What card price increase (over the last 5 years) shocks you the most?
 

For me, 1933 Goudey Ruths. 4 years ago, you could get a 1933 Goudey Ruth PSA 3 for around 3k.

Nowadays, that same card is at least 5 figures.

Jack Johnson going up 15X overnight.

1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle PSA 4

$8,000 pre pandemic Feb 2020

$32,000 4/22/22 REA


Can we please deflate this back to normal growth maybe 12k-15k ish

48 and 49 Jackie Cards! I may get a lot of flack for this one but I was asked for a opinion. I have however also seen it begin to normalize!

The lower grade T206 Red Cobbs have gone crazy over the last few years.

52 Topps Mantle, 49 Leaf Robinson, 49 Bowman Robinson, 52 Topps Robinson...all great cards but wow.

2009 Topps Stephen Curry RC. A few years ago I bought a PSA 9 for under $150. Now they're pushing the upper 1000s. Crazy.

I am guessing the appreciation in the Alifabolaget Pele RC might outstrip everything else percentage wise.

Likely something in soccer. I think I've mentioned it here before, but there were some Lionel Messi cards I picked up a few years ago for $10-$20 each and sold last year for $1,000 each. I haven't seen any vintage baseball cards increase a hundred-fold over that period.

I'm wanting to know if Americans are driving the Pele prices, or is it international buyers?

Any t206 or 33 goudey hof.

Many many many of these cards were treasured and every auction had a huge glut of commons from these years. People always saved the stars, commons not so much.

Plenty of supply, just eye popping prices

I don't think I hit 100x but I did hit close to 50x on a couple of soccer cards, forget which ones, it was crazy. Cards like the Serena Williams SIFK (true) rookie have really soared too.

Lots of eye popping increases the last few years in all of sports collecting. And I agree that some of the most staggering have been outside of baseball...tennis, soccer, wrestling...etc.

In the vintage baseball world...I have been shocked by many of the same...the goudey ruths...really all ruths...t206 in general...esp cobbs and hofers...robinsons...exhibits have gone pretty crazy...many junk wax era including jordan rookie.

52 Topps Mick PSA 1s were $12K pre-pandemic, hit over $30K
53 Topps Mick PSA 1s were $500 pre, hit over $1,500
52 Topps Mays PSA 1s were $500 pre, hit over $3K
52 Bowman Mays PSA 2s were $200 pre, hit over $1,500
53 Topps Mays PSA 2s were $400 pre, hit over $2K
48 Leaf Ruth PSA 1s were $600 pre, hit over $3K
And on, and on...

The price of supplies is just as astounding.

I used to pay about $3 for new 3200 ct boxes and now it's $10.98 at my LCS. And that's not a rip as the owner works on percent profits.

Rich

This post gets people thinking maybe should sell or should have sold?

Has the ship sailed on these prices or are they here to stay?

What's Say You??

I think the Vaults have Pushed a lot of these numbers higher and higher.

Here's one that has gone batsh*t crazy...

1980 Topps Larry Bird Julius Erving Magic Johnson Scoring Leaders dual rookie card with special guest star, 'Dr. J.'

These were always available in high grade (8 or 9) with a usual PD or OC qualifier, for a few hundred bucks on non-eBay seller sites that I regularly checked. These cards are ridiculously plentiful!! I mean, come on, they're from 1980!! I never bought one, because they're just too shiny and new...but i regret it now. Look at what the pandemic did to the prices of these cards, top to bottom!!!!!!!!!!

T206 commons crazy

1986 Topps Jordan PSA 10.

I had a chance to buy/trade for one in 2019 for 20K now they have been as high as $750K and regularly still go for over $300K to 400K range

I passed on an 86 Fleer Jordan when they were around 20k too. A friend wanted 25k for a dead centered example but I had a prewar card I was more interested in at the time.

I'd say 52 topps Mays is the most surprising ti me, at least that comes to mind now. I had always planned to pick one up but never got around to it. I was offered a 6 for around 4k from a member here. Not even sure what they're at right now but it's a lot more than that.

