Something about it seems almost silly. In 1914, kids who were too full of sugar pulled cards from snack boxes and sold them at Heritage Auctions’ Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction for a total of $1.38 million. Not a mistake. One hundred forty-four pieces of cardboard, which were first found inside boxes of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, have officially changed what collectors thought was possible for a card set from the early 1900s.
A 1914 Cracker Jack Ty Cobb card that sold for $516,000 was the main item in the auction. It was the most money ever paid for a Cobb card from that set. People have always been interested in the Georgia Peach, but even experienced collectors must have gasped when they saw the bids go up. That’s not a number you just throw on something that has been owned by private individuals for more than one hundred years, been passed down from generation to generation, and still looks like it’s brand new.
In simple terms, Chris Ivy, co-founder and president of Heritage Sports, said that these 1914 cards were much less common than their 1915 counterparts and that the idea that any of them have survived this long in such good shape is “mind-blowing.” I find it hard to disagree. It was graded PSA EX 5, making it one of only two cards in the set that grade. It sold for $312,000. A Cracker Jack “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from 1914 in the same grade sold for $240,000. It cost $84,000 to sell the Walter Johnson. There was a new record set by every single one.
It wasn’t just the amount of money that made this auction feel different from other high-end card sales. The person who put together the Cracker Jack haul was it. Stephen Parthum also put together what he called a “No. 1 Card collection,” which meant that he bought the first and last card in every set that interested him. First, sports cards, then cards from old TV shows and movies. It was thought that his 1969 Topps Wilt Chamberlain No. 1, which is a PSA Mint 9, would fetch $40,000. It was sold for $276,000. That grade of card sold for $9,560 six years ago. Just that gap tells you that something important is happening in this hobby, but it’s worth thinking about whether the pace can be kept up.
A PSA Mint 9 Wilt rookie card from 1961 sold for $348,000 at the same auction. This is after a card with the same grade sold for $288,000 last summer. The prices of Chamberlain’s best cards have been going up and up, almost as if the market is finally realizing what basketball historians already knew about the man.
And it wasn’t just old cars that were driving over the weekend. A 2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady Rookie Ticket Autograph graded BGS NM-MT+ 8.5 was sold for $84,000. This shows that modern cards with the right history and condition can look good anywhere. A unique 1971 Topps Bert Blyleven rookie card in PSA Gem Mint 10 sold for $138,000. It had been sold for $55,200 less than a year before. Mickey Mantle’s first Bowman card, from 1951, was graded PSA NM-MT 8 and sold for $504,000.
The two-day auction ended early Saturday morning with a total of $12,591,161. Fourteen of the cards sold for more than $10,000 each. That event is no longer a niche one. People used to think of collecting sports cards as a kid’s thing, but now the market keeps making numbers that put it in the same category as fine art and rare wine. It’s still not clear whether that’s a long-lasting shift or a long-lasting boom. An old snack box prize from January just showed that it could be worth more than most people’s homes.
