The sports collectible market, known for its passionate collectors and lucrative investments, took a hit in 2023, as reported by Altan Insights. Altan Insights, a company that monitors sales in various collectible markets, analyzed data from Card Ladder and witnessed a downward trend that began roughly 18 months prior and continued throughout the year.
According to the report, sales for ultra-modern cards, those issued from 2009 to the present, plummeted by 34.8% compared to the previous year. Modern cards, ranging from 1984 to 2008, also saw a significant decrease in sales, dropping by 30.8%. However, vintage cards fared relatively better than their modern and ultra-modern counterparts, experiencing a decline in overall sales but not as steep as the other segments.
Altan’s report highlighted the fourth quarter of 2023 as a period where vintage and pre-war cards outperformed modern and ultra-modern cards, further solidifying their advantage in the collectible market for the year.
The report pointed out specific segments that saw the most substantial price declines, including football, soccer, racing, and basketball cards. Football, particularly high-end cards of 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.
Another significant observation made by Altan was the considerable 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 slightly stronger demand in the mid-range market segment.
Here are some key findings from Altan’s comprehensive 41-page report on 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 Q4, marking the lowest total in the past three years.
2. In 2023, there were eleven recorded sales of baseball items exceeding $1 million, with eight of them involving cards or memorabilia of legendary players Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. These sales occurred across five different auction houses.
3. A stark contrast was noted in the basketball card market, as there were twelve seven-figure sales in 2022, while in 2023, there were none. Altan observed a disappearance in the demand for modern patch cards at high price points, which did not bounce back throughout the year.
4. The list of top-selling cards of currently active basketball players on eBay during the last four months of 2023 included LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
5. The market for LeBron James and Steph Curry cards across all platforms dipped by over 40% in 2023, whereas Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant cards remained relatively stable.
Notably, Jordan cards from the late 1990s accounted for high sales in the fourth quarter, with five of the top ten Jordan card sales hailing from that era, 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 were more than double the levels achieved in 2021.
Altan Insights’ report provides a comprehensive overview of the shifting dynamics in the sports collectible market. It sheds light on the fluctuations in different segments and the evolving interests of collectors and investors in this exciting and ever-changing domain.
