As the greatest money ever paid for sports memorabilia in a market that has become exponentially more valuable recently, a Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million on Sunday.
The expensive Mantle card broke the previous record, which was set a few months ago when Diego Maradona’s controversial “Hand of God” World Cup goal jersey sold for $9.3 million.
It considerably beat the $7.25 million paid recently for a century-old baseball card of Honus Wagner that was sold in a private auction.
The heavyweight boxing title that Muhammad Ali regained in the “Rumble in the Jungle” fight of 1974 just sold for for $6.2 million.
All are a part of the burgeoning sports collectibles industry.
Not only have the most expensive products seen price increases, but so have items that may have been gathering dust in attics and garages. Others are offered for sale through auction houses, while many of those things wind up on consumer auction sites like eBay.
The Mantle card was guaranteed to be a high selling due to its almost flawless condition and renowned topic, according to Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, which handled the bidding.
Over the last several years, some people have used antiques as a hedge against inflation, he added, while others have revived old obsessions.
Ivy said that astute investors anticipated inflation, which has already occurred. Sports memorabilia thus became a substitute for conventional Wall Street investments or real estate, especially among older millennials and members of Generation X.
“People could only watch so much “Tiger King” on Netflix (during the pandemic).
So, you know, people were resuming their interests, and it was obvious that sports collecting was one among them “Ivy noticed an increase in calls from prospective vendors and said as such.
Ivy said there was a combination of elements that made sports memorabilia very alluring. Add to that the attention from affluent international collectors.
“We’ve sort of begun to see growth and a surge in pricing, which prompted some media attention. And I believe that everything simply kind of built upon itself “explained he. “I’d argue that the start of the epidemic definitely fueled that fire.”
In a 2018 Forbes interview with David Yoken, the creator of Collectable.com, it was said that the market for sports memorabilia was believed to be worth more than $5.4 billion prior to the outbreak.
According to research firm Market Decipher, by 2021, that market had increased to $26 billion. Within the next ten years, they project that market will skyrocket to $227 billion, in part due to the emergence of so-called NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital collectibles with distinctive data-encrypted fingerprints.
As individuals spent more time at home, there was a chance to search through old comic books and little stacks of bubble gum cards portraying notable sports personalities, which led to an increase in the demand for sports cards.
According to Stephen Fishler, the creator of ComicConnect, who has seen the proliferation — and profitability — of collectibles being moved across auction houses, the allure of earning money on something that could be languishing in one’s childhood basement has been seductive.
In a word, he stated, “the world of contemporary sports cards has been going crazy.
The Mantle baseball card is said to be one of only a few of the baseball great in almost excellent condition. It was issued in 1952.
Anthony Giordano, a New Jersey waste management entrepreneur who purchased it for $50,000 at a New York City event in 1991, made a large profit at the auction.
“When it reached 10 million, I just turned in. I was no longer able to maintain my focus “Giordano, 75, said early on Sunday. For him, his boys kept an eye on the auction. They remained up late and phoned me first thing this morning to let me know it had arrived.
The card was one of several sports memorabilia that were being auctioned. According to Derek Grady, executive vice president of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, the total revenue generated by the artefacts was over $28 million.
“Sports memorabilia are now getting their due as an investment,” Grady remarked. The top sports collectibles are now beginning to compete with fine art, rare coins, and priceless artefacts as excellent investment vehicles.
The switch-hitting Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, was named the American League MVP three times, and won the World Series seven times. Hall of Famer passed away in 1995.
“Some would argue that it is only a baseball card. Who cares? Just a Picasso, really. To others, it’s simply a Rembrandt. For others, it’s a work of art “said John Holden, an amateur sports card collector and Oklahoma State University professor of sports management law.
He said that sports cards are like works of art with no inherent value in that their value is determined by the beholder or the prospective bidder, depending on their market value.
The value, according to Holden, is whatever the market will bear.