For over 100 years trading cards have been of interest to collectors worldwide. Baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer cards being some of the most popular among collectors, recently trading cards games have also entered the scene. Games such as Magic: The Gathering have had cards such as the coveted Black Lotus sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. One of which was signed by the cards’ illustrator Christopher Rush and sold in January of 2021 for $511,100 in an eBay auction. Other games such as Pokemon have also had similar cards such as the Pikachu Illustrator card, which recently sold in a private auction to Youtube content creator Logan Paul for a whopping $5,275,000.
These cards have held their value over the years since their release in the 90’s, however only recently have these trading cards exploded in value. Trading card game collectors used to simply hold their valuable cards because it was a form of nostalgia for them, it was a hobby. Nowadays, the value of these cards could potentially make them a relatively strong form of investment. Sports cards have always held value, such as the 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps card which sold for about $5.2 million dollars at auction.
In today’s world, trading card collecting is a lucrative hobby, allowing a collector to amass a collection of new cards that might have massive value in the future. The market for trading cards is only growing and every day it seems like there is news of some new record set at auction for a trading card. Getting started today with collecting trading cards is quite simple as well, with cards from new sets in trading card games being worth hundreds of dollars within the first few weeks of release, one can find their collection quickly growing in value over a short period of time. The hobby of collecting trading cards is one of nostalgia and passion, but can also turn quite a profit for the keen eyed collector.
