SlabStox Card Market Report: July 2023

1. Silver Pack Attacks. The lines were long for sports-card collectors bringing Topps and Panini products in for silver pack distribution (and gold packs for Panini). If this is new to you, both card manufacturers provided special “silver packs” to buyers of specific wax products from different retailers on The National show floor. For each box of specific product purchased, you can wait in line (at times up to 3 hours) for one silver pack with proof of purchase. The hits in these packs were hot, specifically out of Topps packs, as colors and autographs were hit extremely frequently. Bowman Chrome baseball, Bowman Chrome U football, Topps Chrome soccer and Topps Chrome F1 were the pack options. See above for some of the top sales out of Topps Silver Packs so far.
2. Fanatics Live debuted. Just in time for The National, the Fanatics Live breaking platform flipped the switch to the public. Live on stage was Gary Vee, Michael Rubin, SlabStox Aaron, Mama Breaks and other sports card breakers who kicked off Fanatics Live at The National. Competing on the opposite end of the showspace was Whatnot’s live stage in the breakers pavilion, running non-stop breaks and giveaways.
3. Money was being spent and trades were being made. One of the most important parts of the card show ecosystem is deals happening both ways. This means both show attendees are willing to spend money at dealer tables and dealers are willing to also buy from attendees. If that happens, the show can be a massive success. And that is what we heard from customers the entire week. If you find the right dealers, they can put cash in your pocket instantly at the show to go to another table and pick up something for your collection you really want. This was happening at a high rate, and it led to better sales for dealers and a better experience for attendees.
4. Trade Nights are the every-day collector’s National. If you didn’t learn from past NSCCs, the official “Trade Night” held on Thursday night of The National has become an event itself. Hosted by Jimmy’s Kentucky Roadshow and Ryan from @CardCollector2, this is an arrive-early-or-you-ain’t-getting-in affair. That didn’t seem to squelch the enthusiasm. Card collectors and traders set cards up in the hallways and continued the fun outside the ballroom. Several off-shoot trade nights were just as active, including a soccer trade-night and several pop-up events that lasted into the early morning hours at hotels like the Hyatt across the street from the convention center.
5. More collecting voices than ever before. Women and kids were a big part of this year’s National. "Women in the Hobby" had their own booth again this year and was a hot stop with appearances from NWSL players and March Madness star, Angel Reese. Kids have officially stepped up in the hobby, too. The “trade up” challenge was alive and well, as kids were actively trading, selling and upping their game in the card collecting world.

To get more takes from card collector’s (including @garyvee) attending The National in Chicago, watch this video: ”Where’s the Card Hobby Now?”

If you are a dealer at The National, you get a chance to vote on the different locations for the show. The 2026 location was up for vote at this year’s show, and we posted about the ballot with the three options: Atlanta, Atlantic City and Chicago. Atlantic City is really trying hard to get dealers’ votes by providing discounts on booths, and here’s what the community had to say.

@bobajoestrikesback: “Literally saw a shooting go down as my taxi driver was taking me to my hotel. Taxi driver said “this happens quite often”. Couldn’t sleep the whole night. Never going back to that place. Do better for your collectors. I'm talking about Atlantic City last year National.”

@1_of_1_card_shop: “CHI, CLE, ATL. Major hubs for airlines and relatively cheap for collectors to stay in hotels. Not sure why these 3 aren’t the constant east coast options.”

@g40cards: “How are these the only options? Nashville, DC, Orlando, Miami, New York, Charlotte, etc. etc.”

Printing plates are always a hot/cold sports card category. Either people LOVE them or they HATE them. There’s not many people that are just in the middle. This Juan Soto 2016 Bowman Chrome Magenta Printing Plate Auto 1/1 sold for $4,440 on 7/16/23, and it got us asking if it should be more valuable than normal plates because of the Superfractor Auto 1/1 that was decertified (due to auto alteration).

@backtothecards: “Nope. Not a card. It’s a plate. There’s a reason it did that number.”

@thegreatcardvault: “I’m a fan of cheaper plates but still high profile names, good conversation piece but def not spending in the thousands for them”

@chicagocardz: “Plates are still cards. They made all the cards we love so they have a cool place in the hobby. People that disagree are allowed to their opinion but it’s still a 1/1 and is better than the 500 1/1 prizm parallels per set.”

