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Over the course of our 11 plus year existence, we’ve seen A LOT of cards. In many cases, we first saw a superstar’s cards long before they became a household name. As a result, this lends itself to some pretty hilarious completed sales in our historical sales history. Whether these buyers are cardboard Nostradamus’s, or simply happened to pick up a card before it’s value skyrocketed into oblivion, one thing is for sure: they got a crazy good deal!
In our last installment, we looked at some skewed historical sales history on baseball’s Mike Trout. You can check out that blog here. This time around, we’re featuring ‘The Greek Freak’ Giannis Antetokounmpo. Selected 15th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, Giannis’ first couple of years in the NBA produced stat lines that were commendable but by no means eye-popping. Coupled with playing for the smaller market Milwaukee Bucks, it wasn’t until the 2015-16 season that his rookie cards begun to take flight.
Then came his breakout season, which saw his cards surge in value and popularity. Not only did Antetokounmpo notch his first All-Star Team selection, but he also won the 2016-17 Most Improved Player award. Playing in 80 games for the Bucks, he accumulated a stat line of 22.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game. He became the first player in NBA history to finish a season in the top 20 in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks. Even though the Bucks fell to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the statement had been made. Giannis Antetokounmpo was a megastar in the making.
He did not disappoint the following season, further cementing himself as the centerpiece of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise. He improved in nearly every statistical category, earning the nod as an Eastern Conference All Star Team starter. By posting his ninth career triple-double in 2017-18, he overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the history books as the Bucks all-time triple-double leader. Now it’s our turn to look at the history books of COMC and present some of the deals of the past that could have been yours!
The Panini National Treasures RPA is without question one of the most desired rookie cards in the game. Numbered to just 99 copies, our most recent sale saw the highly coveted card sell for just over $3600 back in February 2017. Two years prior, a savvy COMC user was able to snag one for less than 1/6th of that price! Earlier this month, a BGS 9.0 copy of this card ended at auction for $5300.00!
These are our favorite examples to showcase in the ‘It Sold for What’ blog format because it shows exactly how lucrative rookie card investments can become. Here we see a BGS 9.0 copy achieving an all-time high sale of over $5200 in October 2017. This even better BGS 9.5 Gem Mint version sold back in June 2015 for just over $700.
Crusade inserts have always been a set that is sought after by collectors for it’s beautiful design and wide array of colors of the rainbow. In recent years, Panini has added die-cut versions into the mix, which makes these cards especially difficult to secure a high grade on. This BGS 10 Pristine copy narrowly missed the prestigious black label by just .5 on corners, but it’s former owner narrowly missed hundreds (thousands?) of dollars by selling it in June 2016. With raw copies selling for over $100 just one year later, we’re willing to bet that it will be a long time before another pristine copy hits the market again!
Precious Metal Gems are another multi-colored insert set that are widely popular among collectors, with some earlier year sets worth thousands upon thousands of dollars for the right player. Seven lucky individuals were able to get their precious fix by securing one of the 150 red gem Giannis’ printed for less than $20 in 2014. The last completed sale of a PSA 8.5 version was in November 2017 for $236.99, with raw copies selling elsewhere as of late in the $100.00 range.
We shared this card back in May in our first ‘It Sold For What?’ blog post, but we wanted to bring it back for the Giannis edition! This beautiful Red Prizm RC autograph sold for just $256 back in October of 2016. A Non-graded version of this card sold for over $1,700 earlier this year.
A word to the wise: BGS 10 Pristine grades are very hard to get, especially on chromium cardstock rookie cards. If you’re ever so lucky as to get one that doesn’t break the bank, hold onto it as long as you can! This BGS 10 Pristine copy of his 2013-14 Panini Prizm ‘true’ rookie card sold for a paltry $20.87 back in December 2015. Santa delivered one heck of a Christmas present that year, as this card has topped the $300 raw completed sale mark as of November 2017. A PSA 10 copy of this card sold at auction one month ago for $470, but we’re guessing it’s BGS counterpart would sell for a lot more!
Now we want to hear from you! What Giannis Antetokounmpo cards have graced your collection for less than a pretty penny? Share your best investment and #collectfail stories with us!
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