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New York Times
03-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The vest Jayden Daniels rookie cards to collect at all price points
Most football card collectors crowned No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams as the top rookie card chase at the start of the 2024 NFL season, but the emergence of No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels has cemented the Washington Commanders quarterback as the new favorite. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner quickly showed his ability to pass and rush at the highest level and led the Commanders to their first playoff win in nearly 20 years. By the end of the season, he was among the five most searched athletes across all sports on eBay. Advertisement So now that most of his rookie cards from popular sets are released, what are the best options to start a Daniels collection? Here's what we like. 2024 Panini Prizm #17 Rookie Variation Daniels' 2024 Prizm Rookie Variation card is my recommendation with the best value based on its popularity, relative scarcity, and price in gem mint grades. The high status of Prizm rookie cards makes it especially appealing to collectors and is a worthy alternative to his more valuable Prizm #347 base Silver Parallel rookie because of its comparatively limited supply. The value of sports cards can fluctuate for various reasons such as condition, print runs, or graded population. Other factors that can cause prices to go up or down include player performance, market trends, and health of the wider economy. The secondary sales market for individual cards of a given sport generally hits its lowest point during the offseason (in other words, you can usually find better prices in the offseason than during the season). My recommendations are not an attempt to promote specific investment behavior or trading advice, but to guide and inform readers about popular and unique cards that are celebrated by the sports card community. Ultimately, the best cards to collect are always the ones you will personally enjoy most, regardless of whether they go up or down in value. The recommendations below should serve as a starting point for cards to consider, but a big part of the fun in collecting is the hunt for the cards you like. Cards can come out of the pack (their 'raw' state) with a wide variety of imperfections that can impact their value. Card grading is a process in which an expert of the field determines the condition of a card based on a number of factors (including corner sharpness, image centering, print imperfections, and more) and assigns a numerical grade, usually on a scale of 1-10 (with the latter being close to perfect) and sealed in a protective case. There are a number of grading companies, each with their own unique grading scales, but PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is by far the largest and most prominent in the industry. Cards graded a 'PSA 10' can carry a significant value multiplier compared to raw cards or those graded by other companies. Advertisement It's fine (and often cheaper) to buy cards raw, but if you want to ensure authenticity and/or a minimum condition level, and you're not experienced at determining card condition for yourself, you may want to buy a graded card instead — particularly if you're buying online and only able to see the card in photographs. This is a category for collectors who are on a tighter budget or aren't as concerned about the long-term monetary value of the cards they buy. 2024 Panini Mosaic #302 rookie card Mosaic is viewed as one of Panini's mid-tier sets, known for its ultramodern design, rainbow parallels, and rare inserts. I'd consider Mosaic cards to be a step down from top chromium (a type of card that is shinier than a standard paper stock card) sets such as Prizm, Select, and Optic. But upon its annual release, it typically generates a lot of buzz within the hobby since it's the first NFL-licensed chromium release with rookie cards of the latest draft class. Mosaic products are easily accessible and offered in a wide range of retail and hobby formats. Retail formats (mega boxes, blaster boxes, hanger packs, hanger boxes) can be purchased at stores like Walmart and Target. In contrast, Hobby boxes are available online and in hobby shops. If you're looking to add an affordable chrome base rookie card to your collection, Daniels Mosaic #302 is a great second choice to his more expensive Prizm rookie cards. Raw versions are currently selling on eBay for less than $5 and a gem-mint PSA 10 can be found for less than $50. If you like the set but would rather buy a more limited Daniels Mosaic rookie card, I'd consider looking at the list of colorful parallels (see below) to determine which you may prefer to own. More expensive parallels of this card: Mosaic, Blue Reactive Mosaic, Camo Pink Mosaic, Camo Red Mosaic, Genesis Mosaic, Geen Mosaic, Honeycomb, No Huddle Silver Mosaic, Peacock Choice Mosaic, Red Mosaic, Red Sparkle, Silver, White Sparkle, Yellow Reactive Mosaic, Orange Mosaic (/199), Blue Mosaic (/99), Blue Sparkle (/96), Fusion Red and Yellow Choice Mosaic (/80), No Huddle Blue Mosaic (/75), No Huddle Purple Mosaic (/50), Purple Mosaic (/49), Orange Fluorescent Mosaic (/25), White Mosaic (/25), Gold Sparkle (/24), No Huddle Pink Mosaic (/20), Gold Wave Mosaic (/17), Blue Fluorescent Mosaic (/15), Tessellation Mosaic (/15), Geen Swirl Mosaic (/13), Pink Swirl Mosaic (/13), Gold Mosaic (/10), Green Fluorescent Mosaic (/10), No Huddle Gold Mosaic (/10), Pink Fluorescent Mosaic (/10), Red Wave Mosaic (/9), Black Gold Choice Mosaic (/8), Green Sparkle (/8), Black Mosaic (1/1), Nebula Choice Mosaic (1/1), No Huddle Black Mosaic (1/1) 2024 Panini Donruss #389 rookie card Donruss is an ideal entry-level set that's one of Panini's flagship releases each NFL season. It may not have the flash or pizazz of Prizm or Select chromium cards, but it might be the most popular football card set produced on paper card stock right now. Daniels has nearly 20 different cards included in the 2024 Donruss checklist, but his #389 base card is one of only a few Daniels cards to include the classic 'Rated Rookie' logo. As a result, the Donruss base rookie card is one of his most graded cards by PSA, as of this writing. The introduction of the 'Rated Rookie' card by Donruss in 1984 added to the boosted popularity of rookie card collecting during the junk wax era and has become a staple in the hobby. Advertisement Donruss' well-established Rated Rookie cards are a great budget-friendly selection for collectors who prefer traditional paper stock over chrome cards. PSA 10 sales on eBay are currently around $50 and Raw copies will cost you around $5. More expensive parallels of this card: Jersey Number, Season Stat Line, Aqueous Test, Blue Press Proof, Canvas, Green Press Proof, No Name, Purple Press Proof, Red Press Proof, Yellow Press Proof, Silver Press Proof (/100), Silver Press Proof Die-Cut (/75), Gold Press Proof (/50), Gold Press Proof Die-Cut (/25), Black Press Proof (/10), Black Press Proof Die-Cut (1/1) This is a category for collectors looking to pay a bit more for cards that have some degree of scarcity and have a better chance at retaining or increasing in value long-term. 2024 Panini Prizm #17 Rookie Variation Out of the dozens of rookie cards produced of the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, his Prizm cards are some of the most popular. But for this recommendation, I wanted to shift from the set's highly collected base silver parallel rookie card and suggest Daniels' #17 Rookie Variation card from the same set. The meteoric rise in demand and prices of Prizm rookie cards at the start of the pandemic in 2020 caused Panini to introduce 'variation' rookie cards to the checklist. This element gives collectors a chance to own a more limited Prizm rookie card that uses a different player photo than the typical action images used on base cards. In this instance, Daniels' Prizm Rookie Variation presents a portrait-style photo of him holding out a football with the NFL logo facing the camera. Daniels' Prizm Rookie Variation card is currently around $70 cheaper than his #347 Base Silver parallel. According to PSA's population report, Daniels #17 Rookie Variation has been graded 463 times, while his base silver parallel has more than 1,500 PSA-graded copies. Both of those figures will continue to grow as we get further from when the set was first released in mid-December 2024, but the difference between the two is notable. More expensive parallels of this card: Green Wave Prizms, No Huddle Prizms, Pink Wave Prizms, Mojo Prizms (/25), Gold Prizms (/10), Black Finite Prizms (1/1) 2024 Topps Chrome #RA-JDA Rookie Autograph After over a decade, the iconic Topps Chrome Football set made its return in 2024 — reviving the product with Daniels and Williams rookie autograph cards as the top chases. Unfortunately, collectors won't find a Topps Chrome Daniels rookie or autograph card with a Commanders logo on it, since Panini retains the NFL license until the spring of 2026. Topps did its best in choosing images that hide the absence of NFL team logos on jerseys and helmets in card images, but it still impacts the overall demand compared to products with NFL-licensed rookie autograph cards. Advertisement You may be asking why Daniels doesn't have NFL-licensed autographed trading cards. Well, the current state of NFL cards and exclusive autograph relationships between players and card companies has gotten awkward. While Panini currently has the exclusive NFL trading card license, meaning it is the only card manufacturer that can print official NFL team names and logos on their trading cards, Fanatics (which owns Topps) has exclusive trading card autograph and memorabilia deals with young NFL stars like Daniels, Williams, and CJ Stroud. The current nonexistence of NFL-licensed autograph cards of top rookies who have exclusive deals with Fanatics leaves collectors who want to own a Daniels rookie auto with limited choices. That said, The 2024 Pro Bowler's Topps Chrome base rookie auto is surely his most popular and sells on eBay for around $500. More expensive parallels of this card: Green Wave Prizms, Aqua Refractor (/199), Aqua Sonar Refractor (/199), Blue Refractor (/150), Green Refractor (/99), Gold Refractor (/50), Gold Wave Refractor (/50), Orange Refractor (/25), Orange Wave Refractor (/25), Red Refractor (/5), SuperFractor (1/1) This is a category for collectors looking to acquire the most desired Daniels cards on the market. 2024 Panini Prizm #M-JD Manga SSP Panini has continued to create highly sought after rare insert cards using fresh themes and artistic aesthetics — and Manga cards are a testament to that. The ultra-rare insert made its debut in Prizm football sets in 2021 and its design draws from Japanese-inspired comic art. The white-bordered card portrays a cartoonish Daniels standing behind a Commanders podium at a press conference. Manga inserts are not available in retail configurations and are only offered in premium hobby formats, making them less accessible to the average collector. Advertisement Manga inserts are extremely hard to find in packs and have a small number of PSA graded copies. As of this writing, less than 30 examples of Daniels' Prizm Manga insert have been graded PSA, with recent PSA 10 sales reaching $10,000. It's without a doubt in the top three for most valuable Daniels rookie insert cards. 