The numbers are not just limited to sports cards — other popular trading cards such as those from the Pokémon series and Magic The Gathering (MTG) also saw all-time high transactions. An unopened box of the first edition Pokémon cards, for example, was sold earlier this year for US$408,000, while the most sought-after MTG card — the Alpha Black Lotus — was sold for US$511,100.
In spite of the pandemic, the secondary market for trading cards remains robust — it has seen record-breaking numbers since the start of the year.
In August, a T206 card of baseball legend Honus Wagner sold for US$6.06 million ($8.16 million), making it the highest-pricedsold sports card of all time. A few months prior saw the sale of the most expensive basketball card ever when an autographed Upper Deck card of LeBron James was sold for US$5.2 million.
