Are Million-Dollar Cards Actually Smart Investments?

1909 Honus Wagner for a mere 5.2 million on a what? PSA1. Yeah. What do you think of that? It seems like a lot of money to me. Sometimes we throw these numbers around and I think people get skewed, like, oh, 5 million. That's a lot of damn money for a card. You think they make money on that investment? Yeah, I think. Long term, I think so. If they don't, you and I are doing the wrong things. Right. Because it would mean vintage is going down in the long term, like 10 years. 15. 15 years. And that would mean the whole industry probably isn't doing great. It's always going to be a debate, well, who are the goats? Who's this? But like, I look at iconic differently. Iconic are like the cards that stood the test of time. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutt. Foreign what's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. It is Friday, February 27, 2026. Our Friday edition, It's going to be a condensed edition today. We got a card show this weekend, folks. Brian, his voice is teetering in and out, but he is. But this. This is what CAs do. They show up. They show up and they don't feel good. They put in the effort. They rock it. And he is. Brian Ludden. What's up, Brian? How you doing, buddy? It's always good seeing you, and I apologize to the audience for my voice. I'll say less and think more. Ludox is more. There you go. We appreciate Brian for getting on it. Yeah. With the voice a little under the weather. I think he's even under the weather, but this is. He's powering through. So you have to listen to yours truly maybe a little bit more than you want. Let's just be honest. I know how it is, but my wife says the same thing. But I'll be honest and say this. I'm just happy to be here. We appreciate you for listening. We know you have options with your attention, and we're proud to be one of them. Hope you enjoyed Tuesday's episode. Our guest releases are on Tuesday. Brian and Ryan on Friday. Guest was just a little guest. I mean, maybe someone you've heard of, Brian. I don't know. Ken. Ken Golden. Golden was on. They just sold the big cards there, Right? I know it was the first story of the day anyway. But topical like We're. We're tying this together, you know, the topical nature and then it's all working together. Yes. 1909, Honus Wagner. They golden closed this past weekend for a mere 5.2 million on a what, PSA1? Yeah. What do you think of that? It seems like a lot of money to me. Sometimes we throw these numbers around and I think people get, I don't know, skewed, like, oh, 5 million. It's not. That's a lot of damn money for a card. What's Poppy for that? Yeah. One, two, zero. I don't know. You have to worry about scarcity on that one. You think they make money on that investment? Yeah, I think long term, I think so. I mean, I don't see if they don't. You and I are doing the wrong things. Right. Because it would mean vintage is going down in the long term, like 10 years, 15 years, and that would mean the whole industry probably isn't doing great. And, I mean, that's sort of the shiny example of. Of vintage and scarcity, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't personally have a lot of interest in it, other than just the news of it. I mean, I. I don't know. Like, I. I won't say whether I could or couldn't afford that, but whether I could or not, it wouldn't be, like, on my list. Yeah, I mean, it's great for the industry. It's, you know, anytime we get headline news like that, even with the Pokemon that whatever Paul sold, like, that's the industry, it just is. It's gonna bring more. Anyone holds cards, they're gonna go up. Anyone who's vintage, it goes up. Anyone with Pokemon, it goes up. So I. I love the headline. The headline news. This industry needs more of it. And it's getting a lot of lot. A lot of clickbait, for sure. Yeah. Mr. Wonderful's on every other. I mean, I flip. I don't have time, like now, you know, like I have had in the past where maybe I'm catching more of the news or watching, you know, news show, but when I do flip it on, it seems like I randomly catch Mr. Wonderful talking about a card or a story or something. So we're definitely in the mainstream. And, you know, we had a call earlier. I won't name with who. And, you know, the media is catching on, and I think the brands are catching on and all that. And I think that's great for, I think, the visibility of the hobby overall, as well as projects that you and I are working on. And so we're, we're thankful to be in it. Yeah, it's fun, Fun industry. The. We got these in today. These are fun. We ripped these in the store yesterday. V Friends Super Sticker Spectacular series hanger packs. We have those at collector station. Just, you know, there's no shameless plugs on this. This show. It's just a plug. Oh, I'm getting it. Billa, our very active, very wonderful producer handed me this. So there you have it. You've got three, two packs in the VFriend super stickers. And they're a fun rip. They've got some numbered cards, they've got parallels. Gary's doing it right, man. It's, it's, it's. I think they're spanning past just kids now. I mean, some of the cards are. They're coming up with new names, different stuff. It's all. It's fun, though. Yeah, he does it right. We've talked about that. He's a genius. Only behind, only behind my buddy