Vintage is too hot right now buying junk wax and a little shiny to fill the void..

Jackie Robinson and Paige cards!!!

Great question. Not that I have an answer...But there are still opportunities with some of the more obscure vintage Pele cards out there. Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, etc. Very few examples of them and sales are few and far between, so there hasn't been a grand price movement. The European cards are way up there even in lower grades. A PSA 2.5 1959 Heinerle closed at $1,432 this morning on eBay.

$
 

It doesn’t “shock” me that Jackie cards are on fire seeing the historically significant role that he played…his cards (with strong eye appeal) are definitely getting lots of deserving recognition and bringing higher and higher prices.

Details, please. I feel like my boxing stuff is sitting still or regressing even. Though a 1939 African Tobacco Louis PSA 5.5 hit a heck of a price this morning on eBay.

To me the most shocking are the cards (mostly rookie) from sports other than the Big 3. I just never thought the demand for those cards would amount to much.

Guess I was wrong.

In prewar, T206 Wags always leads the pack.

I admit this is not a shocking or transformational take.

Plus one.

I think so too. I bought a PSA 8.5 for around $6,500 USD years ago and eventually sold it for about double that. These were record prices back then, and so I was very happy with the sale. However, the buyer sold it that same summer for over $20,000 USD. I was pretty surprised, but I thought that interest was probably high due to the World Cup having took place that same summer. I thought things were going to settle down after that, but then the pandemic came along and this card went apesh*t! Heritage sold a PSA 8.5 for $372,000 in 2021, and I read that Goldin brokered a $900,000 USD sale of this card in PSA 9 that same year.

And by the way, there was one member on here who put his PSA 9 example up for sale on this site, but none of you guys wanted it. That just goes to show you how things were like back then. How all of this happened is not something that can easily be explained, but I suspect that Gary Vaynerchuk might have had something to do with jacking the price up of this card.

usa

Modern Basketball cards selling for 1 million dollars plus.

1997/98 UD Michael Jordan Jersey Auto - 1.44 million dollars. A couple years ago this card was under 100k.

1996/97 Chrome Refractor Kobe Bryant BGS 10 - 1.795 million. When these 2 were freshly graded they were sold for 75k.

2003/4 Exquisite LeBron James RPA 5.2 million. A couple years ago, sold for 250k.

I'll never understand modern basketball pricing, not when you can get one of the big 4 1914 Cracker Jacks for a tenth of the price. Market forces I suppose.

Buy a wardrobe of tshirts and sneakers, grow a little facial hair, get a job nobody understands that pays you millions for something of no apparent value, buy multiple devices, and open fifteen social media accounts, and then you'll get it.

Lots of modern shocks me, even the stuff I own. I've had four-figure cards in binders that were worth $20 when I put them there. I don't sell anything limited or superstar related w/o doing a search first.

1974 Mike Schmidt(second year) card in PSA 10. His first card of him alone.
$5,100 just before pandemic(2/2020)
$43,000 in 10/2021

I'm the donkey in question here.

In 2014, I listed an Alifabolaget Pele PSA 9 rookie on this site for $5,000. Crickets. I eventually sold it elsewhere for $5,000, after a lot of effort.

As mentioned above, a PSA 9 sold last year for $900K, And then a PSA 9 sold earlier this year for $1.3M. And I sold it for $5K, after everyone else on here passed.

I will now go light myself on fire.

Those are the key cards in the modern market. They deserve high prices. However, the prices from a few years ago seemed high. Today's prices seem ridiculous. All it takes is 2 rich guys that have to have it and reason goes out the window.

+1 Agree

For modern cards, I think Yermin Mercedes's prices were the most shocking. After his hot start last year, his rookie autos shot from $5-10 up to $200+. The modern market has always been reactive, but that was insane for a 28yo rookie.

Vintage-wise, the Sanella Ruth has exploded as people seem to realize it's best option for a budget Ruth. PSA lists low-grade selling in the $200-250 range back in 2019, compared to recent sales from $800-1000.

There's a Lebron card in Goldin right now at 1.4 million, early in the bidding.

