Latest news with #collecting
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Five innovations that changed sports cards: From refractors to inserts to autos
The sports and trading card hobby has experienced hundreds of changes and innovations since the earliest issues arrived in the 1800s. And though Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin recently placed his company's introduction of the Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card at the top of that hierarchy, there are a number of innovations that have arguments for changing the course of collecting. Advertisement Here are five sports card innovations that cllct believes reshaped the hobby for good. 1. Pack-inserted autographs Upper Deck's 1989 "Find the Reggie" campaign placed 2,500 signed Reggie Jackson cards into packs. (Credit: eBay) Autograph chasing has long been part of the hobby, but Upper Deck changed collecting entirely when it delivered the first pack-inserted autographs in 1990. Just a year after revolutionizing the hobby with the first premium baseball card product in 1989, Upper Deck's 'Find the Reggie' campaign saw the company place 2,500 autographed Reggie Jackson cards into 1990 Upper Deck Baseball High Series packs. Those first pack-inserted Reggie Jackson autographs are credited by many as the hobby's first 'chase' cards, and decades later, pack-pulled autographs are often key parts of many of the most important products. Advertisement In the ultra-modern era of collecting, on-card autographs are among the most coveted chases while sticker autographs, which are signed in bulk and placed on the card at a later date, are popular but less desirable. 2. Game-used memorabilia Cards featuring game-used jerseys and memorabilia have changed the game. (Credit: eBay) Though the Rookie Debut Patch has a good argument as one of the hobby's greatest innovations, it's hard to ignore the earliest iterations of memorabilia and jersey cards that came before it. Press Pass started the game-used memorabilia trend — or in this case, race-used — when it included race-used NASCAR tires in the 1996 Press Pass Burning Rubber set. Upper Deck then introduced game-used jerseys into cards with 1996-97 Upper Deck Hockey, and the hobby has been chasing swatches of fabric ever since. Advertisement Where the Rookie Debut Patch does deserve credit is how it links the card's patch to a specific moment in time. The ultra-modern era of collecting has been plagued by ambiguous language to describe memorabilia, with descriptions ranging from game-used and player-worn to the dreaded 'not associated with any player, team or event' language. Collectors want to know when and where the patches were worn, and no program has done a better job at connecting a card to a moment than the RDPA. 3. Refractors and parallels Considered one of the most influential and important sets of all time, 1993 Topps Finest Baseball arrived as an ultra-premium product with chromium stock and the hobby's first refractors. Advertisement Featuring a rainbow-like finish, refractors easily stand out compared to their base counterparts, and are now among the most important chases in the hobby. The success of 1993 Finest not only led to expanded chrome offerings across various manufacturers, the introduction of the refractor laid the foundation for the 'rainbow' chase. Though Topps' basic 'Refractor' and Panini America's 'Silver Prizm' are highly coveted, the ultra-modern era of collecting now features hundreds of different refractors and parallel variations that range from popular colors such as Red, Green, Blue, Black and Gold to geometric patterns such as Prism, RayWave, X-Fractor, Mojo, Shock and Cracked Ice. There are even animal-themed parallels such as Zebra, Tiger, Snakeskin and Elephant. Advertisement For some hobbyists, collecting the entire 'rainbow' of parallels for a player or team is a key part of the experience. The concept of 'color-matching,' which pairs the colors on a team's jersey with the color of a parallel, has also become extremely popular during the era. 4. Super short-printed inserts Depending on one's preferred definition, insert cards can be dated back to some of the hobby's most influential early sets. There's little doubt interest exploded in the 1990s, however, and the hobby hasn't been the same since. Featuring their own themes and designs separate from the base set, insert cards have become some of the most coveted chases in recent decades — super short-printed inserts can even eclipse key rookie cards on the secondary market. Advertisement Originating in the '90s, inserts such as Precious Metal Gems, Scoring Kings, Jambalaya and Big Man on Court have resonated with collectors years later. Today, the ultra-modern era of collecting has been dominated by inserts such as Kaboom, Color Blast, Downtown and Stained Glass. 5. Print-to-demand Topps NOW ties a specific moment to an instant card. (Credit: Topps) The current marketplace for print-to-demand cards was first introduced with Panini Instant and Topps NOW in 2016, and though it took years to catch on, the concept has carved out a significant place in the hobby during the ultra-modern era. Hoping to capture important moments as they happen, the Instant and NOW programs design cards that are available a la carte during a limited release window. Collectors can purchase as many cards as they desire, and the companies print the cards needed to fulfill all orders. Advertisement Interest in print-to-demand cards was relatively light to start, but has since exploded as Panini has included more autographs and parallels, and Topps has added random chases that can be included with orders of the base card. The print-to-demand market experienced its biggest moment when Topps released a NOW card celebrating Team USA's gold medal in the 2024 Olympic Games. Topps added a number of 1/1 chase cards to the drop, including a triple autograph of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. The chase for the triple autograph resulted in collectors purchasing 588,035 base cards — a then-record for the NOW program. The triple autograph remains one of the most important cards that has yet to surface publicly. Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.