Ryan. Yes. Yeah. World class marketers, Gary and Ryan. Newest agency, Ryan and Gary. I need to. I mean, I'm gonna tell them I'm gonna go first. Ryan and Gary, rng. But I like them because they have positive messages, they're fun to open and they, they lean into everything. That's kind of fun about the new, like modern cards, parallels, numbers. Like, they grab your attention. We've got them sitting on the shelf and I'll say this, we'll put some of this footage in. If you're watching, get to see it. That's why you got to tune into the YouTube. They look good sitting on the shelf. Like they were sitting over there. We had them kind of as merchandising for the packs. I was like, those are really sharp in the shelf. I think our wonderful executive producer Bella is coming back in to actually have them in hand. And you see the colors and the variations, lighting, hopefully doing them justice. I mean, this shrewd shark reminded me of you, Brian. Look at that thing. The shrewd shark. Yes. CEO. I'm Brian. I'm eating up all the competition. Oh, and then. Oh, I forgot we had this. That's just my, you know, Gary signing my chill chinchilla card from, you know, the original series. No big deal. You know what else I like about the Vee friends is when you ask like a, you know, there's like these curmudgeon people in every industry. Oh, yeah, get off my grass. It's like, yes, the blowout forum. If you want to like see a bunch of old guys with opinions, like million opinions, like go to Blowout forum and then just put like V friends in there and you'll just get it crapping on it. I'm sure that's not collecting. That sucks. Like, that's terrible. And I'm like, don't be so offended by like, what are you offended by that? Why does that affect. That's Steph Curry on, on a V. Friend sticker. Yeah, you ever heard of him? Maybe you don't like Steph Curry too, but you know, like, come on. They don't like anything except. Yeah, no, but that's, that is the curmudgeon crowd and well, it's so funny you bring that up. We're at the national and walking around and my, my buddy Gio, who does one of the best shows in the hobby, you know, sports card nonsense. We love Gio, Jeremy, all those guys. So walking around with Gio and I noticed this too. Gary is on the floor early walking around doing deals. Dude's real. Dude's in the hobby. He, you can hate him because he's a great self promoter and he's a great marketer, but the dude's real. He's in it. He knows the culture. He know, he's, he studied it. He's been collecting a lot longer than most people that are busting on him. And sure enough, like what you're talking about, we were doing a little promo with Gary and literally guy behind me with a camera. My, my camera guy was there. We're filming Gary and one of our guys, this guy, like, he's probably like a 25 year old and he's like live blogging or something and all he's doing is ripping Gary and I, he's nobody know know where's Ville, you know, like never heard of, never seen him. He's going, yeah, Gary's slipping on these stickers still. Let's see where else. Like he's like live reporting, like just trash talking. And I'm like, dude, do you not have anything better to do? Like, what is the problem? People are the worst. Like, I just don't get it. Like you have to have something, you have to have a foil. Have to have something to hate. That's how it is. I mean that's how, you know, that's the way it is. There's always a, a heroin and then that an enemy or whatever they. I know, yeah. I, I g. I've known Gary a while and even before, you know, I knew him, you know, following him and learning of him through social, of course, like 10 years ago. But now, personally knowing him, I don't know many people that are more real than Gary. Like, you know, like it's. It's. Or is smart. Yeah, man. Mad respect. I mean, like, he just. He does it. Like, he does it. He says it. He does. What he say. Says like mad respect for him. I know, but I loved what you guys are. I think y' all are cooking things up together too, with Lud X and different things here and there, projects. I've. I've heard you dropping names. Yeah, we got some things spinning up. Yeah, I know you were in Toronto, so is that right or not? Or Canada or. Where were you? You were somewhere for something important? Well, Zodex went international, went to the Toronto show. I did not go up there because I was sick. Well, I say you. I mean Lud. I mean, Brian. Lud X. Yeah, the community was there. Community doctor. Collectible. Shout out to him. He gave us some tons of love. My boy Tristan was up there running the booth. Steve Menzie does an awesome job at the Toronto show. If you guys have not been there. End of April, the Expo in Toronto, that's their national. And if it's anything like what they showed me, it's probably. I mean, 70% hockey, 20% Pokemon, and 10% everything else. So it's a show. I mean, it's like, it is an untapped market out there for opportunities. But Steve does a great job. He's up to 10 shows all through the country, so I love it. Yeah, great. So now we're. Yeah, we went international. Canada. Oh, hey. Well, we. I'm sorry we had to beat you in hockey, but we do love you. You're a good ally. I mean, dude, we had no right to beat them. That was no right. Are you kidding me? It's like the hall of Fame All Star team in their prime or close to it, versus some decent American