2024 Panini Donruss #16 Downtown Originally created as a basketball card themed to pay homage to talented long-range shooters, the now famous Downtown insert was introduced as part of the 2016 Donruss Studio release — a set that's no longer produced. A few years following its successful debut and popularity among basketball collectors, Downtown inserts began showing up in other NBA sets, and soon after NFL and MLB products like Donruss, Donruss Optic, and Diamond Kings. One of my favorite aspects of Downtown cards compared to other popular rare inserts is that each card's theme is unique to a specific player and team they play for. The cards feature famous landmarks, historical imagery, and cultural elements related to the specific city or region of the player's team. In the case of the Commanders and Daniels' Downtown insert, the background depicts the U.S. Capitol building and Washington Monument with the quarterback. PSA's population report shows there are currently less than 1,200 Daniels Downtown cards graded by the company and 240 have received a PSA 10 grade. Raw examples are selling on eBay between $1,000-$1,500 and PSA 10's are in the $3,000 range. Downtown cards have become some of the most celebrated rare inserts of the modern era thanks in part to their significant demand, clever designs, and high-end prices. More expensive parallels of this card: Gold (/10), Black (1/1) 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini Autograph #MA-JD Allen & Ginter is a set that harkens back to the early days of trading cards and features baseball players, notable athletes from other sports, and pop culture celebrities. Since 2006, Topps has revived the historic set based on the original designs from the 19th century. It's one of the most fascinating trading card checklists filled with eccentric relics, autographs, and insert cards of nontraditional subjects like plants and food items. Advertisement The tobacco era style of Daniels' Allen & Ginter Mini Autograph card has a museum-like presentation with his signature directly on the card. This may seem a bit trivial, but 'on-card autographs' are widely coveted because many of the signatures in modern collecting come in the form of the player signing a sticker, which is then affixed to the card. Although most collectors generally perceive Allen & Ginter as an oddball baseball card set, the current demand for Daniels autograph cards has it selling in the $500 ballpark. Plus, the fact that he doesn't yet sign NFL-licensed trading cards makes this an even more intriguing autograph card from his rookie year to own. 2024 Panini Donruss #29 Bomb Squad! In most of my recommendation pieces, I tend to highlight rare or valuable insert cards, but I still think it's important to identify awesome-looking inserts that are more common and easily obtainable. Bomb Squad! insert cards featured in 2024 Donruss set show off a dynamic design with a backdrop that mimics cartoon explosion. The insert's checklist features a mix of quarterbacks and pass catchers, but I think the Bomb Squad! motif is a perfect fit for a player who's already proven to be one of the NFL's most accurate deep ball throwers. Another factor contributing to the coolness of Daniels' Bomb Squad! insert is that it happens to match the colors of the Commanders uniform. In short, It's a fun, color match rookie insert that brings joy to collectors for a low price. Prices for a certain trading card can vary wildly and fluctuate quickly, making it important to check recent sales of a given card to make sure you're buying at a fair value. You can check recent sales of an item on eBay by selecting the 'sold items' filter on search results. You can also run a search on which is a free site that provides sales data from a number of top online marketplaces. There are also several apps that provide more in-depth sales data, often charging subscription fees for full access. To account for outliers and scams, it's important to consider multiple previous sales, not just the single most recent. It's also important to note the recency of those sales and any real-world factors that could affect changes in value. As a second-generation collector, Tyler Holzhammer started collecting cards and attending the National Sports Collectors Convention at 10 years old. He's evolved his passion as a collector into a career, previously providing sports card content and market analysis for companies like Sports Card Investor and Goldin Auctions. Tyler's sports card collection is centered around players from his favorite teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The best Caitlin Clark cards to collect: From rookie cards to autograph cards with Paige Bueckers
