But, yeah, there's a lot of energy and buzz in various parts of the city right now. You know?

It's a complete nightmare to have, my divisional foe in my backyard playing in the Super Bowl. You know, it was it was terrible. It's gonna be either the seahawks or the rams in the Super Bowl. Right? So that's already sucks.

Right? But then, I heard that whoever won the game, the locker room they were gonna be in the Super Bowl is the forty niners locker room. Right? So they're gonna be like like Chappelle, Rick James, you know, just just messing up the couches. They're probably gonna find, like, this secret hidden Bill Walsh, you know, playbook thing buried in the wall.

Right? We're just it's just like this is a complete nightmare situation. Somebody I I drove by the stadium, and there's this fat Sam Darnold sort of, like, poster outside of it. Right? You know?

So, yeah. So picking the Patriots? That's the other thing. It's it's like, the Patriots just they haven't suffered enough. Right?

I don't want either. Can they can they both tie or something? But I I I I mean, I couldn't I couldn't do the seahawks, so I guess I guess it'd be the pats. Yeah. Yeah, man.

It's I'm definitely interested in how it's going to shake out. It I I'd love your sentiment, and we we have a lot of Patriots listeners. They haven't suffered enough. It's like Mahomes isn't there, and all of a sudden, the Patriots are back. It's like, give me a break.

It's it's not fair. It is really not fair. No. So I'm living in I'm living in hell, literally in hell, ten minutes away, you know? Well, you're living in hell, but we're gonna talk about some cool cards.

And Yeah. This is I was sharing I was telling you before I hit record, I thought this was interesting. And maybe, like, this isn't on our, like, agenda, but you sent me a DM. And I feel like this is the type of stuff we're gonna kinda be talking about. But maybe just as, like, a a context jumping off point, there were a couple sales this week that you highlighted you sent to me, and one was the 97 finest embossed Barry Bonds die cut refractor.

This sold for 20,400, and you told me as a bonds collector and aficionado, like, this is the twelfth highest public Berry bond sale of all time, excluding his eighties cards. Wild grade premium up 13 in nine months. Great card, but wild pop six. And then you contrast that by sharing me the Griffey sale on a PSA 10, which is just the refractor. And that's selling for $18,600.

So this is like you sent me that, and I was like, this is, like, the the spirit of, like, the conversation I I wanna have because there's so much nuance and so much going on in nineties across all the categories. But I don't know. Like, before we get into you and your collection, like, those two sales, like, talk about them. Like, how do you absorb all that? Yeah.

First of all, phenomenal cards. I think that I that that bonds is I mean, that's a that's a major card for any, big bonds collector, and the Griffey too, but especially the I mean, if you look at that one, know, it's got him full swing. It says the word power on it. Right? You know?

And it says and they're they're they're tough to come by. They're delicate. So, you know, I get some of the the premium with sort of the grade. And it's you know, I missed out on it. I think there was a raw copy that sold for around 7 k, I think, sometime last year, and I finished second.

I know the guy who got it. He's a great collector too. But I, yeah, I look at those sales, and I'm I'm I just, I wonder, you know, like, the the grade premium for some of the nineties stuff. Right? I think it's moving beyond just a set collector looking for a highest you know, the the PSA set registry sort of thing, and I I feel like some of this nineties stuff is being treated as if, like, it was vintage.

Right? You know? When I look at an unnumbered copy of that or, like, even a card, say, with 50 copies or a 100 copies, as a collector myself, not too concerned about sort of the long term value of some of this stuff. Obviously, I want everything to go up or whatever it is, but I want the lowest graded, shittiest copy I can find of that, right, at the cheapest price. Right?

There's a 100 copies of this thing. There's 50 copies of this thing. Now I don't want it to look tattered and completely, you know, demolished. But, you know, when I look at that, you know, and I and I know a lot of collectors like myself that share this sentiment where I'm just not gonna pay that much of a premium for the grade on some of this stuff. Right?

And so to see a card like the PSA 10 to be in less than a year of that bonds went up 13 k and then even the Griffey, you know, the lesser sort of parallel too, it's just kinda wild to me. It is wild. And I feel like you're someone who is actively building your collection, and it's evolving. And there's a lot we're gonna get into. I remember I I I saw your account when it, like, it popped up, and I was like, these are some great cards.

And then it was, like, maybe a couple months later, you were on the precious metal, Jen's podcast. Hopefully, that show at some point comes back because I really enjoyed listening to it. But I remember listening to it, and you were describing kind of your collection and what you're building. Maybe for listeners who didn't listen to that episode describing, I remember you talking about, like, basketball is crazy, expensive. I'm a basketball fan, but, like, there's these opportunities with football and baseball, and I have a strong connection with baseball and football.

Maybe, like, help the listeners understand kinda, like, when you got back and kind of what was going on in your life and the approach that you took with building your nineties collection. Yeah. I I it was probably around twenty nineteen, twenty twenty when I got back, and it was really I didn't know what what the focus was. Right? I, you know, I think as a kid, when I was collecting in the late nineties, definitely, basketball, especially during that Jordan sort of time period, was high on, what I loved.

Right? You know? But also baseball and football. Right? You know?

But I think when I got back in, you know, there was sort of a drive to collect Jordan in basketball and everything like that. But I think I was sort of forgetting that there was other sort of, parts of me that I I I love about collecting in terms of the other sports, right, and the other teams and the other players and everything like that. But what I was noticing was just how expensive these nineties, basketball cards were relative to baseball and football, and and they all shared very similar sort of sets. Right? You know?

And, you know, my drive was was to sort of chase nostalgia, right, to to, sort of capture an era, right, of of my youth with my collection. Right? And that wasn't just basketball. Right? You know?

And and I felt it was getting crazy when I was looking at PMGs of Todd Fuller going for three, four k, and I'm just like, what am I what are we doing here? Right? You know, when you had guys like a a Chris Carter going for, you know, $500, right, and everything. Right? And I felt you know?