guys who I love and respect the hell out of. But let's just be. Let's call it what it is, right? They got outplayed, like, in, like, in every aspect of the game, the US and it was just a hot goalie, I guess you run into. Same thing. Run into a hot pitcher in the World Series. Like, I guess I don't know hockey that well, but, like, I get. I don't know. I didn't know that that could change the game that much. Like, that's what happened. And they got a little nervous, but we had no right to win that. But Dang. Was it exciting? Yeah, it was exciting. I mean, proud to be in America, women's and men's for the first time since 80. Right. I mean, in some ways, and I know the odds didn't seem. They were nowhere near as the miracle on ice, but in some ways, versus that Canadian team, it feels like another miracle on ice. Yeah. I mean, I thought the odds were even too close when. When they came out and they played that way, it was like. It was like the ice was tilted wherever it. Well, yeah, I mean, the odds were. I don't know. On paper. And again, I'm a cat. You and I are casual hockey guys. Like, we're not. I'm not a. I'm learning and getting more into it. I'm in the store and look at cards. But I am. I'm a lifelong basketball, football, baseball guy growing on the hockey side. So I'm speaking from, you know, lack of knowledge on every part of the game. But on paper, that looked like a bigger mismatch than maybe the odds were, but I don't. Yeah, but who owns the jerseys? Like, I know Upper Deck Hockey, but who has the Olympic contract? Who has the Nike. I know they had Nike on there. Yeah. Who has that? I don't know. I would imagine. I thought Upper Deck was, you know, had hockey pretty much cornered on every front. We ripped some Olympic stuff. Yeah. Like, during the Olympics, it was tops, but, like, man, what an opportunity. That's insane. It'll be interesting to watch. What's the halo effect from this? Right. So does it last past, like, this little buzz here? You've got Upper Deck actually releasing hockey blasters this week. Um, so there's short prints around it. So. Smart. Jack Hughes is doing a tops now thing. You know, he scored the last point in the game. So they're only available actually through today. So there's a one of one auto. I'm sure they should put pieces of his teeth in there. Yeah, like a. Like the bat relic. It's the teeth relic. Tooth relic. That's a. Interesting. Like a horror movie. The tooth relic. They got the 101 coming now from Tops. Now we've got the tooth relic of Jack Hughes. But I think it. I think it plays out very similar to World Cup. Like, it. It gets people excited for a moment, and it will get people excited the next time it happens. And then baseball kicks. Opening day starts. Yeah. I mean, is it good for the industry? Yeah, probably. Yeah. But I don't think it's like gonna. I mean, we saw hockey scans pick Up. There's no question. Over the weekend and after that game. But it's still significantly lower than, you know, any other. It sits. It's right below Magic for us. I need. We need some audience interaction here. We've been get. Hey, if you're listening and you've been dropping comments, we love you. Keep doing it. I reply to as many as I get to. That is me, Ryan replying to those. Almost every one of them me or Bella. And so keep asking. Keep asking questions. It shows us that you're listening. Those have been picking up every week. We had someone, Brian, ask, hey, he's trying to talk his parents into getting to the National. And if he gets in, he brought up the luggage. I said, look, he's in Lux Lounge. We'll at least for one night. If he makes it there and mentions the show, we'll get him in. Right? Yep. One hundred and then. But I want to get some feedback. Hockey. Are we into it? Are we buying more hockey cards? Are we getting into it? Love your feedback. You know, inform us, entertain us. Do we have a hockey listening crowd or, excuse me, hockey collecting crowd out there? And we'll. We'll take that feedback because you can also get feedback on this. I've got access to a Gordie. How Jersey signed. This is where I was going, Ryan, to get your opinion. I think he's universally kind of like that. You got Gretzky, and then I think he's in that second tier. But close. I mean, he's one of the biggest names. Hall of Famer. I have access to that. It's unauthenticated, but supposedly would pass authentication with flying colors. So it's discounted, but I have access to buy it. What do you think? Who's it from? Yeah. Where did he get it from? Yeah, like Providence and all that. Yeah. And the big thing is, like, the studies show technology can help. There's some companies out there that definitely help. Honestly, 40% of all of memorabilia is forged, and it's always going to be that way. There's no companies out there trying to stop that. But I personally don't buy any. Whatever. Unauthorized. Yeah. Because it just doesn't work. We had a Michael Jordan jersey come in and the. To our. To our store, our office, which we're not even shocked. Guys like, hey, can I bring this in? It's from one of Michael's games and blah, blah, blah. And so we took it. You know, we give it to, you know, Mike Baker and his, you know, his own partner, Damian, and they're like, this is crazy that like the company matched the jersey due to game, but it's a fake autograph. So the guy basically, whoever