No matter how you slice it, October’s top 10 most expensive card sales took a sizable hit compared to the previous two months.
In both August and September, at least one card sold for more than $1 million. Not only was that not the case in October, but the top sale of $645,000 would only have ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, for each of the prior months.
This can certainly be chalked up to the auctions scheduled for the month. In August we had major auctions close at both Heritage and Goldin, with multiple record sales. In September, Fanatics and Sotheby’s dominated the list with their “Holy Grails” auction.
Goldin’s Vintage Quarterly auction could have acted as a replacement at the high-end in October. However, the “true” Honus Wagner rookie card, which featured bids above the No. 1 card on the month's list, failed to meet its reserve.
There were also two sets, as mentioned above, which would be the top two sales if we included them in the list.
At Heritage, the Fall Sports Catalog Auction largely disappointed at the high end, with the top-selling card of the month, LeBron’s Chrome Gold Refractor falling short of comps and the pre-sale estimate.
We should also address the elephant — I mean mouse — in the room: A $500,000 Mickey Mouse card sale reported by Alt via their fixed price marketplace. This is one of those sales that will elicit a different reaction from every person you ask. Whether disbelief, shock, anger, glee, denial … all of which goes to show the hobby might not be quite ready to see these types of numbers for a modern Mickey Mouse card, despite what the buyer believes. For $500,000, one could have purchased the two last cards on the list, featuring Ruth and James.
The grading split this month leaves very little to discuss other than the continued dominance of PSA, as the leading authenticator claimed eight of the top 10 spots, leaving one for BGS and SGC each.
With the exception of Mickey Mouse, the names on this list are about as expected as possible, with LeBron appearing at spots No. 1 and 10, Jordan appearing twice, Mantle with two spots and Ruth leading with three.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.