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark fueled the WNBA's record breaking viewership and attendance in 2024 and she's driving similar growth in the trading card hobby, as well. In March, Clark's one-of-a-kind 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Signature Gold Vinyl card sold for $366,000 at auction, setting a new all-time record for a women's sports card (a Serena Williams 2003 NetPro rookie patch autograph card that sold in 2022 for $266,400 previously held the record). According to CardLadder, which tracks individual trading card sales across multiple marketplaces, each of the top 37 most valuable WNBA cards of all time are Clark cards even though it's been less than a year since they first started appearing in WNBA releases. Advertisement So what are the best options when it comes to starting a collection of Clark trading cards? Here are our picks. 2024 Panini Select WNBA #218 Courtside rookie card This is my best recommendation based on its relatively low print run compared to traditional base rookie cards. The card's significant demand combined with its affordable price tag in a gem-mint PSA 10 grade (currently about $200) makes it especially appealing to collectors who want a more limited Clark base rookie card. The value of sports cards can fluctuate for various reasons such as condition, print runs, or graded population. Other factors that can cause prices to go up or down include player performance, market trends, and health of the wider economy. The secondary sales market for individual cards of a given sport generally hits its lowest point during the offseason (in other words, you can usually find better prices in the offseason than during the season). My recommendations are not an attempt to promote specific investment behavior or trading advice, but to guide and inform readers about popular and unique cards that are celebrated by the sports card community. Ultimately, the best cards to collect are always the ones you will personally enjoy most, regardless of whether they go up or down in value. The recommendations below should serve as a starting point for cards to consider, but a big part of the fun in collecting is the hunt for the cards you like. Cards can come out of the pack (their 'raw' state) with a wide variety of imperfections that can impact their value. Card grading is a process in which an expert of the field determines the condition of a card based on a number of factors (including corner sharpness, image centering, print imperfections, and more) and assigns a numerical grade, usually on a scale of 1-10 (with the latter being close to perfect) and sealed in a protective case. There are a number of grading companies, each with their own unique grading scales, but PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) is by far the largest and most prominent in the industry. Cards graded a 'PSA 10' can carry a significant value multiplier compared to raw cards or those graded by other companies. Advertisement It's fine (and often cheaper) to buy cards raw, but if you want to ensure authenticity and/or a minimum condition level, and you're not experienced at determining card condition for yourself, you may want to buy a graded card instead — particularly if you're buying online and only able to see the card in photographs. This is a category for collectors who are on a tighter budget or aren't as concerned about the long-term monetary value of the cards they buy. 2024 Panini Prizm Monopoly #65 rookie card The exclusive WNBA trading card license is currently held by Panini, and its most popular set across all its properties is Prizm. Starting in 2022, Panini has expanded the Prizm brand by partnering with Hasbro on Monopoly Prizm Edition games and card sets. Clark's 2024 Prizm Monopoly #65 card is a budget-friendly base rookie card option. From a sales volume standpoint, Clark's Prizm Monopoly base card is one of her most transacted WNBA rookie cards. It's also reasonably priced in PSA 10 grade, with eBay sales between $75 and $100. If you're looking to add a low-cost PSA 10 Clark rookie card from a highly recognizable basketball brand, this is a worthy choice and a solid alternative to her more expensive Prizm flagship rookie cards (note for those interested in that set: Clark has two rookie cards in the base checklist of the flagship 2024 Prizm set. #22, which features an action shot of Clark, and #145, which is a posed shot. Card #22 regularly sells for a bit more than #145 since it's Clark's first card in the set). More expensive parallels: Deal Prizm, Dice Prizm, Free Parking Prizm, Go Prizm, Millionaire Club Prizm, Monopoly Man Black and White Prizm, Purple Prizm, Silver Prizm, Tiger Stripe Boardwalk Blue Prizm, Gold Millionaire Shimmer (/500), Brown Prizm (/249), Light Blue Prizm (/199), Pink Prizm (/149), Orange Prizm (/124), Red Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (/100), Red Prizm (/99), Purple Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (/50), Gold Prizm (/49), Question Mark Prizm (/25), Green Prizm (/24), Green Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (/20), Boardwalk Blue Prizm (/15), Blue Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (/10), Gold Wave Millionaire Prizm (/10), Neon Green Prizm (/10), Black Gold Prizm (/5), Pink Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (/5), Black Prizm (1/1), White Millionaire Shimmer Prizm (1/1) 2022 Bowman University Chrome 'Bowman 1st' #50 The baseball card community widely accepts 1st Bowman cards as the first official cards of MLB draft picks and prospects. They precede a player's MLB rookie card and are some of the most coveted and valuable cards a player can have. In 2021, Topps, which owns the Bowman brand, debuted a counterpart to the traditional Bowman baseball sets for NCAA football and basketball card fanatics with Bowman University Chrome. These sets feature 1st Bowman cards of rising collegiate stars and emerging players before they make their mark in the U.S.'s top pro sports leagues. Advertisement Clark's 