he had gayboard a real gay Moore jersey and then diluted it. Diluted the value by putting. By doing a fake auto. Crazy. That's what an idiot. Like, do you not think. I guess maybe thinking I got half of it. So it'll get. It'll fly. It'll fly, man. Yeah. I wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't buy it. Yeah. All right. What do you guys think out there? Yeah, I know. Let me know what you think and what you'd pay or not pay. I was quoted to. I was quoted 200 bucks. And I. And I looked it up and it looked like just. And I don't again, if I find out the jersey itself, where it's from and all that I can. And that has value. Like, the upside there, but like just a basic one was like get one for like 550 authenticated. So I don't know. Well, I think where you have to ask yourself, are you will just wear it? Are you willing? Like, that's pretty cheap for a jersey. Yeah, I don't want to wear a autograph. Walking autograph, I guess. I mean, maybe if it's a double xl, I'll throw that baby. If you find fake, you get a hockey 200 bucks. Yeah, true. One way to think about it, I mean, I guess the unauthenticated doesn't matter. If you're gonna throw it up on your wall and it looks like it's real and you're a big fan of them to get it and to, you know, have it as a memorabilia, knowing it's probably not going to increase in value necessarily because it's unauthenticated, but it means something to you as a fan. It's not a bad way to do it. That's a piece of art at that point. The jurors. Oh, about the jersey at that point. But you have to get it. Like, I would never sell it without getting authenticated, you know. Yeah, yeah, no, I would. I would buy it to authenticate it, to resell it. But anyway, I wear it at pond hockey. Yeah. I wear it on trade nights or something. You know, I'll just get everybody that comes to sign it next to them. Be like, whoever they are, they are. It was pretty cool. Yeah. But topps ripped, released 75 iconic baseball cards, and people are not happy, basically. Look, you know the answer, Brian. When you put out a list of the greatest, the best the most interesting you get way more blowback on. Well, why'd you leave out that or who'd you do then? You do. Oh yeah, that's definitely right. So the complaints are always louder than the praise, if you haven't figured that out. But they. Here's, here's what they were unhappy with. Paul Skeins rookie one of one being number five as one of the most iconic baseball cards. Interesting. Would you, would you have beef with that? Yeah, I mean I wouldn't mind. I want to pull it, but yeah, you love to have it. So sell would have been my list. No way. That's marketing. You know, they know what they're doing. Yeah, exactly. Otani rookie again being number 10 and it was like a random rookie card. It wasn't like what most people consider his better rookie cards. And Mike Trout was nowhere to be found on this 75 iconic baseball card list. So they were happy with those. They were unhappy with those three things. The most. I mean what's their definition of iconic? I guess is where we come down to. I know it's like most valuable or most iconic. I mean most popular. Most popular. Very popular. Yeah, those are all. I mean if you went and did. Because modern media, the impressions that the Paul Skeens Rookie 101 got because of modern media and the time that it happened, it probably is like chart busting because you know they did a tour in the freaking Dicks. They had it at the freaking fanatics fest, you know at the, at the Dick's like lounge area. They had it on display. So it, it did a whole. The card itself did like a media round and then you know, once it's sold the whole value of the media there, it's probably so like the value of the impressions of the media is more like what this, this 75 iconic is. Yeah, I mean Dick's basically is like I didn't know Dick sold cards. I didn't know they were into cards and collecting. And now, now you do. So a million dollars is nothing to them. And so I think it's a smart move. But I mean 75, anything you call iconic cards, like it's always going to be a debate who are the goats, who's this? But like I don't know. I look at iconic differently. It's like Iconic are like the cards that. That has said that have tested and stood the test of time. Yeah. 52 I can name, I can name like five for me like 52 mantle rookie, the, the Bo Jackson card for me. Shoulders, baseball bat, Michael Jordan Rookie card. Ken Griffey Jr. Upper deck rookie. I mean it's just for me. I'm going to get hate mailed now too, Brian. But that's okay. I can take it. For me, like my era, growing up at others. Roger Clemens 1986 rookie card. Don't ask me why. I know it probably wouldn't make many people's but like when I was growing up, like that was like, like a badass iconic card. You know, like the greatest pitcher of the time. Right? Yeah. You look like him. I think you that's why you like him. Do I? That's not a bad thing. I think Clemens is kind of a striking, strong, manly, iconic figure. Yeah, handsome. I don't think I could throw 100 mile per hour gas heater though, you know, I mean my arm's not bad, but it ain't that, I'll tell you that. Jeez, dude, throw some nitro balls. But yeah, I mean those come to mind. There's others. Lists are always created to be debated. They. I like that, Brian. Created to be debated. It's called