Welcome to Sports Cards Insider for April 5th, 2022.
Each week we give you the scoop on undervalued, mispriced, and hidden gems in Alternative Investing.
Sports Cards in 2022
Firstly, as a reminder, here’s my view on sports cards sectors for 2022:
– All soccer, especially vintage
– Vintage basketball
– Vintage football
– Hockey, except for ultra blue-chip
– Golf
– Tennis
– Modern basketball
Sports cards continue to trade within a narrow band on the fractional markets. No big movements up or down overall.
But CardLadder’s high-end index has dipped into negative territory over the last month for the first time in a long time.
Last Week in Sports Cards
Fractional secondary markets
The fractional markets are a bit of a microcosm of the larger market, as one Lewis Hamilton F1 card dominated the markets last week. The other biggish winner was a two-card asset class – wrestling. The bulk of assets were clustered around even.
This Week
Assets dropping on marketplaces
There’s a lot going on this week on fractional marketplaces, including some drops from Collectable on MLB’s opening day.
1911 C55 PSA 7 (PWCC- E) George Vezina
- Market Cap: $118,150
- Inferred Value: $75k
- Date: 4/5/22 on Collectable
- Our View: Pass [I’ve honestly got no idea what this is worth. It last sold for around $61k in May 2021. Gretzky’s PSA 9 OPC rookie is off over 50% since then, so I’d be surprised if this card had nearly doubled in that timeframe, but 🤷]
Unopened Box Basket (35x) 1993 SP
- Market Cap: $222,000
- Inferred Value: $168,000
- Date: 4/6/22 on Collectable
- Our View: Pass [Valuation. A single box sold for $4,800 in February 2022. $4,800 x 35 boxes = $168k]
’16 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor BGS 9.5 Juan Soto
- Market Cap: $130k
- Inferred Value: $152k
- Date: 4/7/22 on Collectable
- Our View: Buy [Valuation and momentum. Soto’s recent sales are all on the rise and he was recently named CBS Sports’s #1 player for 2022. There’s a lot to like about him and this card.]
‘15 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor BGS 9.5 Cody Bellinger
- Market Cap: $26k
- Inferred Value: $19k
- Date: 4/7/22 on Collectable
- Our View: Pass [Valuation and momentum. Bellinger had an awful 2021, and his 2022 isn’t looking any better. The guy is radioactive right now.]
’16 Bowman Gold Refractor Fernando Tatis, Jr.
- Market Cap: $55,500
- Inferred Value: $45,600
- Date: 4/8/22 on Collectable
- Our View: Pass [Valuation]
Auctions
Another month another Goldin Elite auction. Here’s what I’m watching this time:
- 2014 Prizm World Cup Gold Messi. I’ve got no idea where this is going to finish up, but it’s on pace to set the record for a Messi card (it’s already over $400k).
- Another soccer card – 2002 – 03 Ronaldo rookie. There were a couple of monster sales for this card in October 2021 for $250k and $320k, and there was some concern they were outliers after a downtrend. He was doing well at Man U in the autumn, but most would now say signing the aging star was a mistake.
- As ever, there’s a 1986 Michael Jordan PSA 10 rookie card on offer. The card is off 50% over the last year, and the new price to beat is *only* $240k. Currently at $228k, this might be the auction that turns the card around.
- I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with F1 prices, and this could be a decent indicator. Both Goldin and Alt have a Lewis Hamilton PSA 10 2020 Topps Chrome Sapphire Aqua Refractor on offer this week, and the price to beat is around $20k. Hamilton’s cards have been all over the place in the last year, and a triple patch card on fractional platform Rally pumped 150% in initial trading.
- Meanwhile, PWCC has got a rare PSA 10 Scoring Leaders rookie card for Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. You don’t see these come around very often. A couple of them sold for $860k and $800k last summer and autumn, respectively, and I *think* we’ll see this one beat that. Definitely one to watch to prove/disprove my vintage basketball bullishness.
