New Sports Report!

Your free guide to understanding the sports collectibles market is here.

July 18, 2024

Welcome to Alts & Ends, your lively guide to collectible market happenings. In this edition, we launch our second quarter report on the sports collectibles market.

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Just Launched: The Sports Collectibles Market 2Q 2024

Presented by:

Sales volumes continue to decline at the high end of the sports collectibles market, but the market is as nuanced as ever. To understand the push and pull of supply and demand in its various categories and subcategories requires an in-depth examination of the data.

Fear not: we’ve done the heavy lifting for you, looking beneath the surface to understand how different pockets of the market are really performing.

Is vintage growing tired from carrying the market? Is modern ready to chip in and do its part again? Is game-worn faltering under the weight of massive expectations? All will be answered.

This in-depth research report from Altan Insights examines auction sales, market performance, and much more to understand how the market held up across categories, eras, and sports. Game-worn vs. cards. Vintage vs. modern. Physical vs. digital.

Inside, you'll find:

  • A detailed analysis of auction activity and the types of assets selling best

  • Card market performance and commentary, with subcategory nuance thoroughly explained

  • An update on the game-worn memorabilia market, including the Sotheby’s NBA Auctions partnership

  • Fascinating and relevant market trends in each sport

  • Records, grading population updates, the ongoing Type I photo explosion, ticket market analysis, digital collectible details, and much more!

Whether you work in the industry, collect assets, or invest, the information needed to keep your finger on the pulse of the sports collectibles market is here, captured and made digestible.

Click the link below to receive your free copy of the report today! 

A word from our sponsor:

This report is sponsored by The Realest, the most secure authentication standard for physical memorabilia.

The Highest & Most Secure Authentication Standard In Market: On-site, witness-based authentication with sophisticated label and covert marking technology, built in partnership with OpSec and Dust ID, paired with on-chain immutable provenance.

Only From The Source: Items come straight from the source and are verified by a founding team with decades of experience operating Major League Baseball’s memorabilia program.

The Best Buyers Experience: Auctions never include hidden fees or buyers premiums. Revenue goes directly to partners or a charity of their choice, fostering a direct and positive impact on the individuals and causes that matter the most to them.

Royalties In Perpetuity: The only platform offering partners royalties on all secondary sales in perpetuity, opening up a never-ending revenue stream through our patent-pending process.

The Authentication Process: Items are sourced directly from artists, athletes, teams, studios and more - ensuring genuine provenance. The Realest utilizes a multi-layered, witness-based authentication process (known as TRuEST™) that is led by veteran MLB Team Authentication executives. With TRuEST™ Authentication, physical certificates of authenticity have been replaced with digital ones, eliminating vulnerabilities. State-of-the-art covert marking and holographic technologies enable items to be uniquely identified with a first-of-its-kind tamper resistant Gold or Silver label and serial number. These holograms are non-transferable and the serial number's history can be verified online by anyone.

Sports: The Realest's authentication is trusted by teams across the NFL, NBA, and MLS, and has included game-used items from icons including Lionel Messi, Justin Jefferson, and Caitlin Clark.

Music: The Realest has authenticated items for some of the most popular artists in the world ranging from Post Malone, Snoop Dogg, Megadeth, and Method Man to J Balvin at Coachella and Andrea Bocelli at the Oscars.

Film: The Realest's authentication is now museum-grade as well, with the 1963 Ford Falcon Futura that Brad Pitt drove in “Ocean’s 11” currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Results Round-Up

  • A stegosaurus skeleton sold at Sotheby’s for $44,600,000, wildly outperforming a $6,000,000 high estimate. The skeleton is nearly 27 feet long and features 254 fossil bone elements (of approximately 319 possible).

  • Julien’s sold a suit worn by Steve Jobs in a photo shoot for the 1984 release of the MacIntosh for $39,000. Another event-worn Jobs suit sold for $26,000.

  • A Banksy “Gangsta Rat” stencil painting, executed on a street bollard, sold for $38,100 at Julien’s.

  • RR Auction sold an 1848 Force print of the Declaration of Independence for $29,136, well ahead of an $8,000 estimate. The prints utilized the William Stone engraving of the document, and it’s estimated approximately 500 copies were produced.

  • Ty Cobb accounted for 3 of the top 8 sales in Heritage’s Sports Card Catalog Auction, with his T206 El Principe de Gales card selling for $84,000 (more on that in a moment).

  • At Goldin, a PSA 7 Illustrator Pikachu card sold for $209,841. That’s the lowest sale recorded at the house for an Illustrator, but it’s also the lowest grade that’s been sold there.

  • The game-used Jackie Robinson bat from Reggie Jackson’s collection ultimately went unsold. Reggie Jackson’s 2009 Yankees World Series ring, however, sold for an impressive $164,700.

  • A sealed 8GB iPhone, encapsulated and graded CAS 85+, sold for $57,340 at Goldin, while an ungraded version - albeit in strong condition and of a slightly earlier release - sold for just $22,784 at LCG. Will Stern of Cllct dove into the confounding difference in outcomes.

  • At LCG, an uncirculated AFA 85 G.I. Joe Defiant Space Shuttle set sold for $57,596.

  • A document signed by Galileo sold at Sotheby’s for £600,000, splitting its estimate range. It’s the first appearance of a comparable Galileo document at auction since 1985, and it’s only one of three known Galileo-signed documents in private hands.

The T206 set is a vintage wonder of desirability and nuance, with various portrayals of some of its most iconic subjects, varying card backs, and low populations of high graded specimen. Ty Cobb is one of its most beloved subjects, and his red portrait among its most coveted cards. The “El Principe de Gales” card back is scarce, and in total, there are just 18 EPDG Red Portrait Cobbs in the PSA population, with one PSA 7 standing alone at the top.

That card sold at Heritage this weekend for $84,000. In July of 2016, the very same card sold there for a mere $14,340. In total, over eight years, the card appreciated in value by 486%, or a staggering 24% annually, all gross of buyer’s premium. If you were to net out buyer’s premium from the sale, annual appreciation still amounts to 22%.

A truly remarkable result for a true rarity.

Photo: RR Auction

7/18 - RR Auction Olympics


With the Paris Olympics just weeks away, the parade of Olympic memorabilia to auction has begun. A veritable assembly of medals and torches at RR auction is headlined by one of the rarest torches - from the Squaw Valley games. The torch was designed by a Disney artist, thanks to Walt Disney’s position as chairman of the Pageantry Committee. RR estimates that it will sell for more than $500,000.

Photo: Heritage

7/19 - 7/20 - Heritage Music Memorabilia & Concert Posters Signature Auction


When it comes to record sleeves, a first pressing copy of The Beatles’ first LP, signed by the band’s four members, ranks high in desirability. And yes, we said sleeves, not records, as it’s just the album cover offered here. Heritage has sold a number of these through the years, though none more recent than 2015. Results have ranged from $24-41k, and bidding here starts at $37,500 with BP.

Also on the slate:

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