Market Analysis — Cardboard Police

September 23, 2026

SI's Top Five Card Sales Went From $663,500 to $6 Million in a Week — a Channel Asked If That's the Market's Peak

CARDBOARD POLICE MidLife Sports Cards posted a video this week asking a question a lot of the hobby has been asking itself: "Is This The PEAK Of The Sports Card Market?" Sports Illustrated happened to publish two weekly top-five sales lists on eith...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Hobby Trends

CASE #0336 Informational

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September 22, 2026

A Channel Spent $2,000 on Slab Packs. The $25 and $1,000 in Its Thumbnail Are Rungs One and Six of an Eight-Tier Ladder

CARDBOARD POLICE Baseball Pack Bros uploaded We Spent $2,000 on Baseball Card Mystery Packs on the evening of September 21. The title states the spend and the category, and that is the whole of what it claims. The thumbnail names the product. It r...

Video of the Day Baseball Market Analysis Hobby Trends

CASE #0333 Informational

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September 22, 2026

A John Cena One-of-One Sold for $329,400 — and the Three Biggest Wrestling-Card Sales on Record Are Graded 7, 8 and 9

On September 20 a single trading card of John Cena sold at Goldin for $329,400 — $270,000 on the hammer, plus the house's 22 percent buyer's premium. Goldin announced the result as "The All-Time Highest Public Sale for any Wrestling Card." The card ...

Hobby Article PSA Market Analysis Topps Non-Sports

CASE #0332 Informational

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September 21, 2026

Four Days Before a TCG-Only Card Show Opens in Allen, a TCG Channel Asked What Actually Sells There

CARDBOARD POLICE TraderJons published "What ACTUALLY Sells at Card Shows in 2026" on September 15. Four days from now, a Dallas Card Show event built entirely around trading card games opens in Allen, Texas — and the week in between produced the bi...

Video of the Day Pokemon Market Analysis Hobby Trends

CASE #0331 Informational

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September 21, 2026

A $2.2 Million Black Lotus Was Only Third in an $11.3 Million TCG Week — and Heritage Moved an Illustrator for $5 Million

A 1993 Magic: The Gathering Alpha Black Lotus in a PSA Gem Mint 10 holder sold for $2,208,200 on September 19. It was the third-biggest publicly tracked trading card game sale of the week. Sports Illustrated's Lucas Mast, working from Card Ladder sa...

Hobby Article Pokemon Market Analysis Million Dollar Cards Non-Sports

CASE #0329 Informational

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September 14, 2026

Fifteen Uploads in Twelve Days: Inside the Feed Behind the Weekly Non-Sports Market Update

CARDBOARD POLICE This channel has published fifteen videos in twelve days. Fourteen of those titles name a non-sports property; not one of the fifteen names a sport. The video above is Weekly Non-Sports Card Update: Just When You Thought It Couldn...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Hobby Trends Non-Sports

CASE #0322 Informational

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September 05, 2026

Slabnomics Looks for Early Warning Signs in the 2026 Card Market — Video of the Day

CARDBOARD POLICE On September 1, Slabnomics published Swimming Naked: Early Warning Signs in the 2026 Card Market. The title borrows a line usually attributed to Warren Buffett — that you only find out who has been swimming naked when the tide goes...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Grading Hobby Health

CASE #0310 Informational

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September 03, 2026

Dr. Tyler Tarver Asks If $50 Is the New Normal for Grading — Video of the Day

CARDBOARD POLICE SGC raised its cheapest grading fee from $15 to $50 on September 2. Dr. Tyler Tarver posted this video the same day, and its title asks the only question that matters afterward: is $50 the new normal for sports card grading? The v...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Grading

CASE #0304 Informational

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September 03, 2026

SGC Triples Its Base Grading Fee to $50 — and Left the $85 Tier Above It Alone

On August 7 this blog published a piece on Beckett closing its two cheapest grading tiers and left one question open in its analysis: none of the sources addressed whether SGC or CGC had changed its entry-level pricing or availability. Twenty-six day...

Hobby Article Market Analysis Grading Hobby Trends

CASE #0303 Misdemeanor

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September 01, 2026

Card Curiosity Asks If Topps Is Off to a Slow September — Video of the Day

CARDBOARD POLICE Card Curiosity has posted a weekly Topps release rundown all summer, and until last night every one of them ended in exclamation marks. The video that went up on August 31 is titled "A SLOW START FOR TOPPS IN SEPTEMBER?! Topps New ...

Video of the Day Market Analysis Topps Hobby Trends

CASE #0301 Informational

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the cardboard chronicle

Tagged: Market Analysis

SI's Top Five Card Sales Went From $663,500 to $6 Million in a Week — a Channel Asked If That's the Market's Peak

A Channel Spent $2,000 on Slab Packs. The $25 and $1,000 in Its Thumbnail Are Rungs One and Six of an Eight-Tier Ladder

A John Cena One-of-One Sold for $329,400 — and the Three Biggest Wrestling-Card Sales on Record Are Graded 7, 8 and 9

Four Days Before a TCG-Only Card Show Opens in Allen, a TCG Channel Asked What Actually Sells There

A $2.2 Million Black Lotus Was Only Third in an $11.3 Million TCG Week — and Heritage Moved an Illustrator for $5 Million

Fifteen Uploads in Twelve Days: Inside the Feed Behind the Weekly Non-Sports Market Update

Slabnomics Looks for Early Warning Signs in the 2026 Card Market — Video of the Day

Dr. Tyler Tarver Asks If $50 Is the New Normal for Grading — Video of the Day

SGC Triples Its Base Grading Fee to $50 — and Left the $85 Tier Above It Alone

Card Curiosity Asks If Topps Is Off to a Slow September — Video of the Day