The sports collectible market has experienced a downturn in 2023, according to a report by Altan Insights. The company, which monitors sales across various collectible markets, analyzed data from Card Ladder and observed a downward trend that began about 18 months ago and continued throughout the year.
The report highlighted a significant decline in sales for ultra-modern cards, which are those issued from 2009 to the present. Sales for these cards plummeted by 34.8% compared to the previous year. Modern cards, defined as those from 1984 to 2008, also saw a decrease in sales, dropping by 30.8%. However, vintage cards fared slightly better than their modern and ultra-modern counterparts, experiencing a decline in overall sales.
Interestingly, the fourth quarter of 2023 saw vintage and pre-war cards outperforming modern and ultra-modern cards, widening their advantage in the collectible market for the year.
The report pointed out that football, soccer, racing, and basketball cards witnessed the most substantial price declines. Football, especially high-end cards of quarterbacks, both young and veteran, failed to recover their value. Injuries to popular quarterbacks in the latter half of the season further exacerbated the situation.
Altan Insights also highlighted a considerable dip in the top 50 sales at most auction houses from 2022 to 2023. However, the decline was less pronounced in the next tier of sales, suggesting a slightly stronger demand in the mid-range market segment.
Some key findings from Altan’s comprehensive report on the fourth quarter and the year 2023 include a significant drop in the number of six-figure auction sales in Q4 compared to the previous year. In fact, it marked the lowest total in the past three years. The report also noted eleven recorded sales of baseball items exceeding $1 million in 2023, with eight of them involving cards or memorabilia of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
In terms of basketball cards, there was a stark contrast between 2022 and 2023. In 2022, there were twelve seven-figure sales of basketball cards, while in 2023, there were none. Altan Insights noted a disappearance in the demand for modern patch cards at high price points, which did not return throughout the year.
The top-selling cards of currently active basketball players on eBay in the last four months of 2023 included LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the market for LeBron James and Steph Curry cards across all platforms dipped by over 40% last year, while Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant cards remained relatively stable. Interestingly, Jordan cards from the late 1990s accounted for five of the top ten Jordan card sales in the fourth quarter, including three of the top five.
While the market for game-worn and game-used memorabilia showed only modest growth from the previous year, the top 25 and top 50 sales in this category in 2023 were more than double the levels achieved in 2021.
Altan Insights’ report provides a comprehensive picture of the shifting dynamics in the sports collectible market. It highlights the fluctuations in different segments and reveals the evolving interests of collectors and investors in this domain.