2022 Bowman Chrome #50 card technically isn't her earliest trading card, but it's one of the first to be included in a traditional sports card release from a mainstream brand. For that reason, it's her second-most graded card by PSA as of this writing. College cards traditionally have not been as desirable in the hobby a pro team cards, but even now that Clark's WNBA rookie cards have been released, the value of her 1st Bowman cards is still holding relatively strong in a PSA 10 grade, but raw and PSA 9 examples currently sell for less than $50. More expensive serial numbered parallels of this card: Refractor, Pink Refractor, Shimmer Refractor, Purple Refractor (/399), Purple Mini-Diamond Refractor (/399), Aqua Refractor (/299), Aqua Wave Refractor (/299), Blue Refractor (/199), Blue RayWave Refractor (/199), Fuchsia Mini-Diamond Refractor (/150), Pink Wave Refractor (/125), RayWave Refractor (/100), Green Refractor (/99), Green Shimmer Refractor (/99), Lava Green Refractors (/99), Yellow Refractor (/75), Gold Refractor (/50), Gold Shimmer Refractor (/50), Orange Refractor (/25), Orange Shimmer Refractor (/25), Red Shimmer Refractor (/10), Red Refractor (/5), Black Shimmer Refractor (1/1), Superfractor (1/1) This is a category for collectors looking to pay a bit more for cards that have some degree of scarcity and have a better chance at retaining or increasing in value long-term. 2024 Panini Origins #13 rookie card Panini WNBA Origins is a premium, hobby exclusive set and is aimed at collectors who embrace quality over quantity. 2024 WNBA Origins boxes contain only one pack with 10 cards included, but collectors can find three autograph or memorabilia cards per box (on average). The set's theme is centered around the beginning or 'Origins' of the WNBA rookie class and card designs that emphasize an extraterrestrial aesthetic. Clark's Origins base rookie card showcases a luminous nebula and a crescent moon in a space-inspired background. Roughly six months after Origins was first released, less than 100 copies of Clark's Origins #13 base rookie card have been graded by PSA. (For comparison, there are around 3,500 PSA graded examples of her 2024 Select #57 Concourse base rookie that was released around the same time). So finding this one won't be as easy as some other on this list. Since WNBA Origins is not offered in large retail stores like Walmart or Target, and is only available through hobby shops and online retailers, the amount of cards printed for the set is substantially less than widely distributed sets like Prizm and Select. Another component that may contribute to the low number of PSA graded Clark Origins rookie cards is the thick card stocks' condition-sensitivity. The thicker-than-usual card stock used to produce Origins cards is highly susceptible to edge chipping, warping, and scratching that can result in lower grades. Advertisement Although it's from a set that's known more for its flashy autograph and memorabilia hits, the relative scarcity of Clark's Origins #13 combined with the fact that it's her first pack-pulled WNBA rookie card has it selling for $150-$200 on eBay as of this writing. Sealed boxes of 2024 WNBA Origins are also available for purchase between $300-$500. More expensive parallels: Swirl, Red (/99), Blue (/75), Teal (/49), Purple (/25), Gold (/10), Black (1/1) 2024 Panini Select WNBA #218 Courtside rookie card Select basketball cards are widely regarded as one of the top releases, known for unique set structure and colorful parallels. The success of its NBA cards prompted Panini to debut a WNBA Select set in 2024 for Clark and Angel Reese's rookie seasons. WNBA Select has three tiers of base cards: Concourse, which is the most common, Premier, and Courtside cards, which is the rarest. Each tier has its unique design, but Panini is kind enough to label the different levels on the back of the card under the card number. The Courtside card's futuristic swirl stripe design separates itself from the conventional style of sets like Prizm. The prestige of Select and the scarcity of Courtside cards puts Clark's near the top of my list for her most appealing base rookie cards. Additionally, its selling for around $200 in a PSA 10 grade, which contributes to why I've chosen it as my best value recommendation. Additional variations and parallels: Green Ice Prizm, Pink Ice Prizm, Red Ice Prizm, Silver Prizm, Silver Flash Prizm, Purple Ice Prizm (/149), Tiger Prizm, Zebra Prizm, Tie-Dye Prizm (/25), Gold Prizm (/10), Gold Flash Prizm (/10), Ice Gold Prizm (/10), Black Gold Prizm (/5), Black Finite Prizm (1/1), Gold Vinyl Prizm (1/1) This is a category for collectors looking to acquire the most desired Clark cards on the market. 2024 Panini Prizm #SG-CC Rookie Signatures I've already touched on Panini's most popular brand of basketball cards, but one of the top chases of the flagship set every year has to be its rookie autographs. The 2024 Rookie of the Year has a few different WNBA Prizm autographed rookie cards and inserts on the checklist, but her base Signatures card has a broader appeal to the average card collector. Advertisement Since 2024 WNBA Prizm was just released in early 2025, there haven't been many sales of Clark's #SG-CC autograph card, but that will change as more packs are opened. Raw examples are currently selling on eBay for close to $1,000 and PSA 10's are fetching between $2,000-$2,500. The rich history of Panini Prizm sets and its highly sought-after rookie autograph cards are why it has my vote as her finest base rookie autograph card. If you really