a few lebron , kobe , MJ , iverson , doncic , zion , and more items for sale....

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they both look good to me as well...

it's simply amazing to me though what some of these cards are going for now...some beckett has caught up on and others they havent (how about the $3 BV 2nd year topps kobes going for 15 to 30 raw....unbelievable)...so many just sky-rocketing all at once and gradually spreading to other sets/players too...just hard to believe so many items going for well over BV especially considering the current economy...im of the mindset that as much as i want to keep these cards , i simply cant afford not to move them now...
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Do you have any thoughts as to why certain companies like Topps and Metal have skyrocketed while other issues seem to be stagnant in value? I'm looking at the Tim Duncan and AI Rcs. as examples. That is very odd to me.

And I know what you are saying about not being able to give some of these away in recent times but now are selling for much higher in this economy. Strange times indeed.
 
Do you have any thoughts as to why certain companies like Topps and Metal have skyrocketed while other issues seem to be stagnant in value? I'm looking at the Tim Duncan and AI Rcs. as examples. That is very odd to me.

And I know what you are saying about not being able to give some of these away in recent times but now are selling for much higher in this economy. Strange times indeed.

my thoughts on why certain issues have exploded and others havent....

the trend really seemed to start with prizm basketball and at first it looked like it had a lot to do with the class of 2019...it quickly spread - just look at 2012-13 and 2013-14 prizm to see the magnitude...with no more topps chrome basketball , prizm just seems to have filled that niche ...

next up was the untimely death of kobe which set off an explosion across almost everything of his...the one that surprised me most was the massive jump in everything of lebron...when he first went to the lakers there was a small bump , but over his first season there all i seemed to hear was how he was ruining the team , was a cancer , was on the decline , etc and his prices stagnated....fast forward a few months and everything of his is 5 to 10 times what it was in 2018...

most years around february through april , many people splurge a little when tax refunds come...the kobe , lebron , zion , and ja explosion was already in progress when the covid lockdowns started and stimulus checks started going out...now you had people with nothing to do but kill time and a little chunk of money on hand so the boon continued and started spreading to other players and sets....the last dance stuff focused so much attention on the bulls (and i look for similar with the mcgwire/sosa and tom brady features coming up) that virtually everything of mj , pippen , and rodman started flying...then a lot of the mid 90's rookies such as iverson , garnett , and duncan who recently made the hall of fame or are considered locks in the next few years...i'm a little bit surprised there hasn't been any uptick at all in guys like chris webber , penny hardaway , jason kidd , grant hill , or tracy mcgrady, but i don't think this is over yet so maybe .....

as for why certain sets and not others...it seems the old saying chrome is king is in full effect...similar sets like finest and bowman's best have seen some movement , but not nearly as much...i do think they will continue to climb though...the basic topps ? my personal opinion is that a lot of people who have collected baseball throughout the years and has always considered topps to be the big boy have ventured in and have started snapping up topps rookies of key players...aside from the massive explosion with stephen curry a few years ago , i don't really recall any time since 1992 when topps basketball made an impact until this spring...now just look at some BV's and it's amazing (kobe rc 60 , iverson from 2 to 20 in 3 months , lebron from 50 to 500 in a little over a year)...

the big mystery is metal , metal universe , and metal championship...they are all cool cards...really ...i love the micro-etch foil stuff...(i think the condition sensitivity of the borders on those cards may play a role in this as well)...1995-96 and 1996-97 metal were nice introduction to the market ...the 95-96 set can hang it's head on being the first metal set while the 96-97 set boasts the great rookie class although players who had their rookie card in series 1 tend to book higher in series 2 if they had a card in ech series...the one i simply can not fathom is 1997-98 metal universe ....the 2nd year kobe at 100...the mj at 400...rodman and pippen at 40 each....i may be way off base , but i'm leaning toward thinking it gets a big boost due to the similarity to many of the superhero (marvel , dc , whatever) cards...now why metal universe exploded and metal championship has not (kobe still with a 6 bv) escapes me - and i am actually looking to find some championship on the assumption it WILL take off soon...

another i've noticed selling well at or above bv has been 1996-97 flair showcase...i've loved flair since it debuted with 1993 baseball and i know many people have chased the legacy collections and masterpieces over the years...while it was a beautiful set from day one , the 96-97 issue took it to a new level and i think it's a simple case of the cards being so attractive...

my summary - i think a combination of tings have driven this boon and frankly i don't think it can go on forever , but i do think it has more legs...i've got my eye on 4 or 5 more sets (first 2 years of finest , 94-5 and 96-97 sp ) and a dozen or so more players that i hope to be able to stockpile now but with my current financial situation i dont know if i will have time or not...even if this does turn out to be just a bubble market , i am fairly sure most items that have skyrocketed , even if they crash , will still be well over what they were when this all began...

two other cards that blew me away when compiling data to price the cards in my list above.....2015-16 hoops kobe and lebron...both book at 3.00 but both are selling consistently in the 8 to 15 range...the kobe has lebron in the photo and is being marketed as "kobe's last year" and "with lebron"....the lebron card pictures him doing his customary pre-game chalk throw and is being marketed as "iconic chalk throw pose"...and here i thought the 2008-09 topps chrome kobe that pictures lebron on defense having a BV of 200 was wild...smh
 
Thanks for a most interesting read!! I really appreciate the insight. Looking at your sell list, I was totally confused by the rise in some and not others. In the 1990s until Upper Deck began short printing rookies, I always equated a player's Topps RC and their Upper Deck one. What a difference in the two similar cards these days. Topps being the historic company does make sense for their rise.