New York Times
20-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Why are ungraded cards starting to sell for more than cards graded in mint condition?
Trading card collectors and dealers largely view grading as the ultimate arbiter of the condition and value of the card. In other words, if a company like leading card grader PSA says your card is a Mint 9 (on a 1-10 scale) even though you can't perceive any flaw, it's stuck there, encased for eternity like a prehistoric insect in amber. It's frozen in time in that eternal state. Advertisement It's at the point now that a modern card with a 'mint' grade (a 9) is often worth less than a card not graded at all. That's because the ungraded ('raw' in the parlance of the hobby) card holds the possibility of being a 10 if it gets graded. But a 9 will always just be a 9, the thinking goes. But what if the arbiter is arbitrary? A recent YouTube video by a Pokemon collector who believed many of his 9s deserved gem-mint 10s seems to prove that grading is quite subjective. Minor flaws that prevent a perfect grade initially can be overlooked when the card is cracked out of its plastic tomb and resubmitted. It's as if the flaw(s) were never there at all. YouTube creator 'Pokemon Steven' sent 189 cards that he thought were perfect but were graded a notch below by PSA back for regrading after cracking them out of their slabs. Most were regraded the same way. But a couple were graded as altered/trimmed upon second look and others were graded lower/worse than a 9, sometimes by multiple grades. But 81 came back perfect 10s. That's 43 percent deemed worthy of a higher grade upon another look unbeknownst to PSA, of course. And if you think that was some fluke, PokeTCGivaways showed on its X account a resubmission, with labels as proof, of 15 mostly 9s but two graded an 8 ('near mint-mint'). Of those, 11 came back with new grades — 10 upgraded to a 10 and one of the 8s downgraded to a 7. When asked whether differences between a 9 and 10 are so minor that cards just teeter between them, the account responded, 'Maybe. I also think a lot of graders will have different opinions and it all depends on who you get grading your cards.' If you're wondering why these examples are trading card game (TCG) cards and not sports, a big reason is the majority of the 100,000 cards graded daily (all graders, not just PSA) are TCG (most of those being Pokemon, according to GemRate, which tracks grading trends). But cardboard is cardboard, and if TCG grades are changing at such a high rate, there's no reason to think sports cards would not follow the same pattern. Advertisement This does not necessarily mean you should crack your 9s and resubmit, though. 'Under no circumstances, do not follow in my footsteps,' Pokemon Steven said on his video. 'This is reckless and a waste of money. Two grading fees. Shipping fees. (I paid) $40 per card. Some cards (I resubmitted) are not even worth $40.' He said he did it because he specifically collects 10s and felt those cards deserved the perfect grade; it had nothing to do with money. But this admittedly crazy experiment that executor says should not be repeated shows that there may be a market inefficiency in dismissing cards graded less than gem mint as lower in value than ungraded ones. Sure, the raw card may be a 10; for Topps 2025 Baseball about 21 percent of submissions get the perfect grade. But that's less than half the rate of Mint 9s that get turned into a 10 on resubmission, according to these Pokemon collectors. So why not take the steep discount that's often 50 percent or more on a graded 9? If the market for the player explodes, the owner can release it from its slab and try again for a 10. If the card was bought graded, the resubmission is not a second grading expense for that owner. (Dealers told The Athletic that the cost of grading is not factored into the value of a card.) PSA President Ryan Hoge questioned the validity of these types of experiments, though. 'We understand the allure of videos showing cracked PSA 9s coming back as 10s, but these often lack key context—and in some cases, accuracy,' he told The Athletic. 'We often see examples where entirely different cards are resubmitted under the guise of being the same. Our Brand Protection team monitors this kind of content carefully and handles those on a case-by-case basis. 'Every card that enters our facility is evaluated by multiple professional graders. When differences arise, our process ensures consensus before a final grade is issued. No grading company in the world holds itself to a higher or more consistent standard than PSA.' Advertisement While many modern mint cards do sell for more than raw, the difference is getting smaller and often does not justify the cost of grading. It's not difficult to find examples of inverted pricing, meaning the ungraded card goes for more money than Mint 9s. For example, according to CardLadder, a 2013 Panini Select Giannis Antetokounmpo #178 sells for $100 in PSA 9 and $124 ungraded. Of course, it's an ungraded one with no obvious flaws but a PSA 9 can have no obvious flaws, too. There have been no recent sales of a PSA 10, according to CardLadder, but assume it would sell for at about twice as much as a PSA 9. A 2018 Topps Chrome Sapphire Shohei Ohtani #700 rookie card sold for $2,075.50 in a PSA 9 grade on March 17, which was less than the last raw sale of $2,336. A PSA 10 last sold for $4,200. The Topps Chrome Ohtani #150 Refractor sold for $466 ungraded in June, a week before it sold for $355 in PSA 9. The raw buyer was hoping for a PSA 10 that last sold for $820; but the PSA 9 could potentially have at least as good a chance at grading a 10 if it was cracked and resubmitted. Rob DeMay, creator of the NEO Cards & Comics YouTube channel which regularly produces videos on grading and the card industry, advocated buying 9s for the value before these regrading results were made public. 