want to treat yourself, Prizm offers colorful parallels that are worth considering — especially the red 'color-match' parallel that's limited to only 99 copies. (A 'color match' is a refractor or parallel card that matches a player's team colors. Color match parallels are generally priced at a premium compared to others, even if they're not as rare.) More expensive parallels: Prizms Green, Prizms Red (/99), Prizms Blue (/75), Prizms Purple (/49) Prizms Teal (/35), Prizms Mojo (/25), Prizms Green Pulsar (/25), Prizms Gold (/10), Prizms Gold Vinyl (1/1) Prizms White Sparkle (1/1) 2024 Panini Color Blast rookie inserts Panini has capitalized on Clark's unprecedented WNBA superstardom by featuring her on one of the hobby's most celebrated modern cards: the Color Blast SSP (super short print) insert. The ultra-rare insert card was first introduced in 2019 as a part of the Prizm set, but has branched out into other notable Panini sets as demand and values increased. The card design's simplistic yet vibrant backdrop with an explosion of color pictured behind the player's image makes it look like an art piece. The face of the WNBA has several different 2024 Color Blast insert rookie cards included in sets such as Prizm Draft Picks, WNBA Prizm, Prizm Monopoly, Select, and more. Clark's WNBA Color Blast cards are selling for more than a couple thousand dollars, but fans who appreciate her dominance in college basketball can find Color Blast inserts of her in an Iowa uniform for a slightly reduced price. If I had to choose the best Clark super short print insert, it's this one without hesitation. 2021 Sports Illustrated for Kids #997 The very first Clark trading card can be found in Sports Illustrated for Kids and was released during her sophomore year at the University of Iowa. Clark's performance during the 2021 season was incredible, as she averaged 27 points per game and secured her first AP All-American First Team honors. The monthly sports magazine for young fans has produced cards in each issue since 1989 and has featured early trading cards of icons across multiple sports, such as LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Mia Hamm. Advertisement SI for Kids magazines comes with a sheet of nine perforated trading cards that can be individually removed by gently folding and tearing them out. As a result, finding them in high grades is extremely difficult. Since these have to be pulled apart by hand and are made with low-quality cardstock, the risk of damage is high. Another factor is centering inconsistencies. All together, this has produced a small number of PSA-authenticated examples — less than 150 copies have been graded by PSA and none have earned a gem mint 10 grade. Raw sales of Clark's SI for Kids card span from $100 to as high as $250 depending on its condition and aesthetic appearance. If I were looking to add this card to my collection, I'd be interested in buying a copy of the magazine that the card was issued in so I could cautiously remove it from the sheet myself. The November/December 2021 issue of SI for Kids including Clark's earliest card can be found on eBay with sales in the $150 range. 2024 Panini Instant Draft Night rookie card #DN-1 Print-to-order cards are traditionally considered less desirable than pack-pulled cards by collectors, but sometimes they preserve a monumental moment that captures the attention of the hobby. That's the case with the Panini Instant card produced to mark Clark being selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. This is Clark's very first WNBA card, produced right after the draft as an online exclusive sold through Panini's website. The staggering demand resulted in the card's print run eclipsing 45,000 copies. But despite the abundance of them produced, its monetary value has been surprisingly stable, even as the traditional sets have hit the market, currently selling for around $70 raw and $225 in a PSA 10. More expensive parallels: Jungle (/25), Jaguar (/10), White Tiger (/5), Blue Viper (1/1) 2023-24 Bowman U Now #49 Another highly collectible, yet less valuable print-to-order Clark card is the Bowman U Now offering to commemorate when she broke the NCAA all-time women's scoring record. This one had a print run of nearly 48,000, but it's a must have for any comprehensive Clark collection. More expensive parallels: die-cut (/99), Blue (/49), Purple (/25), Red (/10), Orange (/5), Gold (/1) 2023 Bowman U Now Caitlin Clark / Paige Bueckers March Madness Dual Autograph This is another Bowman U Now card, but these were found in eight-card packs originally priced at $139 each. It's tough to beat a card featuring autographs of the 2024 WNBA No. 1 draft pick and the likely 2025 WNBA No. 1 draft pick. More expensive parallels: Purple (/25), Red (/10), Orange (/5), Gold (/1) Prices for a certain trading card can vary wildly and fluctuate quickly, making it important to check recent sales of a given card to make sure you're buying at a fair value. You can check recent sales of an item on eBay by selecting the 'sold items' filter on search results. You can also run a search on which is a free site that provides sales data from a number of top online marketplaces. There are also several apps that provide more in-depth sales data, often charging subscription fees for full access. Advertisement To account for outliers and scams, it's important to consider multiple previous sales, not just the single most recent. It's also important to note the recency of those sales and any real-world factors that could affect changes in value. As a second-generation collector, Tyler Holzhammer started collecting cards and attending the National Sports Collectors Convention at 10 years old. He's evolved his passion as a collector into a career, previously providing sports card content and market analysis for companies like Sports Card Investor and Goldin Auctions. Tyler's sports card collection is centered around players from his favorite teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