And and, you know, I'm blessed, you know, in the barrier to have teams that have been very successful with with very, goat level players. Right? There's a blessing and a curse. Right? It's it's fun to to to to collect and chase guys like that, but it's also expensive too.

Right? You know? But, so maybe I didn't have Jordan to sort of collect. Right? But I have Jerry Rice.

I have Barry Bonds. I have guys like Steve Young, these these fantastic players to go after. And I also you you know, what I couldn't do in basketball because, basically, financial sort of reasons, I could do in in in in baseball and football. I could really capture that era, right, by collecting not only of my guys and the teams that I love, but also the other great players of that era and time. Right?

And I think that you know, when I when I started to really focus on that more in 2022, I I think you can see that sort of blossom within my collection on the players, the wide range of players that I collect, but also specific sets in terms of its aesthetics and rarity and different things like that. So that's that was kind of my drive towards football and baseball in particular. Now it doesn't doesn't mean I'm I'm not actively seeking maybe a basketball sort of lane. It's just probably gonna be very selective in terms of how I do that. You know?

And it probably actually would be more modern, to be honest. It'd probably more towards the current era of Warriors basketball, right, you know, with Curry and Clay and all those guys and and everything. But, again, very expensive stuff. You I've I've observed you kind of go high and wide in the category and across multiple sports. And Yep.

Anybody who's seen your Instagram will see, like, every once in a while, you'll put out, like, the collage drop of just, like, a set you're building or a player PC. And it's it's crazy, and it always gets a reaction because I think collectors aren't used to seeing all those cool nineties cards altogether in one shot. So when you set off and you said basketball's too expensive, I'm gonna collect nostalgia in baseball and football, do like, what was your approach intentional? Like, did you have a strategy? Was it just, like, buy cards from sets, buy players?

Did and and then I know it's changing a little in real time. Like, how has what you set out to do kind of evolved over the years? Well, I think with anything, right, whether whether the you know, what and let's let's just preface this. My style of collecting my opinions and everything is it works for me. Right?

Like, there's no right or wrong way to collect here. Right? So, if you can get some nuggets in terms of what how I collect and you find meaning in that and that sticks with you, great. Right? But what I say here is never there is no right path here.

Right? And so, to that point, I you know, even then when I made the shift and even in general. Right? Like, research and and knowing sets and brands and understanding those type of things is very important. Right?

And and that shift for me even now has gone into a significant hyperdrive where it's almost especially when I you know, the focus is a little bit more on rarity, right, and true rarity and different forms of rarity. Right? And so what comes with that is spending a lot of time researching and and funneling it. Right? And so I think for me, you know, the the focus was, okay.

What sets do I find important in the hierarchy and catalog of these players? Right? Where also a lot of some of these guys were featured in too. Right? You know?

And when I look at that, obviously, I think first are sort of important. Right? So I look at, like, what what were the sets in '97? What were the sets in '98? Right?

You know? And so for, like, football in particular, you know, like, I love rubies. There's no there's no, you know, Skybox. I love that the football card pod keeps giving it so much love on it too. I've I've absolutely.

I I love I'm cards. Yeah. I I think they're apps they are works of art. You know, they're, like, one of the only cards that scan extremely well too. You know?

They could you can hang them up, and they just look beautiful, and they're even better in hand, obviously, in terms of how they're sort of this living art. But I love you know, if you look at the if you look at the, like, the rubies, it's it's it's the first year of it. Right? You know? They're beautiful.

The scarcity is there and everything like that, and they have a checklist of basically, you know, all those guys that you can sort of collect and capture of a certain era era. Right? You know? So I think it's I think it's that. I think a lot of a lot of the drive is sort of reset research focused, and then also coupled with rarity and what I think is significant and beauty and all that sort of mesh into one.

You know? You said research, and I think research is so underrated because so many people are so so many collectors are transactional with how they think. Like, they see someone post something, and they're like, oh, well, I need something similar or adjacent. But I've always found that, like, when you research and you start to understand, like, where there's nuance with certain cards. Like, when you think about research and your approach and your philosophy to buying the cards that are in your collection, like, do you do you are you researching every card you're buying?

Like, what's your kind of process? Like, anything on the research side that you wanna share? I think for the most part, yeah, I think, most part, I'm researching pretty much at this at this stage in the game every card I'm buying. Now sub cards, I don't need to do too much research or whatever, especially if it's a if it's a lower priced card, you know, I, and it just hits or something. Right?

You know, I'll buy it. And there's nothing wrong with that. Right? You know? But, yeah, I think, because for me, I'm trying to find multiple sort of areas of where they where meaning is, right, you know, not just in terms of what, the loudest brands are or what people are telling me is important, right, or what I know.

But, you know, I'm trying to link, why this is important, right, within, the the context of the hobby in terms of of where it sort of sits in terms of time, where it sits in in terms of rarity, and then where it sits with me too. Right? You know? I think it's one thing to just collect rarity or something like that, with a singular focused storage. What came first?

You know? How much the print run is there? Right? You know? What's the, sort of lineage of it too?

But I think, you know, there's still an element to what's significant to you. Right? You know? So to me, I think there's still a blend of that in terms of of what I focus. But, yeah, I think research is is absolutely vital for where I'm going in my collection today, but also just in general.

Right? And, also, that's part of the fun of this. Right? It's it's it can't just be a transactional thing. I think those that are curious about cards and deeply passionate about them, they should be passionate about the history of these cards too and why they're important and why they're worth so much money.

Right? And why if someone like me is paying this much money for it. Right? You know? I think there has to be more than just that.

Right? You know? And so, yeah. I wanna dig into you said you're you're buying stuff that, you know, you're you're leaning into what matters Yeah. For you alongside kind of the historical context.

And I think this is certainly not exclusive to nineties. It's happening on the ultra modern side. It happens in vintage. But, like, all of a sudden, like, there is this groundswell where, like, enough collectors hold and own a specific type of card where it's, like, all of a sudden, like, that card has status. And this doesn't just happen overnight.

