It took only 68 seconds for a suspected robber to smash the front door of Jimmy’s Kentucky Roadshow Shop, Lexington’s trading card store, and snatch a card worth about $ 25,000 to take off.
Police officer and owner Jimmy Mahan arrived at the scene within minutes early in the morning of April 29, but it was too late to stop anything. The “Smash and Grab” thief has disappeared from a pile of unopened, untraceable card packs.
In another robbery last month, a man kicked the glass door of another Lexington card shop and brought back a “massive” baseball trading card, according to Lexington police. shop, Baseball card warehousePosted on Facebook about the intrusion, stating that “there was a mess and many problems with inventory.”
According to police and store owners, the suspect has not been arrested for any Lexington robbery as of Thursday.
Suspected robbery in Louisville earlier this week Drill a hole in the roof of Louisville Sports Cards and Gaming I stole a card or an unopened box. The store said in a social media post that anyone with them had been to the store before.
“They avoided all security cameras and motion detectors,” the store said in a post. “They pierced the roof and broke through the ceiling.”
The overwhelming epidemic of trading cards is not just a domestic issue.Target decided in May that a Wisconsin man would stop selling MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokemon trading cards for safety reasons Pulled out the gun while others were attacking him On the card, according to multiple reports.
Ryan Fagan From Sporting News Last month wrote that the quarrel in Wisconsin was a warning about the current state of the trading card industry.
“For the summer of 2021, trading card hobbies will be stronger than in the last few decades, with more interest, money and momentum, but where there is strength, conflicts often continue.” He writes.
KAKE.com, Kansas, quoted the words of the owner of a local card shop. The growing interest in trading cards was the “COVID epidemic”. Another report from North Dakota is called the trading card industry “The hottest market in the world”
However, Kentucky Roadshow shop owner and longtime card trading enthusiast Mahan, 44, said pandemics were not the only cause of the rapid growth of the trading card market.
Mahan pointed out evidence that the trading card market is outpacing the S & P 500’s return on investment and that card companies are limiting their recent supply and increasing their monopoly.
In addition to the international market for the NBA and its trading cards, with the nostalgic kicks from NBA fans in the 1980s and 1990s after the release of ESPN’s The Last Dance, what Mahan called the “Perfect Storm.” You can get it.
“The pandemic has amplified something that has been heading in the right direction for 10 years,” he said.
Not your grandfather’s trading card – this is a fortune
The trading card business is very different from what some people think, says Mahan. Compare the days when parents bought a few cards and cheap packs of gum for their children, and today, when rare cards cost millions of dollars each. In the past year alone, at least 15 sports trading cards have been sold for over $ 1 million.
Mickey Mantle Card Sold for $ 5.2 million in January. LeBron James card sold in April Worth the price. Someone paid in February $ 4.6 million on Luka Doncic’s cardDoncic, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks, has only been in the NBA since 2018.
Forbes in 2019 said: Trading card market was beating the S & P 500Professionally rated trading card investment performance delivered a 165% return over a 10-year period as of December 2018. Dividends are increasing.Fast forward until March of this year Returns swelled to over 400 percent, According to the eBay Marketplace Index.
In addition to the long-term increase in the value of the card, there is a great opportunity for people to “turn over” the card for a quick payday. A pack of 15 basketball cards can be purchased at Target for less than $ 10.Buyers can sell those cards Over $ 40 on eBay..
“People see quick money and jump in,” Mahan said.
The trading card industry is exactly like the sneaker industry and other collectibles markets, Mahan said. When demand is high, people want to make huge profits when reselling rare cards.
There are cheaper card packs for kids who just want a card and don’t care about resale value.
Still, some children are getting a lot of value for their money. Mahan said the child came to the Kentucky Roadshow shop on his 10th birthday and drew a $ 10,000 card from a $ 70 pack.
Buyers may hit the jackpot. Packs can be sold at retail stores for a fixed price, but packs may contain very rare cards, such as one autographed Stephen Curry card. The value of that one card can far exceed the cost of the entire pack.
Global markets increase the profitability of transactions. The international love for basketball is pushing up the price of NBA cards. Mahan ships products to customers in China, Australia and Switzerland. For baseball enthusiasts, the market will expand to Japan. In the case of the NFL, it extends to England.
Big money gives thieves a chance
Robbery and quarrels are “like an unfortunate natural progression,” says Mahan, because the value of some cards and buyers from around the world is so high.
Those who steal from a store are likely to be trading card enthusiasts who know the store to steal. Stealing an unopened pack effectively makes the cards inside “untraceable,” Mahan said.
If someone steals an individual expensive card from the store, the owner will not have much trouble tracking it. Many cards have a serial number or are numbered to indicate how many were made, Mahan said. If sold on eBay, the number will appear on the card itself. So you can track your card.
Mahan said he had strengthened the security of his store “for quite some time” and added more keys. Prior to the theft, the store already had plexiglass windows that took longer to break than regular glass, had a security system in place, and had a safe for expensive items. The Louisville store had security cameras and motion detectors.
Nevertheless, the thief found a vulnerable place. At Mahan’s store, the only glass left on the front door was broken and went inside.
Is the card boom gone?Don’t count on
Trading cards are sustainable, but their value is fluctuating.
“The card has been around since 1888,” says Mahan. “Recession, recession, they never go away. They are American in nature.”
The market may settle down somewhat. For example, Mahan has been thinking that many common cards are too expensive in recent months. The prices of some of them are falling. But otherwise, he believes the “card boom” will continue.
“I don’t think it will return to its pre-pandemic state,” he said.
Lexington continues as a maniac “Kentucky Card Collector Con” next month. The event will take place at the Central Bank Center. According to the event’s website, it aims to “combine all the elements of the card collecting culture under one roof.”
This event is sponsored by Geek Inc. Lexington Comic ConThe Card Collector Con features vendors dealing with vintage and modern sports cards. Pokemon and other collectable card games. Non-sports cards that can be collected. Fan apparel; streetwear; and sneakers.