Welcome to the September 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 requiring 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.
Summer of sports climbs into fall. We strive to cover a healthy variety of collectible categories in The Significant Collector. But occasionally, a category forces its way into consecutive editions through the undeniable and consistent strength of its performance. Currently, the strength of the sports card and memorabilia market is impossible to ignore.
His Airness elevates the throne. Michael Jordan’s Game 3 jersey from the 1998 “Last Dance” NBA Finals sold for $12.3 million this week, establishing a new record for any basketball jersey by knocking his Game 1 jersey from that series off its perch. The result confirms that an eight-figure price for a sports memorabilia asset of this caliber is not eye-opening. Rather, it’s the expectation. That the jersey received only one bid, however, will dampen enthusiasm.
Turn up the volume. CardLadder measures the total spent on cards across online platforms, including both individual card sales and sealed wax. In August, it reported $913 million in card sales, the highest monthly figure ever by $217 million. Just a few years ago, $217 million would’ve been an impressive standalone tally. The highest monthly sales total before 2026 was $422 million, set in August 2025. But even this August’s record could be short-lived. A $1 billion month looms.
Parabolic patch prices. In one September night, Fanatics Collect sold three Debut Patch basketball cards for $13.3 million. Cooper Flagg’s card, the subject of huge bounty offers before it was consigned, made those offers look flimsy; it sold for $8.0 million, the fifth-highest price for a sports card in history. Dylan Harper and Kon Knueppel’s cards each exceeded $2 million. The same night, Alt sold a Kobe Bryant LeBron James Dual Logoman autograph card, from the same set as the record-setting $12.9 million Jordan-Bryant Dual Logoman, for $6.5 million, good for No. 9 all time.
No limit for the best of the best. Flagg’s and his peers’ cards certainly aren’t among the best assets on the market today. But if those players play to an all-time great level (a colossal “if”), then they could be… one day. Maybe.
Right now, though, acquiring the best assets on the market, current or even prospective, requires a massive investment, one that likely pulls years of return forward. A belief that rising market popularity and institutional interest will convey disproportionate value to the market’s highest tier is driving aggressive buying activity today. Some of it will surely prove foolish, some prescient. Either way, long time horizons and an iron stomach are required.
Long pour from the Big Short. Michael Burry, who rose to fame for his contrarian bet against the U.S. housing market leading up to the Global Financial Crisis, has a new investment idea: Burry views a long position on physical, bonded European fine wine as a hedge against a weaker U.S. dollar.
The thesis. In his Substack, Burry laid out his rationale in just one colorful sentence: “Every single case of fine wine sitting in a London bonded warehouse can be a short position on the U.S. dollar, a global hedge against fiat currency, and a ward against global financial systems’ vulnerability to the various hellscapes possibly wrought by future iterations of AI and quantum computing.”
Three legs. The trade leans on three sources of support:
Fine wine prices have been beaten down in recent years, creating a more compelling entry opportunity.
Truly collectible wine supply — the desirable vintages harvested by renowned producers — diminishes as bottles are consumed.
Wine is a physical asset unbound by the digital mechanics of the global financial system, providing immunity from disruptions to those mechanics caused by AI and quantum computing.
Digital vulnerability creates physical appeal. Burry hasn’t nailed all of his post-GFC calls, at least not yet. But here, he articulates a key tenet of collectibles’ appeal in an increasingly digital world, where new (and sometimes frightening) technologies threaten its future stability. Crypto assets are digital, yes, but think a step further: Most of our liquid assets (bank accounts, stock and bond investments, etc.) exist almost entirely in the digital realm. Physical assets with strong, longstanding appeal to high-net-worth parties offer a uniquely insular financial profile, particularly when so much of the investable market is highly levered to advances in AI.
Photo: John Cameron via Unsplash
Activity at the adjacencies. As collectible categories like sports cards rise in value and activity, collectors quickly migrate to their outskirts in search of better bargains and the next wave of popularity. Those adjacent categories then see rising prices and volumes, gaining establishment among a broader audience. Collectors who identified their appeal before the masses stand to profit handsomely, but new entrants should be wary of diving in when the hype wave is cresting.