It happens over decades. And I've heard, like, this maybe bucking of the trend through other people that I kind of interact with. One, for instance, is, like, I hear Chris Hoch talking about, like, Jordan collecting and how, like, there's the tears and how everyone just swarms to the tears, and everyone's working kinda through their existence to try to move up to the tears where there's opportunity outside of the tiers that no one's talking about. Like, how do you think about that with a category like nineties? Obviously, like, you have very recognizable, very brand oriented PMGs, rubies, 24 karat golds in your collection.

But, like, how do you consider all the factors from, like, leaning into what is already established kind of versus, like, going off and trying to venture out and collect something that maybe is less discovered? Yeah. I mean, I'm definitely in the in the less the refinement and less discovery stage. And and, you know, I'd be remiss to not give credit to Chris McGill. You know?

I mean, I think I was already heading down a path of this rarity thing, and I think he's just sort of contextualized it even more for me. And I've really sort of applied a lot of that thing. And it's really excited me, in terms of collecting them that I've been in a long time. Right? I'm discovering cards that, on the surface, it may not seem important.

But, when you look at it in the context of a player's catalog or something, they they actually are. Right? You know? And I'm I'm talking about brands even like, Collectors Edge or, Score. Right?

You know? Or, oh my god, Pacific Omega. For some reason, that has been that has become a drive for me to find these EO portrait one zero ones of my guys. And they you know? And I think they're beautiful cards, but they're have lineage.

They're they're they're just these sleeping giants. When you turn off some of that noise, there's some of these these cars that are just not talked about at all. Right? Now that doesn't mean I don't appreciate your PMGs, the 50, your your, your ECs, you know, your central credentials and your rubies and all that stuff. Right?

They they have their there's a reason why they have staying power. Right? You know? And and, there's a reason why I still like to collect them. But I just in terms of me and where I'm at these days, I just don't, lean into them and giving them too much, as importance as I once did.

Right? I think easy it's it's it's easier for these multiple print run copy cards to to, come out as the best copies, right, because there's more people who own them. Right? When you own these nineties one zero one cards, you're kind of on an island. Right?

You know? You kinda have to defend it yourself in a way. Right? You know? Where, you know, if you've got a cop a Jordan, PMG to 50 or whatever it is, you've got probably 30 other guys ready to go to bat for it.

Right? You know? So, yeah, it's it's it's it can be lonely collecting nineties one o ones, I guess. What would you say currently in your collecting year Andy collecting nineties one zero one. Would you say you're you're in, like, a pivot point within your own collecting and, like I don't know.

Like, if if if if yes, then what does that what does that mean for how you approach, you know, your collection building process? Yeah. It's funny because even because I talk to, like, Chris all the time. Right? And, you know, I gave him shit when he made that power deck, trade.

And I was like, dude, I'm molt metal all day and this and that. Two months later, like, especially as I started shifting in terms of my ideas on how I'm viewing things. Right? He made the best trade ever. I've I've I would've done that trade all day.

Right? You know? My love for even that PowerDeck card has grown tremendously as I've I've researched things like for Jerry Rice and bonds and even things like that. And I recently made a move very similar in terms of or I actually parted ways with with my bonds, molt metal, and one other card for a rice card and stuff. So it was a smaller scale in terms of value and different things like that, but it's it's wild to see sort of that change.

But, yes, I even look at these collages that I make, right, and everything. And as as cool as they are in terms of a a wonderful representations of of nineties cards and visually and and scarcity wise and and production manufacture wise, I I I some of them I I look at them very differently now, right, because my emphasis is so strongly on rarity, that, you know, a lot of these cards aren't as rare. Right? And they can be obtainable at any time throughout the course of your lifetime. Now whether at what price, who knows?

Right? But you'll never have any shortage of being able to collect a lot of these cards. Right? And so what what excites me is finding the cards that, really don't have those opportunities. Right?

And a lot of those come from some of the the the the the quietest brands as well, you know, which is very exciting to me. Right? The overlooked brands. Right? You know?

So, yeah, so there's there's a lot of things that could dramatically change within the quantity of my collection. Right, you know, as I've as I as a as if if certain opportunities present themselves. Yeah. I want to kinda and listen to you talk through that. I think one of the things in going the one of one route that you can control is the ability for that card to transact.

Because if you've got the only copy, it can't be resold unless you make the decision. And one thing I've observed in just nineties is especially basketball or football and baseball as the category continues to take off and explode is you'll see a card that you haven't seen before, 50 copies transact multiple times over the course of, like, a three month span when it before that, it was, like, you know, twelve, eighteen months this card transacted. Like, what I know that rubs a lot of collectors the wrong way to see these cards continually come up, but, like, they're fifty, ninety nine, 100 copies of these. Like, how how when you see that stuff take place, especially if it's cards of that you have in your collection, like, what goes on in your head when you're seeing cards that were once rare and scarce to you now get kinda kicked around on the auction block? Yeah.

A a long time ago not a long time ago, but I what I, you know, what I kinda quickly realized is, you know, when you have people telling you, these cards never come up. Well, you know what? Like, until they do. Right? And and and they do in nineties.

Right? Especially when you have copies like this. Right? And especially when you start getting sales that command sort of those numbers. They will come out.

Right? You know? I also like, I used to be much more agitated and furious about, like, sort of that, these cards resurfacing, right, more against that ecosystem part of things. Right? But now I I I don't I don't it doesn't bother me as much anymore, and I think that's a that's a healthy place.

It's part of this collecting experience. Right? So you have to deal with that. Right? But yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it's let's for instance, you know, like, the Manning 24 k t, right, you know, or even the Barry Sanders 24 k t. Right? These, they they were never transacting publicly so much, and now you've seen them in such a shorter period of time pop up different copies too. Right?

You know? So I my advice on that is just to be sort of patient on it because I think you'll have opportunities for those cards. Right? I think also in this area, a lot of times those are going to people are buying those cards probably not to to to to hang on them so much. Right?

