Welcome to the August edition of The Significant Collector, presented by Destiny Family Office. Each month, we dissect the most consequential news in collectibles, synthesizing important takeaways for high-net-worth collectors and their advisors. In addition, we share helpful resources, preview events worth monitoring, and address timely collector concerns.
Destiny Family Office, Tom Ruggie, and team know that incorporating your collection into your financial planning is a complex process that requires expertise and guidance. We specialize in helping collectors integrate their valuable collections and passion assets into cohesive wealth strategies. If you could benefit from that guidance, we encourage you to contact our team today.
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Headlines
The market-shifting headlines that caught our eye this month, along with the key takeaways for collectors.
Live and in living color. In a world gone increasingly digital, collectors of physical assets continue to show a voracious appetite for in-person gatherings, socializing with like-minded individuals around the hobbies so dear to them. If 2026 is any indication, interest in collecting events has never been higher, reflecting the broad-based enthusiasm around many categories.
Sellout crowds in sports. Against the backdrop of a surging sports collectibles market, both of this summer’s sports-focused collecting events attracted massive crowds. Fanatics Fest, held in New York, hosted approximately 200,000 guests, while The National, held outside Chicago, also welcomed a record total, with preliminary figures indicating 20% growth over 2025’s 125,000-guest tally. The latter featured over 600 card dealers spread across 500,000 square feet of floor space.
Across the board. Event interest isn’t limited to sports, even as the category commands the most staggering totals. For instance, the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) convention welcomed over 14,000 coin enthusiasts in January, a record for an event extending back more than 70 years. Monterey Car Week expected a record visitor total exceeding 100,000 people, and if the sales are any evidence (more on that in a moment), those expectations were eclipsed. Watches and Wonders also saw a record number of visitors (approaching 60,000) in Geneva.
Take it offline. Though digital platforms have reduced much of the friction associated with buying items online, events like these further remove barriers to sales, facilitating a high volume of transactions in a short period of time among ready and willing buyers and sellers. But beyond the transactional merits, they also nurture the root passion for collecting that attracted so many to the space in the first place, providing a venue to exchange the personal stories and preferences that shape our collections.
Tom Ruggie (L) and JB Bernstein (R) connect over cards at The National. (Photo: Tombstone Rips YouTube)
Bounty hunters. Card collectors have been busy this summer, chasing two of the most coveted modern sports card releases in recent memory. The first was Shohei Ohtani’s Back-to-Back Gold Logoman Autograph card, created to celebrate his consecutive MVP wins and featuring two MLB logo patches, along with both his English and Kanji signatures. The second was Cooper Flagg’s NBA Debut Rookie Patch Autograph, which — as the name implies — features a debut patch from Flagg’s first NBA game. Within mere days of release, the cards were pulled from packs, unearthed quickly by the incredible urgency that accompanies multi-million-dollar bounties.
Name your price. The Ohtani card was so sought after that collectors issued sharply escalating bounties, offering the lucky finder $6.5 million, then $10 million, and beyond. Ultimately, the card sold for $11 million to Shyne and Kevin O’Leary’s Secure Collectibles. The Dallas Mavericks offered an enticing bounty on Flagg’s card, led by thirty-two seasons of premium season tickets and a game-worn Flagg rookie jersey. Neither that nor Goldin’s $1.5 million cash advance offer were enough to tip the scales: The card has been consigned to auction at Fanatics Collect.
Offers they can’t refuse. The proliferation of bounty prices has been a growing trend in the modern sports card space, as collectors seeking the category’s blue-chip assets try to bypass competition (and fees) at auction and secure their prize immediately. These offers also establish a market for the card, ensuring that the finder quickly pursues a sale, rather than holding it.
Not just new products. While bounties are most visible for new products that haven’t been discovered, the concept is just as applicable to existing assets. It may require a very attractive offer, whether issued publicly or privately, to draw the very best items out of their comfortable homes with incumbent collectors. Those pursuing a high caliber of asset can’t count on it appearing at auction, increasing the likelihood of buyer-driven private sales in the current market.
Indeed, at least one high-profile private sale occurred in sports memorabilia in August. A Super Bowl-worn Joe Montana jersey sold for $1.5 million to AJ Scaramucci’s Treasure Trove. Scaramucci appeared on our Significance of Wealth podcast earlier this year, discussing exactly these types of assets.
