If asked to name the hottest cards in the hobby today, it’s doubtful many would suggest the 1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars Josh Gibson card.
But the numbers tell a different story.
On Monday night, an ungraded Gibson card from the 50-year-old set by cartoonist R.G Laughlin sold for $3,462.
Not a big number, sure, but given where it has come from, it’s remarkable.
“In the 1980s, you could get these for $1 or less,” said Rick Probstein, the eBay power seller who sold the card.
The idea of the cards came from Bob Laughlin, who sold the 1974 set by mail or at shows for about $3 each. Negro League players had few cards, so Laughlin produced the set three decades after many of them had played.
One Laughlin collector estimated the cartoonist made 1,500 sets of the 1974 version.
One thing is for sure, the print run wasn’t much. There are only 36 cards in the set.
PSA has graded 2,433 of the cards, meaning the average card has been graded just 68 times. Gibson is the fifth-most graded in the set with 80 total.
Watching the fast rise of the card has been remarkable.
On May 28, Major League Baseball announced the integration of Negro Leagues stats into its official record books. As a result, Gibson, who played in the Negro Leagues from 1930-46, became MLB's all-time leader in batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.690) and OPS (1.177).
Rumors of the change earlier in the month heated up the market. On May 19, a complete raw set sold at Robert Edwards Auctions for $2,280. That set was valued at less than $200 just 10 years ago.
When Laughlin made the cards, only four players (11% of the set) were enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame — Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Buck Leonard. There are now 22 in Cooperstown (61%).
Probstein said the card he sold Monday night will likely grade out a PSA 5.
Said Probstein with a laugh: “That means the PSA 8 that sold for $77 in 2016 is worth well over $10,000 now.”
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.