Library · 4 pieces
Grading primers, collecting strategies, and market analysis — everything we'd tell a friend just starting out, plus what we're watching this week.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's first seven-figure card sold for $1,061,400 at Goldin — but the buyer didn't take home a card. They bought a redemption: an unfulfilled IOU for a 1/1 that Topps hasn't made yet. Here's what that actually means for price, risk, and liquidity.
2026 Topps Series 2 drops June 10 into a market where Bowman heat and a generational rookie class have compressed the usual Series 1 premium. We break down the box math, Skenes' sophomore base discount curve, and where the spread closes by July.
Cooper Flagg is eating the oxygen, but the real money three weeks out from the 2025 NBA Draft is moving on Dylan Harper, VJ Edgecombe, and Ace Bailey. The 2024-25 Bowman Chrome U comps are telling a different story than the mock drafts.
The May 13 release of 2026 Bowman crashed into the late-May call-up wave and gave collectors the cleanest stress test yet of the 14-day post-debut peak. Here's who held the spike, who's fading, and how to read the base-vs-refractor spread before selling.