Recently, on March 4th, a Tom Brady rookie card bearing his signature sold at auction for a robust 1.32 million dollars. This card shattered the previous football card record, a Patrick Mahomes card that sold for $861,000, just a month ago in early February.

This Brady card bears an image of the G.O.A.T. in his passing stance with his signature across his lower legs. The card is from a Playoff Contenders collection from 2000, his first year in the NFL. Tom Brady has gone on to break many records and now holds seven Super Bowl Championships, more championships alone than any other franchise in the history of the sport currently possesses. The sale occurred on an online marketplace for card trading called PWCC Marketplace and was purchased by well-known sports card collector James Park. This graded card was given a rating of 8, with the autograph graded at a perfect 10 by Beckett Grading Services. 

Cards are on Fire

Like many other collectibles, football cards are seeing their prices rise across all auction platforms. A similar card from the same 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket collection sold in February of 2019 (graded a Mint 9 and a 10 on the autograph by Beckett) for $400,100 via PWCC Marketplace and eBay. This sharp rise in value can be attributed to both the rising prices of sports collectibles and cards in particular. As well as Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl just this year.

Collecting Amid the Pandemic

Across the sports card collecting industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the prices of cards and on the number of cards for sale across online platforms such as eBay and other auction houses. Traditionally, most of the largest collectors and enthusiasts would attend card shows in person to buy, sell, and trade the best cards available. Over the past year, as with most parts of our lives, collecting too has moved heavily to online platforms. This change has allowed more collectors to play a role within the marketplace, as people spent more and more time inside their homes looking for ways to occupy their time and money.

With these changes heavily weighing on collectibles, we have also seen the rise of modern sports cards. In the past, the most valuable cards were of players from years gone by. The Holy Grails of cards were the Mickey Mantle’s and Honus Wagner’s from previous eras of baseball. But now, the most expensive cards sold in each of the three major American sports leagues (NFL, MLB, and NBA) are all held by players that are actively playing their sports and still at the top of their game. This is an interesting change from the past and one that will surely be one worth monitoring as there are sure to be more modern cards in great condition to enter the auction markets soon. 

On Deck

Next up in the football card space is another Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Collection rookie card that is currently up for auction at Lelands. It is graded at an 8.5 with a 9 on the autograph. The current bid (at the time of this writing) of $742,943.00 with 28 days remaining on the auction. The football card collecting world eagerly awaits the end of this auction, and CCV is monitoring its every move as the days go by. 

If you have a few cards or boxes of cards, it may be a good time to get some graded and place them up for sale if this upswing in the market continues. This trend is one that does not appear to be slowing and records are being broken nearly monthly over the past year. You never know, you could have that next special card stowed away in your closet now!