New York Times
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What happens when you pull Jayden Daniels' biggest rookie card: Navigating bounties and freak outs
The screen name 'Dr. Moist Muffins' regularly appears within the live-stream chats for the Rochester, N.Y. based sports card retailer WeTheHobby. 'Moisty' could be buying cards or simply conversing with someone opening the boxes or fellow watchers of the shop's Fanatics Live stream. WeTheHobby's Joey Carrion guided a relatively minor 2024 Panini Prizm football box break — where large quantities of cards are opened and customers buy the rights to every card of a certain player or team that's pulled — on New Year's Day. Not too many watchers bought into the live team auction on the groggy Jan. 1 midday break, but one who did was 'Moisty.' Advertisement He didn't have much competition at the onset, allowing him to land the Washington Commanders at random with the spin of a wheel and secure the set's most coveted team for only $36. Why are the Commanders of particular interest to football card collectors right now? All because of quarterback Jayden Daniels, this year's biggest rookie card chase. After buying a few teams, Dr. Moist Muffins turned back into the real life Dr. Ojash Raval from Des Moines, Iowa. Raval was entertaining his visiting mother and brother that morning while keeping one eye on his laptop to watch which cards might fall into Moisty's lap. 'So as I'm watching this thing, I'm just talking to my mom or my brother and just hanging out and then actually I ended up taking a phone call. I was on the phone with a friend and watching the stream on the phone,' Raval said. 'I can't hear the stream at that point. I can only watch it. 'And I see Joey just looking a little funky. He's like, kind of rubbing his fingers like something's going on. I look at this card and I'm like, 'oh, it looks like it's black and it's a Washington rookie.' And I'm like, 'Oh, it's probably the other guy.'' The 'other guy' being Commanders rookie defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton, who also has a card in the Prizm set. Carrion thought the same thing within the moment. 'You see that like the way that I was doing it, I wanted to sweat it because there's another Commanders rookie that starts with a 'J,'' Carrion said. 'Then I was going from the left to the right (with the top card covering the Commanders player).' Then Carrion dropped a euphoric boom within the sports card community. 'JAYDEN DANIELS! BLACK FINITE! ONE OF ONE! THAT IS A FREAKING NUKE!' Carrion screamed after pulling away a Justin Jefferson card, which was used as a curtain to tease the reveal. Advertisement It was the Daniels one-of-a-kind rookie card, one of the most sought after rookie cards of any set of any product released in the past 12 months. 'You can't really hear it because it was way too exciting, but I'm like, 'Give me a sleeve! Give me a sleeve! Sleeve it right now!'' Carrion said, referencing the protective plastic sheaths that trading cards are put into. 'That was the first thing I was thinking because I needed to get that card out of my hands because I'm starting to shake now. Your heart is racing and your hands are starting to shake and you have to protect the card all at the same time.' @alexisohanian recently put a $200,000 bounty on the Jayden Daniels Black Finite 1/1.. and @wethehobby pulled it yesterday ON 1/1. 🤯 🔥 If you are the owner of this card are you selling or holding? 🤔 — Fanatics Live (@fanaticslive) January 2, 2025 Meanwhile, across the Internet at Raval's residence… 'I didn't know about the degree of what I fell upon there,' Raval said. 'As he reveals the card and has a moment, I had to get off the phone. I had to go and figure out what's happening here. And so it's tough because you want to talk to everybody in the room, but you're just texting on an app while everybody's freaking out.' The Jan. 1 skeleton WeTheHobby crew crashed into the room to celebrate the monster Daniels hit. And then someone in the room announced that there was an open $200,000 bounty to purchase the card from whoever landed it. Bounties have become increasingly common in the trading card world as wealthy collectors, businesses and even Major League Baseball teams put their best offer for the hobby's rarest cards out into the world before they're released, in the hopes that whoever finds those cards will deal directly with them rather than sell at auction or keep their find to themselves. Advertisement 'I think within 30 seconds they had two people that were very interested in the card already in the chat for WeTheHobby that weren't originally watching the break,' Raval said. Neither of them were the person who issued the bounty, which came from Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, husband of all-time tennis great Serena Williams and a lifelong Commanders fan, less than a week before Carrion pulled the card. 'I didn't even know there was a bounty on the card,' Raval said. 