Although many do it for the love, the rarest finds are worth millions. Graphic / Nathan Meek
Sports trading cards have skyrocketed in price, with the help of worldwide Covid lockdowns and social media influencers. The little bits of cardboard are now big business but, as Luke Kirkness discovers, some Kiwi collectors are still doing it for the love of the game.
When Justin McCullough glanced in the window of an antiques store, he had no idea it was the start of a 20-year love affair with card collecting.
The shop sold old stamps and coins but also had a complete set of 1927 All Blacks cigarette cards on display.
A flood of nostalgia filled McCullough's mind - he collected all sorts of things as a child - and when he saw the rugby mementos he had to take a closer look.
"I bought two sets that day and boom, it ended up blowing up from there."
The effects of Covid-19, social media, and even the recent Michael Jordan documentary on Netflix have helped boost card prices and kickstart a collecting resurgence.
Fellow Kiwi collector Steve Summers reckons that once you catch the bug, you're forever in the hunt.
The 43-year-old has been collecting mainly Kiwi cards since he was about 12 and now has enough to fill three 2.1 metre filing cabinets.
"Anything produced by a New Zealand company or given away by a New Zealand business or organisation," he says.
"[It could be] Weet-Bix cards or bubblegum cards but probably the big thing for me is sports cards issued on a regional basis.
"You might have a local cricket team, a football team, a league team, who print a set of cards, and I collect those."
While McCullough, also in his 40s, and Summers collect mainly for the love of it, the hobby is big business overseas.
For many years the Holy Grail of trading cards was an otherwise-forgotten US baseball player.
Honus Wagner was a shortstop - the position between second and third bases - for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1900s.
His card was found in American Tobacco Company cigarettes from 1909 to 1911, when Wagner stamped out the use of his image for reasons unknown.
It's thought only 50-200 of his cards were distributed, compared to thousands of other baseball players.
In 2016, one sold for US$3.3 million. The price was a world record until last year, when it was overtaken by a card featuring current baseball superstar Mike Trout which sold for nearly US$4m.
Rarity is just one factor deciding a card's value; the physical state is key too.
Experts check multiple things - fading, if the picture is centred, whether there are dents or marks on the card - before assigning a quality rating.
Rare cards in top condition are graded 10, or gem-mint. Common cards that have seen better days get 0.
"To go from a nine to a 10, the price could go up four- or fivefold because it's hard to get a card in perfect condition," Summers says.
"Some are hard to find in top condition, especially older cards where kids had them in their pockets, rubber bands around them, that kind of stuff.
"Cards that are considered gem-mint attract that extra value; there are no flaws and the market has recognised the fact the card is in top condition."
In 2018, Auckland man Sam Joyce Maggs sold a single Pokémon card for $2200.
The trading game was a schoolyard phenomenon in the mid-90s and early 2000s.
At the time Maggs said his full collection was worth a deposit on a house.
Typically, though, cards are worth much less in New Zealand.
"You find that dealers who sell cards deal in stamps, coins, postcards too," says Summers. "Purely cards, you wouldn't make any money."
McCullough's collection is focused on rugby, and not just from New Zealand.
He has about 12,000 different cards, having recently parted with more than 100,000 duplicates. The most a single card might fetch is $250.
"There is an investment side but that's just a lucky coincidence, it's not my driver. It's the excitement of the hunt, looking for those elusive cards and the feeling of satisfaction and reward when you fill a hole in your collection."
Summers estimates he's spent thousands of dollars on cards.
"But overall the hobby has cost me nothing as I've always tried to sell off my spares, etc, to other collectors," he says.
McCullough and Summers are both members of the Cartophilic Society of New Zealand - also known as the NZ Card Club.
Running since the mid-1970s, the club currently has some 120 members across the country.
"There are people I have known for 30 years in the club," Summers says.
"[Because] most [cards] don't have a huge value, collectors are willing to help each other out, swap and keep a lookout for [cards] for each other as well."
McCullough and his wife often punctuate road trips with stops at antique shops.
"My collection is quite comprehensive in terms of rugby cards so quite often I'm not looking for things for me," he says.
"If things pop up, awesome, but quite often I'm actually looking for things for other collectors. It's the hunt, it's quite a bit of fun."
He reckons the global market is buoyant at the moment - thanks to Covid and hit Michael Jordan documentary 'The Last Dance'.
"I lived through the boom of the 90s when we had individual card shops in New Zealand and the market got really hot," Summers says.
"Over lockdown people started going through the old albums they had, especially old basketball hands, and we had a bit of a resurgence worldwide."
Social media has also been a major player too, says Summers, with famous athletes and celebrities sharing their collections with their followers.
Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, who also goes by GaryVee, has been pushing sports card culture.
Closer to home, All Black Aaron Smith has been sharing trading card content.
Smith's teammate TJ Perenara has set up a trading card business with his cousin.
Some collectors, including McCullough, like to get the signatures of the people on the cards they hunt down.
Getting an autograph from former All Blacks captain and coach Sir Fred Allen on his card was particularly memorable.
Allen, who played 21 times for the All Blacks in the 1940s and coached them in the 1960s, retired to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
"I was working north of Auckland and I thought I would hunt him down and get him to sign this card for me," says McCullough.
"I spent an hour with Sir Fred, sitting in his sun room just yakking about the state of the current All Blacks and where rugby was heading. That was incredible.
"Getting that opportunity because of your hobby, to me that's quite neat - meet your rugby heroes and have a gasbag with them."
The world's most expensive sports trading cards
1. US$3.936 million (NZ$5.59m) - Mike Trout
This one-of-a-kind Mike Trout baseball card broke the ball game's trading card records with its astronomical sale in 2020. A solid return given the seller bought the card for only US$400,000 two years earlier.
2. US$3.324 million (NZ$4.55m) - Honus Wagner
In 2016, what is considered to be the holy grail of trading cards broke its previous 2007 sales record of US$2.8m. It's believed only 50 - 200 of the 1909 - 1911 cards ever made it into circulation.
3. US$2.932 million (NZ$4.02m) - Mickey Mantle
In 2018, this 1952 Mickey Mantle card set a record for post-war trading cards. Interestingly, 1953 saw unsold cards from the set returned by retailers and dumped in the Hudson River.
4. US$1.857 million (NZ$2.54m) - Giannis Antetokounmpo
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player recipient the 'Greek Freak' set a new record this year for the most expensive NBA trading card of all-time, a record set only two months earlier by a LeBron James rookie card.
5. US$1.845 million (NZ$2.53m) - LeBron James
Before Antetokounmpo, four-time NBA champion LeBron James' rookie card had stunned collectors when it set the record for a basketball modern-day trading card sale earlier in the year.
*United States dollar figures converted to New Zealand dollar on Thursday, January 7, 2021.
Meanwhile a star player has recovered from an ankle injury to take his place in the side.