Above the Mantel: Happy Opening Day, Collectors
Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls 1984-1985 game-worn and signed 'Preseason Debut' rookie jersey is on display during a public exhibition at Sotheby's New York gallery on March 21, 2025. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
(CHARLY TRIBALLEAU via Getty Images)
Happy Opening Day, Collectors, a day where fans of all 30 teams think their squad has a shot at winning a pennant, and every prospect is a sure-fire lock for Cooperstown.
Before reality comes barreling down faster than a Tarik Skubal four-seamer, we sifted through Spring Training stats to see which players made waves, and saw their card prices start to follow .
Have a hunch on which MLBer will have a breakout 2025? Join the Mantel Baseball Cards Group and let us know your thoughts for a chance at a hobby box of 2024 Topps Update. A winner will be chosen on April 1st, no joke!
Imagine pulling a signed card of Lionel Messi from a Topps pack, only for PSA to deem the autograph a fake— a nightmare situation experienced by collector Nick Bruce and his son. With rumors swirling that Messi's brother may have signed some cards, Topps offered to replace Bruce's card. The controversy highlights growing concerns over authentication in the sports card industry, as collectors have long trusted manufacturers to guarantee autograph legitimacy.
The massive, 560-pound blue bird logo that once adorned Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has found a new owner, fetching $34,000 at RR Auction. This sale is part of Elon Musk's ongoing efforts to liquidate assets from the company's rebranding to X. The hefty sign joins a list of Twitter relics that have hit the auction block, including furniture, coffee makers, and other office fixtures. Where the new owner will place the sign is still a question.
Michael Jordan's first game-worn Bulls jersey, donned during his 1984 preseason debut, has been sold at auction for $4.2M. Only 2,000 people attended the game, played in Peoria, IL, and Jordan wore a recycled jersey. While the big sale showed a sizable increase from the $800 the piece originally sold for back in 1985, it's not the most expensive game-worn Jordan jersey to sell — that title is still held by his 1998 NBA Finals Game 1 jersey, which sold for $10.1M in 2022.
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A bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle bourbon broke the record for most expensive post-Prohibition American whiskey sold at auction, hammering for $125,000. The bottle, a 'Van Winkle Selection', is a blend of 15-to-20-year-old whiskeys that was originally auctioned off for charity back in 2007. The whiskey was blended by Julian Van Winkle, who's son Preston designed the bottle's label, and the sale crushed the initial estimate of $50,000
Live e-commerce and card breaking platform Loupe has launched 'Loupe Market,' a new in-app marketplace focused on mid-to high-end single sports cards. Sellers on the platform must be approved and undergo a vetting process, and fees on the platform, which decrease for higher priced items, start at 10%. This expansion aims to create a comprehensive card-collecting ecosystem within the Loupe app.
A long-lost Omega Speedmaster, once owned by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, has surfaced in the collection of his family. This particular Speedmaster wasn't the one he wore on the moon—NASA-issued timepieces stayed with the agency—but it was a personal watch that he wore frequently. With vintage Omega Speedmasters already commanding high prices in the collector's market, an Armstrong-owned piece will be considered a grail-level acquisition when it hits auction.
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