The same month I first heard about a disease outbreak in a place called Wuhan, China I lowered my asking price for a complete 1951 Bowman set to $8,000. No takers.
https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=274234

You don’t remember Johnson skyrocketing almost overnight in 2020? You could get a decent looking T218 for $30 in 2018. His stuff is still trading at multiples of what he did pre-pandemic but it was pretty wild for a little bit in 2020.

All of them :-(

Thanks; after reading your post, I feel much, much better about everything I've ever sold.

Ahh, 2020. I thought you meant in the last few months. Not that I plan to sell my T218 until the end--it is one of my favorite cards--so prices weren't really material to me.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ohnson%201.jpg

I do wish I'd sold my T227 into that market...Oh well, it is nice to look at.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Johnson_1.jpg

I love his T218 and T227 poses. Johnson had a lot of good looking cards. The T218 is a superprint and one of the most common of all T cards, so it's price still seems far too high for what it is, but you know what opinions are like. I've got all his T218's but I need 2 more of his T227's. Those are going to hurt to get...

1981 Topps Larry Bird is one of many examples which surprise me. From unremarkable to four-figure card.

1990 Jordan, same thing.

Shaq rookies...


Wait, is it modern basketball? Is that where the irrational exuberance is most prevalent?

+1 for the T206 Cobb Red. It's one of the most common T206's out there and the prices are ridiculous for something so available. 52' Mick comes in a close second for me.

Bill

Charlie Brown's idol Joe W.....A scant 2 years ago one of the 2 known copies came on the market and fetched 85,000 DodgyCoins. A mere 8 months later in a private sale Joe passed hands for a remarkable 25 box cars of rhubarb. The new owner of the card wishes to be anonymous.

The "box car" buyer certainly was a rube. Charlie Brown's hero wasn't Joe W, it was some guy named Shlabotnik...

:cool::):D

Eric, right you are. Couldn't come up the last name but believe his first name is Joe.

I was going to post a screenshot of the first Joe Shlabotnik strip but I wasn't sure about copyright laws. But you can go here to read more https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Shlabotnik. The first strip with Joe in it is from 8/18/1963 and mentions 40 other players (I counted 17 HOFers).

This reasonably nice 1968 Mira Tuttosport Wilt has to be up there for me. I paid … wait for it... $30, and it was an auction not some inadvertent giveaway.

Anything modern. Growing up in the junk wax era, I just can't wrap my head around current cards being worth anything.

Second choice: everything I want but haven't bought yet.

This one hurt to read, sir. No one foresaw it would hit $1,000,000, but ouch.

Definitely any extremely high priced (4 to 6 figures) modern cards of players whose names I have never heard of before.

Brian

I took a look at 1948-'49 Leaf Babe Ruths last night, and was shocked by how much they've gone up. I guess I shouldn't be, given the market.

A PSA 4 sold on 6/11/18 for $2,030 on PWCC.
A PSA 4 sold on 4/25/22 for $10,500 at REA.

That's over 500% in under 48 months.

I would more understand this for his contemporary releases like an American Caramel, Goudey or Sport Kings. But the Leaf was produced after he'd already passed. It's an attractive card, but it's off era.

I'm about ready for the market to normalize, now.

1985 Fleer Steve Balboni PSA 10

The 1952 Topps Mantle is a DP; doesn't matter. Demand > supply = big $$$

It seems to me extremely unlikely that there just happened to be an immediate increase in demand of such magnitude that a common card went up 10x at a seemingly random moment. I also suspect this is why it’s slowly been coming down, those small number of people who seem to be buying most of them and pumping it up aren’t sustaining forever. There’s a Green Johnson for every T card collector.

I don't want a green Johnson :eek:

If my whole collection could get a million dollars, I would make that deal in a heartbeat.

It's freakish spontaneous wealth the way some of these cards are hitting.

I held on to some of my key boxing cards, and decided to send PSA my 1936 United Tobacco Joe Louis for grading this week. In about 3 months I should get it back. It looks better than the quick pictures I snapped that are attached. I just snapped them to have a picture in case it gets lost. Just wondering your thoughts on it? Regardless of grade, I think it's a cool card.