Sports cards are contagious. The massive momentum in sports cards has attracted new dollars, and while some collectors still prefer to chase cardboard at high prices, others have turned their attention elsewhere. Recent sports memorabilia sales in categories like photographs and magazines have demonstrated this phenomenon in action.
Hunt Auctions announced a record $3,000,000 sale for a Type 1 copy of the photograph used in Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card, more than doubling the prior sports photograph record.
Goldin sold an autographed Type 1 photo from Michael Jordan’s first Air Jordan shoot for $528,937.
Goldin also sold a Sports Illustrated magazine (graded CGC 9.8) featuring Michael Jordan’s first cover as an NBA player for $378,200, roughly tripling a comparable sales price from 2023.
Not just sports. This activity isn’t limited to sports, though. Consider the fine art market, where interest in photography and prints & editions increases alongside blue-chip art. An index of print editions shows a surge in popularity in 2021, during the art market boom. Or there’s the comic book market, where increasing blue-chip comic book values have been accompanied by rising interest in comic art. Take, for example, the original comic art that introduced the Iron Man character — it sold for a record $3.9 million at Heritage in July.
Proceed with caution. Though foundational interest in these categories is real, hype can sometimes outpace sustainable longer-term demand during a market boom. For example, 2022 saw sports tickets and stubs rapidly rise to prominence, creating a wave of high-priced sales that have seldom been eclipsed since. The category has established its legitimacy, but as in any frothy market, some fallow years followed for those who bought less extraordinary items at high prices.
The Watchlist
Key events we’re watching over the next month.
This calls for a toast. What better place to celebrate a whisky’s 100th birthday than the Macallan Estate in Speyside, Scotland? That’s where Sotheby’s will sell a bottle of Macallan 1926, which was bottled in 1986 at 60 years old. 40 years later, it’s time for a centennial bash.
Record incoming? Another bottle of Macallan 1926 became the most expensive whisky bottle ever in 2023, selling at Sotheby’s for $2.7 million. The estimate for this sale (taking place October 9) is £1.7 to £2.2 million, or about $2.9 million before buyer’s premium. Given the appetite for trophy assets and the sale’s special surroundings, those record books may soon be rewritten.
Photo: Rohan Gangopadhyay via Unsplash
First-class first editions. Our fundamental understanding of science and the world around us evolved on paper, where our greatest thinkers chronicled their thought processes and conclusions. Several of those first-edition manuscripts will cross the auction block in October, bringing Newton and Copernicus to collectors just as they were first revealed to the masses.
Worth a bookmark. Among the most interesting lots available at Sotheby’s and Christie’s:
Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ($700,000 to $1,000,000). The first edition of Copernicus’ conclusion that Earth orbits the Sun, rather than sitting at the center of the universe, from 1543.
Isaac Newton, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ($500,000 to $700,000). The first edition of Newton’s essential work detailing the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, from 1687.
Johannes Kepler, Astronomia Nova ($400,000 to $600,000). The first edition of Kepler’s masterwork, which concluded that planets orbit in ellipses (rather than circles) and sweep out in equal areas in equal times, from 1609.
In Case You Missed It
Nobody ever tattooed a commodity. In the most recent episode of The Significance of Wealth podcast, Tom Ruggie was joined by Barry LaBov, founder and CEO of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training. Barry has worked with companies like Harley-Davidson and The Macallan to help them discover what makes them worth choosing.
It’s a fascinating conversation, particularly when viewed through the lens of a collector, as Barry explains what truly differentiates some products and services from the crowd. His conclusions, though geared toward business decisions, are worth considering when assessing which items will have true, long-term appeal and add something unique to your collection. After all, there’s a reason Macallan 1926 can command multi-million-dollar prices at auction.
One to go. Sports Collectors Daily recently published a feature on our own Tom Ruggie’s journey in collecting, thoughtfully chronicling the construction of his award-winning autographed 1952 Topps baseball card set. How did he bring 406 of 407 cards (many of them exceedingly rare) together? It’s a great read for those who, like Tom, love the thrill of the chase.
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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