So I think you'll have opportunities there. Sure. It somewhat annoys me that they're they're because they they are supposed to be these rare and scarce cars, and they shouldn't be transacting like this, especially when there was such a lapse of three, five years before one first appeared. Right? You know?

Poor Marino EC now. Right? You know? You know? So Is that is that the mascot of this?

Oh, man. Jeez. It's so crazy to me. Right? Yeah.

Again, look. You know? Take the '24 k there's 24 copies. Take the PMG. There's 50 copies.

Take Marino. There's eight copies. You know? It is it that rare? I don't know.

Right? You know? And so yeah. So I don't know. I'm not that agitated or anything by it, but my my my stance on it is here is to not just think that a card like that won't appear again.

It'll probably appear again pretty soon. Right? So you don't need to make some aggressive play if it's if the price or something like that is too high. You know? Is that something you stopped doing when a card pops up with multiple copies and, like, you would be one of the two people in the bidding war because you wanted that card right now?

Is that, like, restraint you have shown through your, like, maturation in the nineties category that, like, you stop doing that unless it's like a a a gym masters or something like that? Totally. Yeah. I I and I I I don't I'm better at sticking to the restraint. Now that doesn't mean I don't cave in.

Right? Maybe this card won't appear again. Maybe this card of 50 won't appear again. You know? But, yeah, I think I think restraint in knowing your financial sort of situation is important and and and and and sticking to a value of what you think that card is worth as well is important.

And then, obviously, restraint within your your own collection is important too. Right? You know? Not having to buy every single card. Right?

Like, having a more focused PC sort of approach with thing. But, yeah, I've I've I've definitely grown and and I've gotten a lot better at that. You know? But then even, like like, for instance, like, you know, there's the Jerry Rice, PMG Green at Heritage Mhmm. At Octane.

I'm like, oh, there's 15 copies of this card. Right? There's there's more. Right? You know?

But cards like that, you know you know, they're really those are really scarce and tough to find. Right? So so we'll see how the restraint sort of goes on that end. I think you need that card. I'm just gonna too.

Right? You know? Even though okay. There's yeah. 14 copies too many.

You know? Some would say right? You know? Definitely, Josh would say that. You know?

But but when you look at the scarcity of it, right, there's, like, two PSA copies. I know of of one raw copy. It just it it's it's a lot more scarce than the print run. Right? And then when you look at the significance of the brand, right, you know, the the year it takes place, right, and and that sort of thing, it's a it's a major Jerry Rice card.

Now I just don't know where it's gonna go price wise. That Heritage auction is insane. Insane. You know? So, yeah.

And it's a fun one to watch. Right? You know, those Jordan that Jordan Ultra is such an the the '90 you know, the the the 97 Ultra card and and and everything. I mean, there's it's it's a beautiful auction for sure. Is.

It's crazy. The we're gonna talk about some of your favorite cards before we jump into those cards. I I wanna I I think and it's I love this about the hobby, and we're using Chris as an example again. But Chris documented his trade, and we talked about this power deck trade. He documented his trade of with Stanley and the whole shebang.

And, you know, it was very good content because he was talking about his reasonings and his evolution. When you think about, like, that trade that he made, which, you know, if you put an Instagram poll up at the time, maybe, like, 90% probably said, Chris, you're out of your mind, like, and 10% said, like, I get what you're doing. Like, is there any sort of move that you've made, like, within the last, you know, few months that maybe isn't a replica of of that trade, but it's, like, decisions you made to acquire a card that, like you know, a year ago, you'd be like, no way I'm gonna go, like, sacrifice cards to get this card. Is there anything that stands out? Yeah.

I mean, kinda what I alluded to earlier. You know? Like, so for instance, that the '98, Ultra Jerry Rice, '98 Greats masterpiece. Right? You know?

I probably probably a year and a half ago, I would have viewed that card. It's a subset. You know? There isn't that much change in terms of the one on one design and everything like that. I would have sort of viewed it, a lot differently than I do today.

Right? You know? And so, you know, over the past sort of year and change as I as I've, you know, really started this path of of more rarity and and and everything like that in a different context of rarity, I look at a car like that. Right? And it's you know, Rice only has, you know, four one o ones in 1997.

Right? Ultra comes in '98 for football. Right? And then, you know, nine in 1998, Rice has, like, forty two one o ones. Right?

And then within that, what are you know, you've got Ultra, one of the biggest brands. Right? You know? And he's got the base masterpiece, and he has he has this subset 98. It's great masterpiece, right, which Jordan also has, you know, in his.

Right? So linking that sort of, cross sports ecosystem world is is is also kind of magical in itself. Right? So I look at that, and I I I was looking at the importance of that as one of Jerry Rice's first one on ones from one of the biggest brands, from the nineties. Right?

And it just it just grew in terms of its importance and meaning to me within his his catalog. Right? And so, you know, you know and I and I had I I think I traded a a Bonds the Bonds Molten Metal fusion, right, which I love that card. Right? You know?

I wish he had a better action pose on it, you know, but it's okay. He's kinda sitting sitting kinda fielding. I don't know. You know? I don't know I don't know who chooses these things sometimes.

But it's just a beautiful rare card, and and I I did I parted ways also with a a Maddox 24 k t as well for it. And I probably would have never, year and a half ago, would have ever thought of doing that. Right? But I I I did it pretty easily. Right?

And, yeah, and that's kind of the focus for me right now. You know, I would definitely you know, I I look at some of these essential credential cards, and I I have got I've got some in really high grade, and I look at some of those prices and stuff. And and I know that I can just get those cards later down the road, and a lot of my approach would be to shift out of some of that stuff, right, you know, if the right opportunities came to them. So it doesn't mean I don't think these cards are beautiful or anything like that. I don't think they I I I don't think that they don't have importance within the hobby.

