A child in America opened a pack of Donruss cards in 1966, took out a Spider-Man, gave it a quick glance, and most likely tucked it into a pocket, a shoebox, or a bicycle spoke. In 1966, you used cards like those. They weren’t sleeved by you. They were not sent for grading by you. You traded them, used them, distorted them, and eventually lost them to the specific entropy that consumes most childhood memories. There are currently fewer than 400 PSA-graded copies of that Spider-Man card because that occurred at scale, among millions of packs sold with bubble gum over the period of a year.
There are thousands more graded copies of antique sports cards from the same era, such as those featuring Wilt Chamberlain, Willie Mays, and the baseball and basketball greats of the mid-1960s. There is a huge survival gap. The 1966 Donruss Marvel Super Heroes set is the world’s most underappreciated trading card collection, according to Gary Vaynerchuk, who has been pointing out that disparity for years.
The thesis is based on three points that Vaynerchuk has repeatedly expressed on all of his platforms: scarcity, historical primacy, and collectors’ eventual propensity to look for the origin of something. The case for historical primacy is simple. Marvel characters first made an appearance on trading cards with the Donruss set from 1966.
In 1966, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Captain America, and every other character that currently serves as the foundation of one of the most economically successful entertainment franchises in history made their trading card debut in a 66-card set that came with a piece of chewing gum. These are the closest Marvel characters will ever come to being actual rookies in the collecting world, where “rookie card” status is highly valued. It’s not difficult to make the case that their rates ought to be more in line with how the sports industry handles the initial appearances of similarly well-known individuals. Simply put, it has been sluggish to land.
The argument’s greatest tangible support comes from the scarcity factor. Sports cards from the 1960s were handled, misplaced, and thrown away as well, but they were sold in larger quantities, supported by a more developed organized hobby infrastructure, and gathered by adults who handled them more carefully earlier in the cycle. The Marvel set and other non-sport cards lacked this foundation. They were novelties that belonged to children and were lost before anyone had a chance to save them.
According to PSA population report figures, the outcome is a supply scenario that is quite startling. Given that the figure on the card currently brings in billions of dollars annually for Disney and has starred in some of the highest-grossing movies in movie history, the fact that there are fewer than 400 graded Spider-Man copies would make most serious sports card collectors take a second look.
Due in part to Vaynerchuk’s prominence, the pricing on these cards have changed in recent years. Collectors pay attention when someone with his reach and reputation in the hobby consistently flags a particular set, and some of that interest turns into purchases.
This dynamic raises a legitimate problem since it creates a somewhat circular self-fulfilling argument because part of what makes this choice appealing is the platform that is endorsing it. Vaynerchuk has addressed this dynamic head-on, keeping his basic thesis regarding the set’s value apart from any particular market call. His advocacy is not necessary for the underlying supply and cultural footprint data to be accurate. Before he uttered it, it was true.
Whether the 1966 Donruss set will eventually sell at the prices that its scarcity and the size of Marvel’s intellectual property might potentially justify is still up in the air. Historically, hobby infrastructure has viewed the non-sport card market as a secondary category; price tracking systems, auction houses, and grading have all been developed primarily around sports. This is gradually changing as collectors who were exposed to pop culture instead of baseball increase their purchasing power.
As this specific area of the market develops, it seems as though Vaynerchuk discovered something genuine—a true historical aberration where supply and cultural importance haven’t yet found equilibrium, rather than a surefire investment call. No one can say with certainty if that equilibrium will be reached in five or twenty years. Meanwhile, it’s growing harder to locate the cards.
