On The Hunt For Treasure

Sometimes you find bargains in places you never expect. And when you uncover them, it makes the thrill of the hunt that much more worth it.

In July, I took off for the Chicago suburbs to hunt for a different type of treasure. Instead of looking for stocks, I hit the road to attend the 2025 National Sports Collector’s Convention.

As an avid collector and trader of sports cards and memorabilia, I’m always on the lookout for deals.

Or looking to make a big score on buying, selling or trading in the sports card world.

For those of you who don’t know, sports cards – and others like Pokémon – are a big business. The sports card market is worth about $12 billion a year. And when you add in memorabilia – like signed photos and game-used jerseys – it jumps to more than $30 billion.

Collecting sports and trading cards isn’t just something that kids do anymore. It’s evolved to become its own alternative asset class.

And there’s no better place to experience that market than at “The National.”

Over 100,000 people attended the 5-day event bartering tens of millions of dollars while there.

I personally saw a collector sell a suitcase full of cards for over $100,000. The dealer who bought the collection had to ask if it would be okay to send a wire rather than hand over stacks of hundreds.

I like to attend to talk to other collectors and dealers. In fact, it’s just like the boots-on-the-ground research I like to do when looking for our next recommendation. There’s nothing like learning from the people in the industry about what’s going on and what’s trending.

It’s also a chance for me to either add to my collection. Or find things I can flip for a quick profit.

I look at my collection just the same way I look at my investment portfolio. I have cards and memorabilia I keep for the long term. And I have some I look to speculate on for a quick profit.

In my personal sports collection, one of my “core” investments is the dual autographed Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams framed photo hanging on my wall.

I know it’ll hang there year after year growing in value.

The speculative part of my sports card portfolio is where the fun stuff happens. These are cards that have a chance to turn dimes into dollars. A lot like the recommendations I make to Strategic Trader premium members.

They won’t always work out. But when they do, they can make a significant difference in your portfolio.

Like last year’s big score, a card autographed by WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark and this year’s number one draft pick Paige Bueckers.

As a raw, ungraded card, there’s only so much other collectors would pay for it. So I had two options: flip it for a quick profit. Or grade it for a chance at even bigger profits. (Professionally grading a card to judge its condition can greatly increase its value. On a scale of 1 to 10, a 10 means a card is in perfect condition.)

After looking at it closely, I thought it had a chance of getting a perfect 10 grade. So I sent it in and about 10 days later, the grade was ready…

My all-in cost – including grading – was about $250.

In most cases a good rule of thumb is that a perfect 10 is worth at least twice the value of a raw card. But that’s in most cases.

In others, it’s worth far more. And when it comes to anything Caitlin Clark, she’s one of the hottest names in the collecting world. So I put it up for auction, netting a tidy $8,000 in the process after auction fees.

It was a 32x return in a matter of months. It was a great score. It was unexpected. And it was a lot of fun.

At this year’s show, I did more selling than buying. While there were some decent things there, I didn’t quite find what I was looking for. And that’s OK.

But luckily, I did find some treasure.

One of the big card manufacturers, Panini, makes a high-end set of cards where they insert some interesting things. This set – Impeccable – retails for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars for a box. And the box includes only eight cards total.

However, in this set, some cards include a one-ounce silver bar or a half-ounce 14-karat gold bar embedded in the card. They’re rare and that typically makes them more valuable than the gold or silver in the card.

Collectors gladly fork over vast sums buying boxes in the hopes of hitting one of these cards.

It’s the thrill of the chase, even if it is like a lottery ticket.

So while walking through the show floor and looking through dealer tables, one of these cards caught my eye.

It was from the 2024-2025 Impeccable Soccer set. I honestly don’t know too much about soccer. I know the big names, like Messi and Ronaldo. Plus some others.

I definitely don’t know who Elliot Anderson is from Nottingham Forest. But that didn’t matter. The dealer had the card marked at $35.

At the time, an ounce of silver was trading for about $37. Meaning the silver in the card was worth more than what the dealer was asking.

I immediately made an offer for $28. He accepted.

So my “big” score from this year’s show wasn’t turning a 32x profit. It was buying an ounce of silver for a 25% discount to its spot price.

And with the price of silver at just over $40 per ounce today, I’m already way ahead in just a couple of months.

At the end of the day, investing and speculating – whether in stocks or sports cards – shouldn’t be a job. It shouldn’t be stressful.

It should be a lifestyle.

You stay patient. Pick your spots. Set realistic expectations. And take profits when it makes sense.

If you’re having fun and increasing your wealth along the way, you’re already ahead of the crowd.

Regards,

Editor, Strategic Trader

P.S. Be on the lookout for the next issue of Strategic Trader next Wednesday, September 17. In that issue, we detail one of the most interesting, overlooked trades we’ve come across. Make sure you don’t miss it!