It's just my focus right now is not putting too much emphasis and weight on those type of cards, you know, especially for the value that they fetch. I always find it interesting just as a collector myself, these moments we have where it's like, we look at our collection, and it's like, man, these cards are my favorite. I'm not gonna move these. And then stuff takes place, whether it's content, whether it's our own discovery, whether it's research where we, a year from now, are, you know, packing up 10 cards because there's something else that we're chasing. Do do you find do you find that that moment of change?

Do you find that, exciting, healthy? This is the way collecting is supposed to be. Like, how do you process, like, that change that you're currently going through to make decisions that you would have thought you were crazy for making, you know, probably a year ago? Change first of all, change is good and healthy. You don't have to stick in one lane.

Right? Like, yeah, I collect nineties, but I also collect some modern stuff. Right? It has to have some sort of stickiness and everything like that. But it's okay to change.

Right? I think some people get stuck in some sort of pigeonhole that they think they have to just collect this forever, right, without real meaning attached to it. Right? I think when there's so much conviction in terms of why you're changing, it's not stressful or scary at all. Right?

You know? I I've I've I've done the research, and I continue to do the research, and and I and it's it's really exciting. Right? Like, it's it feels like I've just opened up a new portal into something that, for some reason, I wasn't thinking about this as much, right, you know, before. And so I there there isn't so much stress.

It's it's it's it's less acquisitions. It's more refinement. Right? You know? It's more patience.

It's more calm. Right? You know? So it's all that, I would say. And it's I I can see how somebody, if they're they're shifting out of some of these cards, would be like, what are you doing?

Right? You know? But but, again, when the conviction towards this lane and this path that you're heading on is so strong and you feel very passionate about it, it it doesn't seem crazy at all. You know? It it it seems to make sense, within the context of of what I like and and and everything like that.

So, yeah, that's kinda where I'm at. Yeah. I promise one more stage setter before we show your cards, but I I was thinking about this as we're preparing to talk about these cards. And I will talk get into the stories of acquisition and just, like, whether they were auction, private deals, this and that. But these cards that your your desire you desire right now, like, I'm assuming a lot of them, like, you know they exist because of a checklist and but you maybe have never seen these cards.

I feel like nineties cards are stashed away in these collections from people that maybe are anonymous, maybe aren't, but it just feels like a lot of these cards, like, you hear people talk, and it's like, we've never seen this card before. Maybe some are in packs. I think that's all always, like, the fantasy. But, like, what this community, like, nineties collectors who are, like, around our age, who have these insane collections, like, where are these cards? Are they are they mostly just stashed away somewhere?

And the game for you is to try to understand, like, who has the cards and then reverse engineer your way to, like, trying to have a conversation with someone to to pry those out because you've got this treasure trove of other nineties grails that you're willing to part with. Like, what's the game? Like, what does it look like? It's exactly that. You know, obviously, there's gonna be some, more public bigger fishes out there that have some of these things.

Right? But a lot of this stuff is just sort of buried away, with with people, who are not that public. Right? You know? Some of the some of the it's interesting because I I've seen people who've been in it, you know, who've who have some of these cards sit quietly, but then enter into Instagram, but not really post that much.

Right? Your your 100 follower guys, right, that you would be like, who the hell is this guy? That's the sleeping giant of some of these guys. Right? It's like it's it's wild.

Right? And so so don't take don't take those guys for granted. When you see someone follow you or you follow them, you start getting the conversation, you start realizing, oh, shit. This guy who has not been on Instagram forever, he doesn't even you know, he's not posting anything. He's not actively engaging.

He's been in this thing for thirty, forty years, and he's had these cards. Right? You know? And so I think it's some of that. Right?

Obviously, it's it's the social media community. It's it's through the past relationships you have with friends. It's deep diving into forums. It's it's meeting people, you know, out in at shows or whatever it is. Right?

And so relationships and networking is is very important. But, yeah, I think a lot of this stuff that I've never seen, are just buried away somewhere. Right? You know? And and, hopefully, whether it's through price or whether through life events, they make their way to the public eye, and and I and I get a chance at seeing it.

You know? But but that's kind of the fun too. Maybe you never will. Right? You know?

Maybe the best car I'll ever own, I'll and I and I don't even know what it is. Right? I think there's there's some some beauty in that too. Right? And I think if you come at it from, like, that place of calmness, right, you know, not feeling like they're stressed.

I gotta I I gotta find this. I gotta find this. I think, yeah, when you're at peace at like that that it maybe will happen, maybe it won't, I I think, that's a good place to be, especially when you're chasing stuff like this. Right? You know?

Because because there is a good chance that you will never be able to own, you know, some of these cards. You know? So I asked Andy to kinda share a handful of his favorite cards with me. And what we're gonna do here is I'm gonna bring them up on the screen and just Andy, I want you to talk about them, like like, everything from you buying the cards, acquisition story to why they're important. And I'm excited to kinda go through these with you because for those that are listening that are on Instagram, the chances are you've seen Andy's collection, are impressed by it, are are likely high.

But then there's an old audience of people who aren't on Instagram and don't know you, Andy, and don't know your collection. So, maybe you'll get a phone call from somebody being like, hey. Can I offer you a certain sum of money after you talk about these cards? But I know these are your favorite cards, so let's let's just jump into it. And it feels very appropriate to start with a Bonds card.

So this is the 1999 metal universe Barry Bonds gym master one of one. Bonds is just staring staring right at you. Mean mugging. No bat. No running.

No field pose. He's just he's just staring at you. So this card is obviously exceptional. Let's talk about it. Yeah.

Nope. I love it. I mean, you know, I'm not the biggest portrait. Actually, I've never been a big portrait of a a card type guy. Right?

But for this particular card, right, I think it works very well. Look at I mean, the Bonds' expression, I think, is perfect. You know? He looks almost agitated. He looks irritated.

He's probably pissed off at the cameraman for even taking this photo, right, which is very on brand. Right? You know? And then I think when you couple it with this sort of gem master's glittering effect, right, you know, it adds this cloudy mystery to him, this complicated sort of person, this polarizing, figure that I think, that he is personality wise, but also his with his career too. Right?