'I was just living life doing regular stuff on New Year's Day.' Later came a text to Raval from Justin Stenglein, WeTheHobby's director of on-air operations: 'Hey, uh, do you want to come up with a plan for this card?' Determining the value of a card like the Daniels Black Finite or the 2024 Topps Chrome Update Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch autographed card is difficult since a person is selling hype as much as the scarcity of the card. How do you know you're maximizing the value of the card? That's the sweat. That's the gamble. That's part of why accepting a bounty offer for a card might seem like the way to go. Some of the more notable bounties of late include: Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan, who oversees Topps, said he's all for a public bounty. 'If you want this card and you have all the money in the world, you're not entitled to the card,' Mahan said. Fortunately, in the world of social media, there is a megaphone to say, 'Hey, I want this card and I'm willing to pay for it.' And it's been effective for people. A lot of people get the cards that they want that way. … I think it's just a reflection of the interest, it's a reflection of the value, and it's a consequence of the pack-pull business model that you're smart if you let people know, 'Hey, I want this,' and then people come to you and you can engage in a conversation.' Advertisement Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions, said for a card worth as much as the Skenes MLB Debut Patch card, limiting yourself to one person publicly offering a bounty wouldn't be the recommended route for a seller. 'Nine times out of 10, auction is going to yield them the best results,' Ivy said. 'Because you've got to think of it, if one person reaches out to them and they're willing to pay that number, there are probably several dozens of other people in the world out there willing to pay that number, if not more. So an auction is the fairest way for them to bid against each other and find out what the true market value is for a piece like that.' That may be a predictable reaction from someone like Ivy, who operates an auction house, but he said he's admitted to potential clients to run to an offer, though, instead of selling the item at auction if the offer exceeds his expectations. As for Raval, the questions compounded quickly. Who are these people reaching out? Does he have to fly to pick up the card because neither he nor WeTheHobby trusted the card in the mail? How would he receive the payment for the card? The speed and intensity of the whole process overwhelmed Raval. 'I was trying to be pretty anonymous about it and just stay out of the way,' Raval said. 'I just shut my phone for the first hour because I was tired of fielding messages, and so I was just on my own. And then Justin eventually texted me saying, 'I'm getting way too many messages right now.' Immediately they had messages on top of messages of what was happening with this card.' Raval said WeTheHobby helped him field five legitimate offers, including the bounty offer from Ohanian. WeTheHobby kept the card in the shop's vault to avoid any shipping hiccups, meaning Raval never had the high-value card in his possession despite owning it. Ohanian basically set the starting price for the card because of his public offer. Advertisement '(WeTheHobby) kept me one degree away from pretty much everybody, per my request,' Raval said. 'I was just like, 'Justin (Stenglein), I'd love to have some guidance on this. I'm not looking to have a full blown bidding war.' But whoever comes to you at the highest price and is legitimate and then we can do wire transfers with, that would be a done deal. Perfect. So he (Stenglein) did his magic in the background and called me one day and said, 'Hey, we've got a person at this price. Does it work for you?' 'I had said, 'Hey, if anybody can get to this number, then they consider the card sold to that person.' And so somebody got to that number and that card was sold that day.' Raval did not reveal who bought the card, nor did he reveal the final price tag. But he said the card sold for more than the initial $200,000 bounty price tag and within five days from card pull to sale. Raval added that Ohanian finished within the top three suitors, but didn't come away with the card. Stenglein said a WeTheHobby representative flew down to Florida with the card to hand deliver it to the new owner shortly after the sale. Ohanian announced in mid-January that he purchased a 2024 Panini Absolute Jayden Daniels Kaboom Green vertical one-of-one insert card with a PSA 9 grade after losing out on the Daniels Black Finite chase — a rare and valuable card, but one not regarded quite as highly as the Prizm Black Finite among collectors. Even though he didn't take the offer, the bounty seemed to pay off for Raval as it set a market for the card. GO DEEPER Exclusive: Hear from the family that found the Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch card The same could be the case for the 11-year-old boy who hit the Skenes MLB Debut Patch card and elected to pass on the Pirates' offer. That card goes to auction with Fanatics Collect next month. Regardless of the latest bounty outcomes, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin assumes the practice will only continue given their popularity within the hobby and increasing value on unique cards. And he's all for it. 'I think a lot of people are smart putting bounties up where they think something has worth to them,' Rubin said. 'I do it in business all the time, I'll pay this for that. I mean, it's a pretty logical thought.' The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