The Victor Wembanyama craze continued in July, as his second Summer League game was actually a huge success. He scored 27 points, and the next morning this Bowman Chrome SP PSA 10 sold for an all-time high of $8,000. The previous sales were less than half of that, and the community sounded off on this crazy sale.

@newenglandpieces: “Condolences for the buyer”

@604_cardz: “I thought people might have learned after Zions Prizm RC, madness! 😅”

@sicsportscards: “You'll get a better ROI lighting your money on fire 🤣🤣🤣”

In the end, the $8,000 was way, way too much. The most recent sales for this card were around $2,000. On a good note, part of the $8,000 sale was donated to our Camp Kesem Charity event! The seller of the card, @sportscardswinterhaven donated $375 which is helping us reach our goal of $300,000 over the last 3 years.

IN: Corbin Carroll 2019 Bowman Chrome 1st Auto PSA 10 (77% yes)

OUT: Jacob deGrom 2014 Topps Chrome Update RC PSA 10 (79% of no votes)

The initial survey was met with two very frequent names being suggested by the readers: Corbin Carroll and Elly De La Cruz. Elly is the new, flashy name, but Carroll is the far better player who is putting up incredible stats as a rookie. His 21 HR, .822 OPS and 139 OPS+ has him as the landslide favorite to win NL ROY, and for good reason. Voters kicked out Jacob deGrom, which was not a surprise. Collectors are typically down on pitchers in the first place, and then add in the fact he’s been injured just about every year in recent memory makes this was an easy boot. Voters saved prospects Jackson Chourio (as expected) and Jordan Walker from being kicked out.

NOT ENOUGH JUICE

Not voted in: Jared Goff 2016 Prizm Silver RC PSA 10 (69% no)

Not voted in: David Pastrnak 2014 UD Young Guns RC PSA 10 (63% no)

Two cards had the chance to make it into the SX100, but voters didn’t vote “yes” enough for them to make it. Goff revived his career in Detroit, but he’s only been good again for one year. If he does it again this year, we’d expect him to make it in by the end of the season. As for Pastrnak, your guess is as good as ours as to why he isn’t voted into the SX100 yet. He’s coming off a 60 goal season, something not many players have done in their career. Let’s see if Q4 is his time to finally make his SX100 debut.

See all 100 cards in the SX100 on Card Ladder and how they are trending.

Babe Ruth 1916 Famous & Barr C. #151 PSA 4 ($645,000)

While most people recognize the 1933 Goudey as Babe Ruth’s most famous/iconic card, his pre-1933 cards sell for huge amounts. This is a PSA 4 from 1916 tagged as “Famous & Barr Co.” which was a department store that in the end got acquired by Macy’s. This $645,000 sale is higher than all but just three 1933 Goudey Ruth sales which were all PSA 8s or higher.

Pete Maravich 1970 Topps RC #123 PSA 10 ($552,000)

This sale was huge. $552,000 for a basketball card from the 70s is crazy. This POP 2 Pete Maravich RC PSA 10 wasn’t only the most expensive 1970 Topps basketball card to sell, it was the most expensive Topps card from any sport produced in the 1970s (1970 - 79).

Tom Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket RC Auto /100 BGS 8.5 ($402,000)

Every month we are seeing one of these appear in the top five sales. This time it’s a BGS 8.5 (last month it was a BGS 9), and this sale of $402,000 is the lowest it has sold for since 2019 when it was a $225,000 card. If you purchased this card during the sports card boom of 2020/21 (it was a $1M+ card then), this sale hurts. If you bought it in 2019 or prior, you’re definitely still happy.

Derek Jeter 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold RC /30 PSA 10 ($228,000)

When you think of the 1990s and baseball cards, often the first thought in mind is the Junk Wax era. While 90% of the 1990s is likely used as fire kindling, there’s that 1% that stands out as massive grails, and Derek Jeter leads the way. This 1996 Select Certified Gold /30 PSA 10 is a POP 2 and has only sold three times, with this most recent sale going for $288,000. This card once sold for just $1,166 in 2007.

Walt Frazier 1969 Topps RC #98 PSA 10 ($252,000)

While the Maravich and Jeter are POP 2s, this Frazier is a POP 1 and it played a major role in this card fetching over $250,000. A PSA 9 of this copy is under $10,000, so it really goes to show the massive value a POP 1 in a vintage rookie can bring.