So from a portrait photography, I think it's absolutely beautiful. Right? There are many people who think it's ugly, which is fine by me. But I think it's absolutely stunning. And, you know, in terms of you know, in baseball, you know, the you got one JEM Masters.

Right? One JEM Masters year. Right? And that's 1999. Right?

And so, within that year, there's three. There's the base. Well, three for some. There's the base. There's the caught on the fly, which Bonds also has, and then you have this MLPD, prominent and dominant.

Right? And, to own one of the three gem masters for Bonds is just surreal. Right? You know, the opportunity for that is nearly impossible. Right?

So yeah. And and, you know, the story on this, I got this. This was offered to me privately. I think this was, like, 2023, I believe. Right?

And this at the time was definitely my biggest purchase. Right? And I don't know if this set off set me off on a path of wanting a focus of just, like, one on ones, but this definitely sparked it. Right? You know?

Like, because it felt a little bit different than any of the other cards I've ever had because it is different. Right? You know, I'm the only one that has this copy. Right? You know?

But I think this was really sort of the beginning of of of wanting, the most, special and most rare and most earliest forms of of the players I like to collect card. Right? You know? And so this this, I think, whether I knew it or not, was gonna be sort of a a pivot in terms of the way I was gonna go. You know?

How do you describe this gym master's aesthetic? I've heard so many people try to talk about it. Yeah. And when when people are, like, trying to get their words together, it's almost like people are fumbling to get their words together. But it's the fumbling of getting the words together to it triggers for me that, like, people are so emotionally connected to the way these cards present and make people feel.

Like, when you look at this card and you see this aesthetic, like, how do you describe it? It's a kaleidoscope of of glittering gems. Right? You know? I mean, it's just it's beautiful.

Right? And so and it almost has this curtain like look as well when you when it's just static, but it just shimmers when you're when you're sort of dancing it in hand, and it it's it's definitely it definitely has it stays true to the base in terms of of showing that picture, but it it's it's enough of a change to know that this is something unique and special. Right? You know? And, again, I don't think and we'll get into another card later.

I don't think that has to be the case, right, in terms of making a card very, special. Of course, I would love for all the one on ones to have something drastically sort of different or everything, but I think subtleties there's a beauty in in subtleties and elegance and grace into not having stuff like that. Right? Like, Flare Showcase, for instance, right, or Ultra. So but, yeah.

So that's that card. We moved we moved from one Bay Area legend to another, and, we've got the 99 metal universe Jerry Rice gym masters, one of one, and a PSA eight holder. I remember when I don't know when I found out if you shared with me or whatever. You were the new owner of this card, and I saw it for the first time. And it's just got all of the elements.

It's got classic set, the gym master's aesthetic. It's freaking Jerry Rice. It's this is one of the coolest nineties football cards I've ever seen. So Yeah. Let's let let's talk about this one.

Like, talk about everything we just did about the bonds, but this one and why this one resonates with you. Yeah. So this one yeah. This if if if the bonds was sort of sparking the interest towards this one zero one fascination, right, like, this this put it into sort of hyperdrive. Right?

You know? One reason one reason, the cost of it. Right? The boss was expensive. This was definitely more expensive.

Right? You know? Andy, did you when you got back into cards, did you ever imagine you'd be spending the type of money you've spent on the cards that we're talking about? Like, what and and and has it become even though it's probably crazy, but has the fact that it's happening become normal in any way to you? It is absolutely wild.

The the rabbit hole I've gone down into. I thought this was just gonna be a fun little thing, dabble. Remember you know, pick up little pieces that that could spark, some of my youth or something, and it's gone full blown into, one of the greatest passions and joys of my life. Right? But, no, I never thought I would spend godly near this amount of money on on on little pieces of cardboard like this.

But here we are. Right? You know? But that's also exciting too. Right?

Like, I I, like, I mean, that's you know, to be that passionate about anything in your life. Right? I'm also not married. I don't have kids. Right?

So I have a little bit more disposable income to just throw around on this stuff. But, no, I never thought I would I would be doing this. But, yeah, this card, again, you know, in football, obviously, there's the, 98 gem master. Rice has two of those. Ready as the base, and then he has the checklist one.

And then in '99, he has this gem masters. Right? And so to own one of the two base gem master cards, is pretty unreal. You know, I think for me, aesthetically, I I prefer this card over the '98. From my own importance of rarity in terms of lineage and time, chronological rarity and stuff, I I will still say the 98 gem master is more important than this card.

Right? Without it, you can't have this, right, pretty much. I don't think. Maybe not, or maybe you would. But, I mean, what's what what do I mean, it's it's stunning.

Right? You know? Again, you get that same sort of effect in terms of design. The image of Rice is just an absolute standout. And, yeah, I can't believe I still own that card today.

You know? I can't believe there was ever the opportunity to own that card. Right? I mean, I I messaged our good I was in Cabo, I think, and a couple couple drinks deep or something, and I messaged our good friend Nick. Do you know anybody with something truly special?

Right? I'm just craving a special Jerry Ricegard, and he happened to know someone. Right? And and the guy he knew who I've become closer with, was one of those guys that has been in the hobby a long time who has no voice in terms of social media publicly, and, and he had this card. And, he also had the FARVE also, ninety nine, Gem Masters, which I own as well now.

Right? It's guys like that. Right? That that's they have these. Right?

They've who who who acquired them for fractions of fractions of of of what I have to pay now, right, for it. But so so very grateful for the opportunity to have that chance at at owning something because this is a this is a cornerstone of of of if not a main icon pillar of of my collection, and it really drove me down into in wanting more and more of of of that feeling, right, within Rice and with other players as well. When you have a card like this that is public, I mean, how often do people try to DM you to see if you're willing to get rid of it? I it was there was definitely, especially the early few months of it, there was that. Right?

You know? And it definitely higher, significantly higher than even what I paid for it. Right? But it doesn't move the needle for me. You know, I'm in a fortunate place, you know, financially.

