One particular moment keeps coming back. A 1952 Mickey Mantle card in perfect condition sells for $12.6 million at a Sunday night auction in August 2022, the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia. And most financial advisors in America just shrugged. It’s likely that some people were unaware.
That could have been a mistake that should have been rethought.
For the better part of ten years, the trading card market has been discreetly creating something that, when viewed from certain perspectives, resembles a legitimate asset class. Not a passing trend. It’s not just sentimentality disguised as sound investment reasoning. It is more difficult to ignore the numbers than one might think. Between January 2008 and August 2022, the PWCC 500 index, which measures the market value of the top 500 sports cards sold at auction, outperformed the S&P 500 by almost 680 percentage points. It’s not a rounding error. It’s a structural argument.
The same supply-and-demand dynamic that eventually makes any collector’s market intriguing is partly responsible for this. Pristine cards with all-time greats are no longer being made. The ceiling is fixed. In terms of demand, a generation that spent their childhood opening packs at kitchen tables is now in their thirties and forties, with real money to spend and a sincere emotional connection to the products they purchase. Stimulus checks during the pandemic accelerated this in ways that are still underreported. People searched for something real and tactile, and they discovered it in cardboard.
It is noteworthy that this market’s infrastructure has developed significantly. Platforms like Collectors, which is estimated to be worth $4.3 billion, now provide market data, storage, insurance, digital auctions through Goldin, and expert grading through PSA all under one roof. In the meantime, retail investors who want exposure without spending six figures on a single Honus Wagner now have access thanks to fractional ownership platforms like Collectable and Rally. SEC securitization procedures have been applied to these cards. That is no longer the domain of hobbyists.
Speaking with those who keep a close eye on this market gives the impression that the conversation is changing more quickly than institutional advisors are aware. High-grade cards are already being treated as part of a diversified strategy, especially by younger clients. Their advisors aren’t ready to respond to their inquiries. It’s important to pay attention to that gap.
All of this does not imply that trading cards should be included in every portfolio. A single athlete’s injury or scandal can cause values to collapse, the market is illiquid in significant ways, and authentication is still flawed despite advancements. Whether the fractional ownership model is sustainable over an entire market cycle is still up for debate. Here, skepticism makes sense.
However, ignorance is a completely different matter. Every year, the market for collectibles—cards, wine, watches, and artwork—draws in more money. Financial advisors who are unable to adequately address this topic will find that some of their clients are quietly moving on. The Mickey Mantle card wasn’t a stand-alone product. In a market, it was sold. And markets, for all their peculiarities, have a tendency to eventually demand attention.