clickbait. Yeah. That's why every blog ever made. It's a little marking lesson for everyone, whether you want it or not. We'll blend in every article, the five best cards you can see at the national this year. We've got the 10 greatest rookie cards of all time. We've got the five most unappreciated pitchers from the New York Yankees. Every article they get you, they hook you in. Hey, yeah. It's like number one hook. Did I hear there's a card show in South Carolina? In Greenville? Vegas. Yes, baby. Oh, yeah. Wilder. Mike Wilder puts on a great show. He does it here. It's the biggest show in the upstate. That's about every three months. Heywood Mall. Yours truly, the Collector Station. Collector Nation radical team will be there full effect, promoting the store, Collector Station as well as this show, Collector Nation. We'll be handing out T shirts, kissing babies, smacking backs, you know, all kinds of stuff. So Bella, are you going? Bella is going. Bella is going. She is working in the background actually right now on some of our merchandising for the show. So Brian was asking Bella if you would be there. Yep, it's baby's first card show. We'll see how overwhelmed I get. And maybe I'll learn some things. Probably we'll learn some things. It's pretty smelly. A lot of dudes. Oh, I already got the room spray ready to go. I'll just go up to people. You Know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The direction I'm walking, just. Yeah, you'll. You'll smell my presence. You might be the only female there. Oh, it's not that bad. Yeah, there's a lot of Pokemon people. Yeah, Pokemon or back. I'll just gaslight a bunch of. A bunch of men and try to convince them that I know what I'm talking about. How much mansplaining is Bella gonna get? Oh, see? Little do they know, I. Bella splain. I've coined the term. Yeah. So don't you even worry. Oh, well, have fun. It will be fun. Get some money from Ryan and buy a card. I'll give her an allowance to go walk around, you know, like $1. No, I'll give you more than that. I'll give you, like, a hundred bucks or something. Like, really get something good, and you'll get a better deal. So you. You. It's mainly like. Oh, they'll give you, like, it's my first card I've ever bought, and they're gonna give you, like, a 200 card for my 100. Then I'm gonna sell it and give you the hundred back and pocket the other hundred. All right, deal. I'm gonna try next week. And what she bought, like, what? Yes. Was it baseball, basketball, football? We're gonna do this. Don't let us forget to do this. We're gonna be busy, but we're gonna do this. Okay? And we're gonna film it. Callan's gonna film it. I gave my daughter 100 bucks at the national and she came back with a C. SGC10 Taylor Swift card. Yep. I love it. Sounds about right. Hey, I bet you think it's probably gone up in value. Probably. You know, kind of like her bank account, you know? Yeah. Swiftly gone up that. Hey, short, short episode today. A little tight. 26ish minutes. Brian's voice is carried through, but probably doesn't have much left. He needs to get in bed. We've got to get back to work. We gotta get prepared for this show. If you're in the Southeast and you want to make the trip to Green, Greenville's a great place to visit. Come to the show this weekend. We'll be there on Saturday from 10 to 4 at Haywood Mall. You won't be able to miss us. We're gonna have a 10 by 8, huge, 10ft tall or 10ft wide, I don't know, banner you. We're gonna be the people with the marketing presence at the card show. Three tables spread out and we'd love to meet you. So if you are in the area local listening, come say hello and, you know, tell us what you think of the show. We appreciate you for listening. Any final thoughts, Brian? No, man. Have fun. I think in your future, I think you're going to run, partner with that guy and run the show and make it bigger. Yes. Those two damas, don't give him any ideas. He already has too much going on. And for my mental sanity, Bella, that's why we can't talk too much because we just. Yeah, yeah. No. Oh, I love it. I love it, Brian. Appreciate you, brother. Go get, get better get that voice healed up. All right, brother. Love you. Love you, man. Hey, guys, the collectornation.com go check us out the apps out. Go to the Collector Nation app in the app store and while you're there, don't forget L U D E X. The best car scanning app right there. O' Brien's shirt. That's how you spell it. Gorgeous merch. My favorite hats that I wear every day are on the desk here. I didn't want to overpopulate it. That's why I got our collection hat on. He's got the Ludic shirt on. But Ludx go in the app store. Let me tell you, collection management. I've saw some of the newest features today. Let me just tell you, constant innovation happening with Brian and his team helps you sell some cards on ebay quicker than anyone. Integration with other things coming planned and of course just that, digital collection management. So you know what you got, how much it's worth. All of those things. L U D E X. Ludx. Proud to partner with them and for just. I'm just on the team, baby. I'm just happy to be on the team. So we appreciate you for listening. Check us out on YouTube. We'll see you next week on the Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation. Com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.