It's not like I have tons of money or anything like that, but I'm like, it would I don't you know, there's there's no real amount of money that would make sense for me to move it. Right? Not here. Again, if you if you go offer me something stupid, $10,000,000 now, I think my my my future kids that I don't have, right, would probably tell me you were an idiot for passing up about that. And I think, you know, maybe something like that, would sort of change my mind.

But it take it would take something like that. A number that makes no sense in any realm of this universe. Right? And even that probably wouldn't even maybe push the needle. I don't know.

But that would be kinda crazy. But, yeah. I mean, that's it's it's it's I be in a place, in my life where a card like this you know, I talk about things sticking finding the stickiness in your collection and and the the the ability to actually be in a place where that, I can live by that is is amazing. Right? You know?

So, no. This isn't going anywhere. You know? Love it. Alright.

We're moving over to another one of one of Jerry Rice, the ninety seven Flair Showcase Legacy Collection. Jerry Rice Road to Masterpiece one of one. What's the story with this one? So for look. My love for flare, it's always been there.

Right? The the photography, the design, and everything is is is it's always been there. But over the past year and change, especially as I'm digging deeper in research and and rarity and time and lineage and all this stuff, all roads basically lead back to Flare showcase. Right? You know?

Whether it's basketball, baseball, or football, it's especially though in in baseball and football, it's the earliest one of ones. Right? You know? And so to own any row, a masterpiece from any row now, obviously, I think the row o, right, is is probably gonna be it it to me, would be more significant. Right?

But to any row, it's just an absolute is amazing. Right? So one of Jerry Rice's first four one o ones. Right? So, but aesthetically, it's gorgeous.

Right? You know, I know there's not that much change in terms of from the base, but that purple font is just elegance. Right? The stamp, the only one of one masterpiece edition. I mean, how much the guy who the guy or gal, whoever came up with that phrasing right there, I mean, just talk about a total mic drop on that.

Mhmm. I mean, it just hits. And, yeah, I I absolutely love this card. Right? You know?

I would love to own Flare showcase 1997 for any one of my guys and and and and everything. I'm I'm I'm I'm constantly looking for a bonds, you know, and and everything. But this was a private deal. This was done a couple years back. And, again, this this was not, at the time, focused in terms of chasing down just rare one zero one cards.

Right? So it's it's kinda kinda sits in that place with the bonds sort of gen masters again sort of the beginning stages and sparking the idea of this path. Right? You know? But but now I I really the the meaning of this card has taken, leaps and bounds to me, right, in terms of its its hierarchy importance in Jerry Rice's catalog.

Right? You know? So, and I didn't even really realize it at the time either when I got it. So, yep, love the card. The I'm reading the back, and I learned something as I'm reading the back.

It says, Rice set a 49er team rookie record with 927 receiving yards in 1985, second best to Roger Craig's team high, 1,014 that season. And I'm just like, holy shit. There was a season where Jerry Rice didn't lead the 49ers in receiving yards. And that that's the great thing about these cards. They're, like, historical artifacts is Yeah.

Which is awesome. Yeah. No. Completely. Like, for instance, I I I, you know, I I there was a this 2,000 collector's edge, I'll post it eventually, personal collection one zero one card.

People would look at that and be like, what the hell is this, Fred, or whatever it is. You know? But, anyways, what I love about that card is basically you get almost Bryce's complete career season by season stats of him with the niners. Right? Yeah.

That's right. Right? So I love little nuances. You could see every pretty much year of Bryce's career with the niners on the back of that card. But, yeah, I love little nuances on the back of that because nobody takes the time to read those.

Right? You gotta post the back of your cards, please. Alright. We're moving over to the first non Bay Area legend. We've got a in a set, we've talked about the '97 Skybox premium.

Barry Sanders Ruby in a PSA eight. Just an excellent looking card. Maybe you can touch on why rubies, why Sanders, and then, obviously, Barry Sanders cards have just gone nuclear over the last one to two years. Maybe talk about the environment of trying to acquire Barry Sanders cards, in 2026. Yep.

So this it's I was it was on my radar for a couple years. I forget when I got it. Maybe 2024 sometime. Paid a paid a good price for it then. It's worth probably more now.

Right? You know? But I've I've I've my fascination with 97 rubies has always been there. I think they are absolutely one of the best looking cards of the nineties. I think the the design and the effect of of it is just absolutely surreal and beautiful.

The scarcity of it relative to the print run is you know, it says 50 copies, but there is far less available. Right? And whether that's because it's 1997, and they're just more heavily discarded at the time when people were collecting them or or or whatnot. But, I think the fragile nature of these cards too in terms of, their condition is is really apparent as well. But, yeah, just from an aesthetic point of view and just how much, I value this set, this was always, you know, basically, the one, Barry Sanders card I wanted.

Right? And then also within Barry Sanders, as I as I chase down sort of these one on ones from other players, I'm not necessarily looking for that with with with some of these other guys like Sanders and Manning and everything. Right? It doesn't have to be such a focus driven thing towards complete rarity. Right?

You know? I and I I think having a card like this to represent Barry Sanders in that era and and everything is is is enough, right, for me. You know? So, yeah, and Barry Sanders cards in general, oh, man. Just parabolic.

Right? I mean, it's absolutely wild to see some of those prices, but maybe rightfully deserved when you look at you when you look at it in the context of other nineties cars from basketball and everything like that. You know? He's he's you know? So yeah.

The the final card here that I actually got a chance to to see and dude, this is the one when you send them over. Even though I had seen this one in person, I was just like, dude, this card is so sick. It's the 97 metal universe, Trall Davis, precious metal gems, the green PSA eight. It's in a p yeah. It's in a PSA eight.

Dude, I was thinking about this card and just thinking about Trell Davis and just his rise. And, dude, what a time to have a rise with sports cards because it's like TD's cards just go parallel with so many great sets when he was in his moment, and this is certainly one of them. And I know you have a great story about getting this card. So Yep. Talk about the greens.

