Trading Cards – As a Long Term Investment

I was thinking to myself what could possibly be a great investment… Maybe to buy trading cards yearly to be sure I get the top rookie cards and maybe even some top autographs possible each year. I may have missed out on Patrick Mahomes and other destine for Hall of Fame Players but I still have a chance to pull some rookie cards from the next Mahomes, Brady, or Manning’s to come into the NFL. The card shown in the thumbnail for this story actually recently ballooned in value from around $100 I would say to now 2-500. I haven’t seen another one like it on eBay yet, Emmitt Smith (All time Leading Rusher in Yards, Record won’t be broken in this NFL age with the split running back situations on every team) – 1990 Topps Rookie Card Autographed and Graded by Beckett Gem 9 on the Card and 10 on the Auto which is flawless I might add and one of the best I’ve seen on the net. I’m pretty sure I have actually seen more of these same rookie cards signed on sale, not sure if they were graded though but Emmitt probably signed a lot being a high draft pick.

So I am after a few choice rookies like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Devonta Smith, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Micah Parsons, and Mac Jones. There are more players that could easily turn into Hall of Fame players but we will have to see what their Career has in store for them. These are some of the most sought after currently and to get lucky enough to pull an Autograph from one of those players would be ideal.

Maybe eventually I will open up to other sports but for now with my limited income it’s more wise to start with one sport and maybe expand later when my income justifies that kind of money being spent. In the mean time I selected by far the most popular and most watched sport in the USA.

The link below will show you exactly how massive and how many viewers the NFL commands on a weekly game by game basis. Even though the NFL had the lowest viewership of the last 10 years, it’s still a ratings giant. You would figure in the 2020 season the viewers would be more because more people would have had to stay inside and most were not even able to attend their teams games. So I would have thought viewers would have went up in 2020, but no doubt by going woke and siding with BLM (Black Lives Matter) and the kneeling protests seem to have taken it’s toll on the viewers and disenfranchised some of them. Hopefully for the NFL the ratings rebound in 2021 and people forget what the NFL did a year ago and give them a fresh start this year. However I fear ratings will continue to go down lower and lower as long as players are using their voices to tell us how to act, or how they think the world should act, as if the viewers really wanted that from the athletes, I would say probably not. The box set I got had
https://www.statista.com/statistics/289979/nfl-number-of-tv-viewers-usa/

I hadn’t bought or had new sports cards since I was a kid, maybe like 13-15 or so. The last box I got was an NFL brand called Pinnacle in 1996. It was a nice set of thick glossy cards with many different types of inserts and rookie cards. They even had some insert called Turf Warriors where the card had some type of green felt on it to make it look like Turf. Really fancy stuff and that was far ahead of the normal old Topps cards.

Since I haven’t bought Sports Trading Cards in so long I figured a quick duckduckgo search would help me find the best brands and it seems to have worked good. I found what looks like to be an MSN List on the 6 Best Football Cards for 2021 based on reviews that were scanned. 5 on the list are from a company called Panini, which I’ve heard a lot of good things about. The other 1 that wasn’t Panini is by Leaf, and it’s a box set that contains 3 Autographs in 1 box. Leaf also has a box set that is a bit cheaper and has 2 Autographs per box. Those Leaf boxes are great because they only have rookies in the box set, and they contain Autographs guaranteed so your definitely going to get Autographed Rookie Cards in each box. Normally in a card set its 1 or the other, Rookie or Autograph, not both, so they have potential to be by far the most valuable option.

So 1st I believe I will buy a couple boxes of the 2021 Leaf NFL Draft Hobby Box Set (The one with 3 Autos inside). In hopes I get some nice Rookie Autographs, I won’t be selling them for years but this seems like the best shot I have to get the best rookie cards I can while also getting some Autos. Now I just need to find out where I can get the best price on the box, and so far the website coming in with the best prices so far is BlowOutCards. Cheaper than eBay & Amazon prices by about 5-10$, its not much cheaper, but it’s something.

When I buy this Leaf 2021 NFL Draft Box in the next couple days I will do a live broadcast and post the video here when I’m opening the Packs, hope to pull a hot Autograph Live, hopefully I don’t get 3 noname Autographs but that’s the thing they may be no name or unknown now but who knows when their career is all said in done, but in a sport like QB opportunity and what kind of opportunity is sometimes half the battle for these young QB’s that weren’t top 5, someone like Gardner Minshew comes to mind, and he was lucky enough to get a Major Chance and he did quite well so he likely won a career as at least a backup in the NFL.

PACK OPENING COMING SOON!

The Autographs I pulled a Travis Etienne (#9 Clemson RB, 5’10” 215 Lbs, 1st Round 25th Pick Overall) “At Clemson’s pro day, Etienne showcased his speed after posting a 4.40 40-yard dash to pair with his 33 1/5 in. vertical and 10’9” broad jump.” , Wyatt Davis (#52 Ohio State G, 6’4″ 315 lbs, 3rd Round, 86th pick), Charles Snowden (#11 Virginia OLB, 6’7″ 240 Lbs, Signed as an undrafted free agent to the Bears after the draft.)

So I just picked up this Bad Boy since I missed getting his Auto last year. I’ve looked at quite a few of his Auto Cards and this is one of his nicer signatures, I’ve also seen DK sign his last name in 2 different ways. This style is more visually appealing in my eyes. The other one he leaves out many letters of his last name. This is definitely one of the nicest Signatures I’ve seen him make, which means it should grade pretty high when I send it in to be graded.

If my predictions are right and he has a long and prosperous NFL Career then I think and this card grades high then this card could possibly be worth a ton when his career is all said and done, much like I believe my Graded Emmitt Smith Topps Rookie Card is. I believe the Emmitt Rookie Graded 10 PSA could probably fetch upwards of 10k. In fact one day I may try to list it at a ridiculous amount like 100k or something one day just to see what kind of offers I can get from people.

6/15/2021 – I Received the DK Metcalf Signed Rookie Card in the Mail via USPS. I was less than impressed with the packaging of the card, it seems like this person may not be used to shipping cards. The amount of packaging or lack there of could easily have allowed for it to be damaged. I guess he broke some tape someone put at the top of a top loader that the card was housed in the keep it inside. Well you guessed it in transit the card shifted and some of it ended up sticking out the top, luckily it was only the slightest bit and luckily the package wasn’t bent because it was only protected by 2 thin pieces of cardboard. The sellers name was thesellercalledpico (298), however I am sure if you ask him to pack it a little bit more sturdy if he ships you something then I’m sure he will.

Sources: eBay Item Chris Carter Turf Warriors Card, My Personal Photos and Card Pulls from Box Set, Stock Leaf Box 3 Autograph Photo, Trevor Lawrence Photo – NY Post, My Emmitt Smith Autographed Rookie Card Graded 9 with 10 Grade Signature from Beckett Photographed, My DK Metcalf Autographed Rookie Emerald Leaf Insert Photographed.