This is the most valuable advice you may get today: Go to your closet and pull out that box of old sports trading cards.
You might have gold.
From 2016 to 2019, card sales on eBay jumped 40%, to $600m+, according to ESPN. This year, the wave of liquidity from pandemic stimulus — and the rise of secondary markets like StockX — has the card biz on fire some notable sales:
- MLB’s Mike Trout ($3.84m)
- NBA’s Giannis Antetokounmpo ($1.86m)
- NBA’s LeBron James ($1.8m and $1.08m)
Now, a major collectibles appraiser has cashed in
Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen just teamed up with entrepreneur Nat Turner to acquire Collectors Universe, a leading 3rd-party collectible authentication and grading service.
The deal is valued at ~$700m, which is triple Collectors’ market cap from just one year ago.
The company claims its various designations — like PCGS (for coins) and PSA (sports cards) — boost sale values at auction.
Latest quarterly sales were up 52% YoY…
… totaling $30.8m, which puts it on an annual run rate of $120m+, double its 2015 revenue of $62m.
Collectors’ latest earnings call suggests the firm has more growth coming: It has a huge backlog of authentication requests and is doubling its facilities (to 126k+ square feet) to accommodate demand.
So, if you find something in that shoebox, definitely send it to us and we’ll send it along for you…
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