Saw a good one today, PWCC so who knows, but a PSA 7 George Best RC at 30K. That's 40x LOL what I paid for mine just a few years back, if that long ago. Madness.

Great card, except it was made in 1940-1941. The album discusses fights in 1940. Some moron labeled it with the early date and it has stuck.

Don't have any comps but:
1. Tiger Woods
2. Michael Schumacher
3. Mike Tyson
4. And I suppose Hulk Hogan

Definitely agree on Tyson. He wasn't even the best of his generation, unless getting KTFO by Holyfield and Lewis qualifies you as the best. His RC is disproportionately costly as compared to those of Holyfield and Lewis, though Lewis' RC is a common as dirt 1991 Kayo.

I don't get it, not only was his invincibility fairly short lived (see Buster Douglas), but he's not exactly an endearing personality either, was involved in personal controversies, etc.

Almost everything Formula 1 has exploded in price over the past year. It's a combination of the Netflix Drive to Survive series and Topps now having a license to produce F1 cards. I can't believe how many $10,000+ cards the Topps 2020 set has produced. Even mid-pack runners have some $1,000+ manufactured scarcity/autograph cards from the 2020 Topps set.

Along those same lines, Lewis Hamilton's 2006 Futera pre-rookie card is extremely rare, but I still found the $312,000 sale at Goldin to be shocking. Ditto for the $900,000 sale of a 2020 Topps 1/1 Superfractor of Hamilton at Goldin.

On a smaller scale, Niki Lauda's rookie card is a sticker from the 1974 Vedettes set. Nearly every example in the past year or so has exploded close to the $1,000 range, with higher grade versions selling in the mid four figures. That is shocking to me.

The 1984 Ayrton Senna Panini Scratch N' Play is another example that has gone crazy in the past year, with several examples selling for $10,000+ and as much as $30,000 for a higher grade example.

Another card that has really shocked me is Richard Petty's rookie card from the 1972 STP set. I get it that it is Richard Petty, but this was a $125-150 card even 3-4 years ago. Now, raw sales of $1,200-1,500 are not out of the ordinary when the card does show up.

That one surprises me less than the F1 stickers, it's very hard to find, it's great looking, and it's Richard Petty.

Eddie, any thoughts on what my Billie Jean King RC would go for now? It has to be an 8 I would think.

That is a neat card, Peter. But I would not even be able to make an educated guess. I love non sports cards and cards outside the big four sports, but I have never really followed tennis cards or what specific cards in that sport are worth. :)

Pinkerton PC Wagner
 

The Pinkerton PC Wagner went from $2500ish to $21,600 (SGC 1.5) in Heritage’s Nov 18, 2021 auction. No idea why, no explanation given… just a big ??? Of course this run up happened a couple years after I had sold mine & then decided to collect the set when I bought a nice group from the John Esch collection.
I was able to acquire this one in a private deal.

No idea, but nice card, and I dig the nattily attired 1960's tennis crowd in the background.

Brian

I was curious about this and looked up the auction. It wasn't the T5 Wagner, it was the original photo used for the Wagner. I don't know enough about the photo market to know if this represents a major increase.

Edited to add: my mistake! Both sold for that price! And I now see you said the PC not the T5. That seems a little crazy to me, it's more than, or at least close to, what a T5 cabinet of Wagner has sold for as far as I know, at least in that condition. I thought the postcards usually went for much less than the cabinets. Maybe the explanation is that someone wanted the pair?

Hey, I like King Richard and this is a pretty sweet card.

That's a nice euphemism for rape.

I just threw up a little in my mouth...I sold mine for under $2k a few years ago.

Maybe we need a new thread on which card people think will drop the most in this correction.

As someone who also grew up during the junk wax era, that makes the pandemic modern card boom much less shocking. People don't learn from past mistakes.

The same type who've spent huge amounts on the biggest modern stuff today are the ones who bought 1000 '89 UD Jerome Waltons for $10 each back then