Collectors, I’ve been writing this newsletter for 3+ years and I’m willing to bet I’ve mentioned card-related theft at least 20 times since the first issue.
But today’s news is different. This wasn’t an amateur sneaking out of a card show with a slab they palmed, or even a more professional smash & grab at a card shop. This was roughly $1M in graded cards pulled from a FedEx truck parked outside of PSA’s offices. That sentence reads like the log-line for a heist movie, like it’s Logan Lucky 2.
It will be interesting to see what PSA does to keep robberies like this from happening again. Unmarked trucks? Decoys? Armored vehicles?
And what will happen to the stolen cards? Given they had all been graded, the cert numbers will be flagged in PSA’s system and these cards, especially the rarest ones, will be hard to flip on the open market.
Here’s hoping they’re all recovered.
Goldin is taking its partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers live, launching weekly eBay Live auctions on October 28 featuring historical memorabilia and current game-used equipment. The deal gives Goldin direct access to team inventory, potentially allowing collectors to buy jerseys and other items immediately after games—or even reserve them beforehand. Ken Goldin sees the partnership as a way to reach millions of Lakers fans who have never participated in memorabilia auctions, with similar deals potentially coming to other franchises.
Whatnot’s 2027 consumer trends report shows continued growth in live collectibles shopping, with more than 100 million sports cards sold on the platform so far in 2026. Pokémon is moving even faster, averaging four card sales per second and topping 10 million cards sold in September alone. Soccer is another breakout category, with women’s soccer searches up 70% and World Cup jersey searches surging 230% month over month. Meanwhile, Cooper Flagg searches jumped 440%, though Michael Jordan remains the platform’s most-searched NBA player.
The only thing we write about more than thefts are broken sales records, and here’s another one. Lionel Messi has broken the Topps Now mark, with 664,325 packs ordered to commemorate his final international match with Argentina, surpassing the 653,737 cards sold for Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50/50 season. The $19.99 two-card packs featured a chance at rare parallels and one-of-one autographs, helping drive more than $13M in sales. The record is particularly notable for soccer, which has historically lagged behind baseball in the U.S. trading card market.
As the NBA season tips off, Courtyard has released an unusual player ranking based on which cards collectors keep versus immediately sell. Tyrese Maxey ranks above Cooper Flagg, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shares a tier with Donovan Clingan, reflecting collector behavior rather than on-court performance. It will be interesting to see how these numbers change as the season progresses, and as more companies enter the repack business. Speaking of…
The mystery buyer of Cooper Flagg’s $8.04M Rookie Debut Patch Autograph has been revealed: daily fantasy sports company PrizePicks, which is making the card available through its new digital repack platform. PrizePicks Packs will offer nine price tiers ranging from $1 to $2,500, with disclosed odds, physical card redemption and 100% fair-market-value buybacks. Other major chases include the Rookie Debut Patches of Dylan Harper and Kon Knueppel, plus a rare Pikachu Illustrator card, each valued above $2M. They are about to make so much money…
Shohei Ohtani’s card market has cooled dramatically, with two premium 2018 rookies falling from roughly $8,000 this summer to around $4,000. There might be a potential buying opportunity however, particularly in the 2018 Topps Chrome Pitching Refractor PSA 10, which has approximately 2,000 graded copies compared with 5,500 for the similarly priced Bowman Chrome rookie. With Ohtani’s postseason struggles and a possible MLB lockout weighing on prices, the question is whether collectors should buy now or wait for further declines.
And check out the Leaf set mentioned in the headline. One of the more bizarre dual autos we’ve ever seen… and we’re here for it?