'They're the ultimate collector card. It's not perfect. (The PSA 9) has an issue. But you're getting a steep discount. If you're keeping it, it limits the downside risk because the card is less expensive.' But now those 9s could end up being 10s. 'I'm not surprised by (these results),' he recently told The Athletic. 'We're paying a human for an opinion, and until they figure out some sort of AI grading, you're going to see things like this. Could you blindly buy all PSA 9s and repeat this result? I don't think so. However, if you were very selective, I could see you having some success with this strategy.' The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
Free Malaysia Today
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
Living with over 1,000 dolls keeps Elizabeth young at heart
Elizabeth Chrysostom has cabinets full of dolls in her Petaling Jaya home. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) PETALING JAYA : At 67 years old, Elizabeth Chrysostom is living the dream of every little girl – a house with over 1,000 dolls. In Malaysia, there is no one who knows dolls better than Elizabeth. She has it all: Barbies, Sindys, Robert Tonner dolls, celebrity dolls, baby dolls, and even dollhouses. And for World Doll Day today, FMT Lifestyle visited Elizabeth at her condominium here, where her staggering collection is on full display. Coming from a family of six daughters – Elizabeth being the youngest – it's no surprise that dolls were a big part of the household. Elizabeth has over 1,000 dolls, including limited edition barbies. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) 'I loved playing with dolls as a child. I remember my mother would crochet clothes for them and hang them as accessories in the car,' she recalled. But her real interest in doll collecting was triggered at seven years old when her sister brought home a child-like red-haired doll from overseas. Lovingly named Fergie, the doll now sits safely in its glass case atop a high cabinet. Stepping into her home, the dolls are the first thing that catches the eye. Cabinet upon cabinet filled with dolls line the living room. Even her wardrobe in the bedroom is mostly dedicated to dolls. 'In this wicked world I think you need pretty and fun things, something to look forward to each day, to make yourself happy,' she said, smiling broadly. One of Elizabeth's favourite pastimes is dressing up her dolls. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) Having worked in media publication before retiring, and never marrying, her dolls have long been her closest companions and most treasured possessions. She even makes sure her sister's grandkids don't lay a finger on them! She shared that many of her dolls were sourced from overseas, particularly the UK and the US, where doll collecting is a much more prominent culture. 'People think this is child's play but it is not. It's a grown-up passion. If you can't afford it, don't go for it. But if you can, it gives you a lot of joy.' She added, 'When I try to sell them, my heart goes with them as well.' Elizabeth has a collection of vintage baby dolls, some dating back to the 1970s. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) And pro-tip, never ask who her favourite doll is. 'Do you ask that of your kids? Which one is your favourite kid? Every doll is my favourite, there's a piece of my heart in all my dolls.' And, she doesn't discriminate. Whether it's plastic or porcelain, big or small, each doll is special to her. She has given names to every single one of them, and even remembers the stories behind how they came into her life. 'When my sister got married in 1977, I insisted we have a doll on the bonnet of the bridal car. Nobody does that anymore. I took the doll to the tailor that was doing her wedding dress and we dressed up the doll in the same material as the bridal outfit,' she recalled with a smile. 'Her bridal outfit is now destroyed but I still have a piece of the outfit.' Elizabeth hopes that one day her dolls will be exhibited for the public to enjoy. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) One of her favourite activities for relieving stress is dressing her dolls and giving them a fresh makeover. 'People like to say you're playing with dolls, you're so old. Many have called me strange.' But none of these comments have waned her spirit. 'One of my neighbours came when I first shifted in, and he looked around and he said, 'you've got a lot of dolls that belong to old humans who have passed on. He said, 'It's not good at all, because of the spirits in the doll.' I said no way, they're dolls to me.' While she worries about the fate of her dolls when she's no longer around, her dream is for them to be exhibited for public viewing and to live on, long after she's gone.
