The sports collectible market saw a significant decline in 2023, according to a report by Altan Insights, a company specializing in monitoring sales across various collectible markets. Using data from Card Ladder, Altan Insights observed a downward trend that began around 18 months ago and persisted throughout the year.
The analysis revealed a substantial drop in sales for ultra-modern cards, which are those issued from 2009 to the present. These cards experienced a staggering 34.8% decrease in sales compared to the previous year. Modern cards, which encompass those released between 1984 and 2008, also saw a decline of 30.8% in sales. Vintage cards, although experiencing a decline as well, fared slightly better than 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, as highlighted in Altan’s report.
The report specifically noted that the segments of football, soccer, racing, and basketball cards witnessed the most significant price declines. Football, in particular, suffered with high-end cards of both young and veteran quarterbacks failing to regain their value. The situation was exacerbated by injuries to popular quarterbacks during the latter half of the season.
Altan Insights also drew attention to a considerable decline 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 relatively stronger demand in the mid-range market segment.
Some key findings from Altan’s comprehensive 41-page report on the fourth quarter and the entire year of 2023 include:
– A 40% year-over-year and 27% quarter-over-quarter decrease in the number of six-figure auction sales in Q4, marking the lowest total in the past three years.
– In 2023, there were a total of eleven recorded sales of baseball items exceeding $1 million. Eight of these sales involved cards or memorabilia of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, spread across five different auction houses.
– In stark contrast to 2022, where there were twelve seven-figure basketball card sales, 2023 saw no seven-figure sales in this category. Altan Insights highlighted the disappearance of demand for modern patch cards at high price points, which did not recover throughout the year.
– The top-selling cards of currently active basketball players on eBay in the last four months of 2023 included LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
– The market for LeBron James and Steph Curry cards across all platforms experienced a decline of over 40% last year, while Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant cards remained relatively stable.
– Notably, Jordan cards from the late 1990s accounted for five of the top ten Jordan card sales in the fourth quarter, including three of the top five.
– 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’ report offers a comprehensive overview of the shifting dynamics in the sports collectible market, shedding light on the fluctuations in different segments and the evolving interests of collectors and investors in this domain.
