A Shohei Ohtani card is headed to auction with a $600,000 estimate — a price tag that would make it the most expensive Ohtani card ever sold publicly.
One of the biggest chase cards from Topps NOW, the 1/1 autographed card is signed and inscribed by Ohtani “50/50 Club 9/19/24” to commemorate his historic season with more than 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases.
The Ohtani 50-50 Topps NOW card, offered for sale shortly after Ohtani crossed the historic threshold, sold more than 650,000 copies — a record for any Topps NOW release. Only one of those cards was the 1/1 gold signed and inscribed example being offered at Heritage Auctions.
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The consignor, identified by the auction house as Alex Housego, ordered two 20-pack bundles of the card, according to Heritage. Upon receiving his order in December, Housego found a redemption which read “You are due to receive a Topps NOW® Autograph Card Gold Parallel of Shohei Ohtani.”
After flying to pick up the card in Texas from Topps, Housego went to PSA’s Santa Ana, Calif., headquarters where he submitted the card and received a PSA 10. “This is insane,” he said, according to Heritage.
The $600,000 estimate is historic, considering only seven Ohtani cards have ever sold for more than $200,000 publicly. The top sale is $533,140 for a 2018 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractors rookie “Black Label” BGS 10, which sold in November 2024.
In second place is Ohtani’s rookie superfractor autograph, which sold for $336,000 in September 2024. Prior to 2024, the record for any Ohtani card was $312,000, set in December 2021 for his Red Refractor autograph rookie card, numbered to just five.
Not only would the estimate represent a hefty premium over any previous Ohtani card sale — importantly, many of which are traditionally considered far more desirable than a Topps NOW card — it would also blow away the record for any Topps NOW card in public sales records.
Currently, that honor belongs to the $53,680 paid for the Steph Curry/Kevin Durant/LeBron James 1/1. The triple autograph of that card, widely considered the biggest chase in the history of Topps NOW, has yet to surface.
The most expensive Topps NOW Ohtani card is $27,500 for his first career home run, inscribed out of 25, which sold in September 2024.
With bidding now opening at $150,000 ($183,000 with buyer’s premium), a single bid would set the record for any Topps NOW card and leap into the top 12 for any Ohtani card sale.
Considering the hype surrounding Ohtani’s 50-50 season, which powered the record-setting $4.39 million sale of his 50th home run ball late last year, as well as the growing popularity and success of Topps NOW, the auction is poised to present a key litmus test for the desirability of the Topps NOW chase cards.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.