CNA
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Mind Your Money - Vintage value: unlocking wealth in wine
CNA938 Rewind More investors are eyeing wine as the next big asset, but there's things to consider, such as buying smart and proper storage. Cheryl Goh speaks with wine collector and CEO, Work + Store Danny Wong, to find out what to know before adding those vino bottles to your portfolio.
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Experience: I've made the longest chain of chewing-gum wrappers in the world
I don't know what to put it down to, but I've always been a collector, a completist, a statistician – and maybe a little competitive. As a schoolboy in Canada, I was fascinated by the Guinness Book of Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not!. I would memorise the records and amaze my friends by quoting them. Little did I know then that in 1994 I would break a world record and feature in the book I adored as a young boy, all thanks to my childhood hobby – making paper chains out of chewing-gum wrappers. I learned how to do it in 1965, aged 14, after seeing the older kids in the playground folding their gum wrappers into neat, long chains. I took to it pretty quickly, and entered a competition to see who could make the longest in the class. I won that, and then I made the longest one in the school. Suddenly, all the kids in my neighbourhood were saving their gum wrappers for me to add to my chain. They even captioned my 1967 yearbook photo: 'Got any gum wrappers?' I never realised how unique my chain was until almost 25 years later. In 1992, my wife, Deborah, and I were visiting the Ripley's museum in Ontario. We saw a giant gum-wrapper chain hanging from the ceiling as part of one of the exhibits. As we stared up at it, we were both thinking the same thing: my chain is much bigger. Deborah nudged me and said: 'You'd better do something about that.' I spoke to the manager, and he put me in touch with Ripley's vice-president of acquisitions. He was impressed by my chain, but told me there was a Guinness World Record holder who had a longer one. My competitive nature kicked in. I went to the Wrigley's purchasing department and asked them to supply me with Juicy Fruit wrappers – my favourite flavour. They gave me 5,000 to begin with, then 10,000 more. Before long, I blew past the 7,400ft (2.25km) record and reached 10,000ft. I became the Guinness World Record holder for the longest gum wrapper chain in the world – at 12,105ft – in March 1994, and I have officially broken my own record eight times since. So far, no one has come close to beating me. The second-longest chain I'm aware of belongs to a fellow in Germany whose chain is 17,000ft. I connect with other chain-makers via my website and I call them my 'chain gang'. There are roughly 50 of us and we share photos of our chains and the lengths we've reached. According to the latest official measurement, my chain is 23.226 miles (37.4km) long. Getting the chain measured is quite an undertaking. Every five years, land surveyors come over, and two witnesses have to independently verify the length. It takes many hours. In March this year, they recorded that my chain was made of 2,963,789 wrappers. There have been plenty of exciting moments since I started 60 years ago. For example, when I reached the 10-mile mark, I was featured in a book called Weird Virginia and they dubbed me the 'World's Greatest Wrap Artist'. That was fabulous. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion In 2010, the president of Ripley's Entertainment invited me to New York so he could sign the 3 millionth link to the chain in Times Square in front of the press. It was such a thrilling day. I got my brother-in-law to help me load the chain into a van and drive it all the way to the city, where we set it up in a big auditorium in front of all the cameras. Recently, I learned I was a hit on TikTok – a video about me got 7.5m views. Some people wrote: 'Get a life! What is wrong with you?' To that, I say: I have a life. I'm retired now but I had a successful career as an operations manager of four businesses, which took me all over the world, including to the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Germany. I am a busy and fulfilled person. One day, I'd love to be able to say my chain is as long as a marathon (26.2 miles) – I'm only three miles off. After that, it would be poetic to reach 28 miles, which is the length of Virginia beach in the US, where I've lived with my wife since 2002. It's the largest pleasure beach in the world. The chain will keep growing as long as my hands keep working. To have something to show for your time on this earth is very gratifying. As told to Lara Olszowska Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@
