The sports collectible market has experienced a notable decline in 2023, according to a report by Altan Insights, a company specializing in monitoring sales across various collectible markets. The report, which analyzed data from Card Ladder, showed a downward trend that began approximately 18 months ago and persisted throughout the year.
Notably, sales of ultra-modern cards, which refers to cards issued from 2009 to the present, dropped by a significant 34.8% compared to the previous year. Modern cards, defined as those from 1984 to 2008, experienced a decrease in sales as well, with a decline of 30.8%. Vintage cards, while also facing a decline in overall sales, fared relatively better compared to their modern and ultra-modern counterparts.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, vintage and pre-war cards outperformed modern and ultra-modern cards, further solidifying their advantage in the collectible market for the year. Altan’s report emphasized that segments such as football, soccer, racing, and basketball cards witnessed the most substantial price declines. In particular, football cards, especially high-end ones featuring quarterbacks, both young and veteran, failed to recover their value, with injuries to popular quarterbacks in the latter half of the season exacerbating the situation.
Altan Insights also highlighted a significant dip in the top 50 sales at most auction houses from 2022 to 2023. Interestingly, the decline was less pronounced in the next tier of sales, indicating a slightly stronger demand in the mid-range market segment.
The report further outlined key findings from their comprehensive 41-page analysis of the fourth quarter and the year 2023 as a whole:
1. A 40% year-over-year and 27% quarter-over-quarter drop in the number of six-figure auction sales in the fourth quarter, marking the lowest total in the past three years.
2. Throughout 2023, there were eleven recorded sales of baseball items exceeding $1 million, with eight of them involving cards or memorabilia featuring legends such as Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. These sales occurred across five different auction houses.
3. In contrast to 2022, where there were twelve seven-figure basketball card sales recorded, 2023 saw none. Altan noted a disappearance in the demand for modern patch cards at high price points, which did not regain popularity throughout the year.
4. The list of top-selling cards of currently active basketball players on eBay in the last four months of 2023 featured LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
5. The market for LeBron James and Steph Curry cards across all platforms experienced a dip of over 40% last year, while Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant cards remained relatively stable.
6. Notably, cards featuring Michael Jordan from the late 1990s accounted for five of the top ten Jordan card sales in the fourth quarter, including three of the top five sales.
While the market for game-worn and game-used memorabilia showed only modest growth compared to the previous year, the top 25 and top 50 sales in this category in 2023 more than doubled the levels achieved in 2021.
Altan Insights’ comprehensive report provides valuable insights into the shifting dynamics of the sports collectible market. The analysis sheds light on the fluctuations in different segments and the evolving interests of collectors and investors in this ever-changing domain.