Monterey revs bidding engines. The red-hot auction performance enjoyed in other categories extended to the automotive world in Monterey in August, as auction houses combined to sell almost $756 million in cars. The prior Monterey sales record was $471 million, achieved in 2022. That means this year’s edition was the first to breach the $500, $600, and $700 million marks, breaking the record by 61%. These are astonishing numbers in any category, but especially in one that has long experienced dazzling seven- and eight-figure prices.
Trophy assets. The remarkable sales total was driven in part by eye-popping record prices paid for a handful of unique cars.
The top sale was a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, which sold for $42.9 million against a $25 million estimate, becoming the most expensive American car ever sold at auction.
It was trailed closely by the $40 million paid for the very first production chassis of Ferrari’s first-ever electric car, the Luce. That price, paid in a charity auction, made it the most expensive new car ever sold.
Finally, the 1996 “Pop Art” McLaren F1, formerly owned by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, sold for $34.7 million. The sales demonstrate the continued appetite across categories for the best and most unique assets.
In with the new. According to Hagerty, modern supercars accounted for 69% of total sales, with cars in that segment significantly surpassing the company’s price guide expectations. Five to ten years ago, the segment more commonly accounted for a 20-40% share of auction volume. Conversely, classic cars from the 1950s and 1960s struggled, underperforming relative to Hagerty’s price guide expectations and commanding less share, despite standout Shelby Cobra and Corvette sales. It is yet another acute reminder of generational shifts in collecting tastes, even at very high price points.
The rookie-card effect is everywhere. The $40 million price tag associated with the sale of Ferrari’s electric Luce can be taken with a grain of salt, given the tax deductibility associated with a charity sale. But even setting those benefits aside, the price was a remarkable 36 times higher than its estimate. Its status as “Chassis 0” reflects the appeal of attributes that can’t be replicated. It’s the same reason that rookie cards or debut patches command top dollar: The significance of an origin story cannot be diluted by later reproduction or oversupply.
Go deeper. Tom Ruggie, Founder and CEO of Destiny Family Office, joined Hagerty’s Bryant Kolle on the Private Risk Management Association’s Risk Ready podcast to discuss the family office approach to helping clients think through and manage risk. For trophy assets like the cars purchased in Monterey, pursuing an insurance strategy is intuitive, but collectors shouldn’t stop with only the intuitive assets. Listen to Tom and Bryant here.
(Spencer Davis/Unsplash)
The Watchlist
Key events we’re watching over the next month.
Another song for The Last Dance. A Michael Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals could once again rewrite the record books, as his Game 3 jersey will sell at JOOPITER in September.
Record breaker. The photomatched jersey is estimated to sell for between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000, though collecting circles are abuzz with rumors that a $12,000,000 bid has already been placed. That price would break the record for any basketball jersey, which was set by Jordan’s jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 Finals. It sold in 2022 for $10,091,000. Is Babe Ruth’s $24.1 million “Called Shot” jersey safely out of reach?
Guitars of Marr’s. The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr will auction around 80 of his guitars at Christie’s in September, in addition to a variety of amplifiers and other memorabilia accumulated throughout an illustrious career. As with most music memorabilia from iconic musicians, the value accrues to the instruments both through their famous usage and from the rarity and craftsmanship of the tools themselves. Four guitars have a high estimate exceeding $100,000.
Torch passed. One of the most intriguing lots is a 1982 Rickenbacker Jetglo, which Marr bought as his first symbol of “making it.” He played the guitar for the band’s debut album and in the hit “This Charming Man.” But it’s also significant for who else played it. Marr lent it to a young Noel Gallagher in 1994, and the guitar appears in the cover art for Oasis’ debut single, “Supersonic.”
In Case You Missed It
Set of the Year. At this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention, PSA honored our very own Thomas Ruggie with the honor of the year’s Best Baseball Set, awarded for accumulating the finest set of autographed 1952 Topps Baseball cards in existence. The set is the culmination of a lifelong passion for collecting, though it’s not complete yet: If you have a lead on an autographed 1952 Topps Al Benton card, please do let us know! Hear more from Tom about the collection here.
Tom Ruggie, ChFC®, CFP®
Founder & CEO, Destiny Family Office
We hope this month’s edition added perspective. Thank you for spending time with us.
Destiny Family Office, Tom Ruggie, and team know that incorporating your collection into your financial planning is a complex process that requires expertise and guidance. We specialize in helping collectors integrate their valuable collections and passion assets into cohesive wealth strategies. If you could benefit from that guidance, we encourage you to contact our team today.
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