Kobe's rise in value made some sense with his passing. LBJ going to the Lakers also would cause a price rise. The Bulls players from their dynasty increasing in value made some sense too. But Duncan, AI and Garnett are complete mysteries since none of them was a rival of MJ. One mega star palyer I did not see a reference to was Shaq. I'd think his cards would have gottena boost since he was a rival of MJ's in Orlando and a teammate of Kobe's in LA.

If there are 15 basketball sets for any of those mid 90s years, Metal going up would have been one of my last choices.

Thanks again for the opinion. Seeing these price rises makes me very happy I was not baseball myopic in my collecting habits!!
 
How’s the Flair Kobe Rookie look?

to my naked eye it looks good...clean corners...when held to the light at certain angles , a bunch or short parallel verticl microlines appear on the surface ...they dont appear to be surface scratches but look like they are behind the glossy coating...there is a tiny speck of white along the bottom border just to the right of his leg , but i dug around and found a magnifying glass and upon close examination it appears to be the tops of the jersey lettering on the background photo instead of actual damage to the card...
 
Thanks. I'm interested, but just dropped a bunch of cash on some other stuff. How much are you asking cashwise?
Chris

to my naked eye it looks good...clean corners...when held to the light at certain angles , a bunch or short parallel verticl microlines appear on the surface ...they dont appear to be surface scratches but look like they are behind the glossy coating...there is a tiny speck of white along the bottom border just to the right of his leg , but i dug around and found a magnifying glass and upon close examination it appears to be the tops of the jersey lettering on the background photo instead of actual damage to the card...
 
Thanks. I'm interested, but just dropped a bunch of cash on some other stuff. How much are you asking cashwise?
Chris

just did some more research on all reported ebay sales in june...pretty consistent data...

25 total sales :
low = 38.48
hi = 110.68
average = 66.60
dropping hi and low , average = 65.90

breaking it down just a bit :

13 auction sales :
low = 39.00
hi = 110.68
average = 69.56
dropping hi and low , average = 68.60

2 full BIN sales :
67.98
78.94

10 best offers accepted :
low = 38.48
hi = 79.25
average = 61.37
dropping hi and low , average = 62.00

more recent sales have been trending upward...lowest live BIN is in the mid 80's with most asking well over 100...if i list it there , i'll set a BIN of roughl;y 80 to 85 and be looking for 65 to 75...


soooo....off ebay im looking for 60 but would go a little lower if selling multiple items...
 
original list updated to remove recently sold items and add two new items...hoping to get more items added later today and tomorrow...
 
a few new items added at the bottom of the first post that will likely be hitting ebay tomorrow....
 
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original post updated to reflect sales....

but man , those porters really took off , huh ?i knew the prizm rookie only had a BV of 4 and the pink ice was at 30 , but last weekend i researched the sales over the past month and saw the pinks that had been sellin g in the 20-30 range 4 weeks ago were going between 55 and 72 on july 31st and august 1st ..i listed mine on sunday and got quite a few offers at 40 but based on my research i held out for something in the mid-60's ...opened sortsof last night and the pink porter was still loaded in and i was stunned to see that the same card that was averaging 63.50 on ebay friday and saturday was now averaging over $150just 3 days later...had been discussing his cards and their relatively low book values with a buddy several times over the past week right up til last night...as of 2 AM today they still hadnt budged from the $4 and $30 mentioned above but we were guessing what they would be by next week...i suggested 100 for the rc and 200 for the pink...well , lo and behold , by 930 this morning the rookie was up to $80 and the pink - the same one i felt so good about moving for $63 5 days ago - was up to $200....

i know things are moving at an unsustainable rate and eventually i think most will soften up again , but frankly though i hate parting with a lot of my pc stuff , i just think there's no way a person in my situation both financially and in regard to my failing current health issues can afford to hold this stuff...that said , cases like this porter jumping so much so fast , i am now somewhat gun-shy on listing more stuff....
 
015-16 hoops 172 w/lebron james 5.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 291 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 293 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 294 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 294 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 295 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 295 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 298 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 299 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 300 2.00
2017-18 panini contenders draft picks 31a purple jersey 1.50 I'll take theses...using paypal. Best regards, David
 
015-16 hoops 172 w/lebron james 5.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 291 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 293 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 294 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 294 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 295 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 295 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 298 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 299 2.00
2017-18 hoops bryant tribute sp subset 300 2.00
2017-18 panini contenders draft picks 31a purple jersey 1.50 I'll take theses...using paypal. Best regards, David


adds up to 24.50 , so lets just call it 20 even....will go post now....
 
just added a few brand new items to the bottom of the first post...on the way to ebay tonight , but will be available here first for an hour or two if anyine is interested....
 
Claude, did you ever find those other Topps AI? Also interested in this one:

2003-04 topps 223 rc carmelo anthony has dinged corner 3.00

Have any other Melo RC by chance?

Thanks
Kirby
 
Claude, did you ever find those other Topps AI? Also interested in this one:

2003-04 topps 223 rc carmelo anthony has dinged corner 3.00

Have any other Melo RC by chance?

Thanks
Kirby

i've been searching high and low for the stack of iversons and one other top-loader box filled with kobe , iverson , allen , nash , duncan , and mcgrady rookies plus a bunch of metal jordans... ...while i did find a bunch of 1996-97 topps rookies of guys like antoine walker , marcus camb/ , stephon marbury , and shareef abdur-rahim , so far ive found very few iverson....one hoops , and 2 topps , but those were both damaged...

i think i may have some more carmelo's but i only pulled out a few so far and most wereleft in the boxes i sorted through and piled up ...i am still looking and will start going back through those other boxes again so i'll see what i can wrangle up...
 
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