Talk about picking up this one. Yep. There's no, obviously. Look. Regardless if there's 15 copies of this or 10 in basketball or whatever, the the PMG Green has such a place in this hobby that is so sacred.

Right? So their importance is is clearly there, and I value it, just as much as as many do. Right? And so to own Terrell Davis, PMG Green, it was always something I wanted to do. I think the colors of the green and the blue and the orange are just absolutely amazing.

It works really well. Yeah. And Terrell Davis, you know, for me, you know, so that that period of time, you know, I'm probably anywhere from ten ten to 13 years old. Right? You know, that '97, '98, '99 sort of period, which is sort of perfect era for me when I was collecting this type of stuff, right, you know, and, and these cards and these designs and everything like that.

So Terrell Davis' career and and everything like that holds such a special place in terms of my memories watching that growing up. And and that's why, you know, why he's he's one of, the main players I do collect. He just he's there's something special about him. And this card in particular, like, there was definitely a a couple times. There was a a couple other greens that came to market, and they were at auctions.

And for, for numerous reasons, whether they were, chilled up or something like that, they'd sort of escaped me. And so it sort of led, a little bit of a bitter taste, and and that urgency was sort of deflated a little bit in terms of, actively seeking it. Right? And I just fortunately happened to get a message from a guy who's really not on Instagram or anything like that down in, Louisiana that he had a copy of this card, that his uncle gave to him, you know, thirty or whatever years or not thirty, twenty years ago, right, or whatever it was. Right?

And and he just happened to have this, and he came to me, and and we worked out a deal. And, you know, I didn't I didn't cheap them out or anything like that. I paid a a good price for it, and it was raw then. And I love stories like that. Right?

And I think when you have stories like that instead of winning stuff at auctions or or getting things with dealers, it it now just takes a car that was already elevated, right, to another level. Right? You know? I would never trade this copy whether it was to downgrade to a lower PMG green of it or or to maximize value or something like that because this particular copy, the nine out of the the the 15 copies, the number nine out of 15 copies has a story linked it to me to it to me that will, forever hold a special place to me. Right?

So, yeah, that's why I love this card. Yeah. Amazing card, amazing collection, and I knew we were going Broadway, but I wanna hit I know we have some other sections, which maybe we'll do, like, a deeper dive at another date. But I wanted to get your perspective on just, like, the nineties market right now and, like, you putting on your analyst hat and what you're seeing. Because I know you're looking across the auction block.

You're seeing cards and what they're selling. You're checking them in card ladder. Like, what sort of trends just are you noticing across nineties, rare and scare stuff? And, like, how does that change kinda your perception of, like, the category as a whole, if at all? Yeah.

I think we're continuing to see nineties cards do pretty well at auction and or even in private marketplaces. Right? You know? You know, my my, I guess, caution would be to, especially of of of when there's multiple copies of these sort of cards, not to be too eager to actually have to jump in and and acquire them right away. I think patience is your biggest superpower, right, at this time.

Right? You know? Especially if you're in this for the long run. Right? You know?

You know, I I know we wanna acquire these cards right away. Right? We want them locked up in our collection forever. But, you know, ultimately, at the end of the day, I think you will have, you know, these opportunities. And and I I continue to see that, and I've seen that through many years of doing this now at this level.

Right? So so so so patience is key. But, I I think, especially when you're looking at football and baseball and everything, I think they've always been undervalued relative to basketball. Right? And so to see some of these sales of the in the nineties cards get these, get their due, is is is nice to see.

Right? It makes it harder in terms of trying to acquire it stuff, right, because it's more expensive. But I think that balance, some some more balance in that space makes sense to me, so I'm not surprised by what I'm seeing. You know? And I think we'll continue to see it go that way.

You know? Yeah. I I tend to think a lot about, like, this community of collectors that are here, and we are in our own little bubble. And if, like, people outside of the bubble, like, ask questions and dug in and, like, for instance, talking about, like, the price we're paying for this stuff, people would think we're insane. And I've often associated, like, as I'm digging in to doing this and collecting and spending all this time, and it's like, it's associated with, like, personality type at some level.

Like, we're wired to be obsessed with this and, like, the way the hobby presents and collecting the opportunity. It just keeps us more in in ingrained, and we're stuck. We're gonna be doing this stuff forever. I'm curious, like, as we close out this episode, whether it's collecting in general or collecting 90 specifically, like, have have you learned anything about yourself through the process of collect getting back into cards and collecting 90 stuff and then evolving to where you're, you know, buying gym masters today? Yeah.

Well, yeah, I need more friends. I need to get a life. It's, like, this top of the list of these things. Like, probably need to try to find a wife. Probably need to start that thing.

But, no, it's it's I I think I think you either have the collector's gene or you kinda don't. Right? Like, I think it's always been ingrained in me. Right? You know?

And, I think I I think you know, what I maybe what I've really learned is how important the past is to my own history and my own life, right, and how trying to hang on and remember some of those days of my youth and and how that's connected and how I've changed today. I I guess, I I maybe I didn't realize how important some of those memories were, until I really started to go all in on on collecting little pieces of cardboard. Right? You know? So and I think it's it's important to to whether you collect or not to constantly reflect about your life and where you've grown and everything.

So yeah, I you know, I don't know where where this obsession came about. I know it started very young. Right? You know? But I'm I'm glad I found it sort of again, at this age of, you know, 35 to 40, and I'm now 40.

Right? You know? So, it's it's it's a beautiful thing to find. It's it can be frustrating at times, but it can also be gratefully rewarding. Right?

You know? But, yeah, that's that's kind of where where where I would sort of leave it off at, you know, is, yeah. I just don't I I I just it's it's it's wild to think that, that here I am do is doing this and and doing it at a level that I'm doing it at. You know? It's awesome, and we appreciate you sharing your cards on your page at buybuy baby cards.

Andy, we there's there's so much more ground to cover, but I feel like the I feel really good about where we landed. Appreciate you coming on, supporting stacking slabs, and, always sharing your insight. Alright. Thanks, Brett. Go patriots, I think.

I think.