This is the first issue of HobbyCrunch by Collectibles.com, your weekly briefing on the wild world of collectibles.

This market is projected to grow from $496.2 billion today… to an absolutely massive $628 billion in 2034. (That’s a 6.2% compound annual growth rate!)

What collections and franchises are people the most hyped about right now?

This week: 

🥇 Athletes are making collectibles cool(er)
🏆 A $3 million baseball card that isn't even vintage
🎴 Pokémon cards that cost more than houses
🏢 A grading industry monopoly in the making
🔥 Heatseekers: Top upcoming releases

Fasten your seatbelts. The collectibles train has already left the station and is picking up steam fast.

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We probably all knew an athlete in high school or college who secretly loved a “nerdy” hobby. Heck, maybe you were that person. But it puts things on a whole other level when an Olympic gold medalist like Amber Glenn starts gushing about her favorite trading card game. That feels like a win for us all, doesn’t it?

So today, we’re listing out some high-profile athletes who have made their love for hobbies and collectibles clear on a global stage.

There are plenty of others out there—did we miss your favorite? Let us know in a reply and we might include it in the next issue!

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Shohei Ohtani didn't just win MVP in 2025. He also captured the collectibles crown. In December, a 2025 Topps Chrome MVP Award Gold MLB Logoman patch card featuring the Dodgers superstar sold for a staggering $3 million through Fanatics Collect. Not a typo. Three million dollars for a card printed just months ago.

I mean, come on, these are 2022 NFT prices.

What this means is that the new Ohtani card nearly tripled the previous record for his own cardboard. And unlike the Babe Ruth rookie cards that command similar figures, this is a modern issue, printed in 2025, not 1914. The buyer wasn't investing in history; rather, it was purely a bet on the future.

So: contemporary athlete cards can now command prices that rival and sometimes exceed the legends of yesteryear. And although mid-tier cards face pricing pressure and longer hold times, the truly rare, one-of-one, game-used patch autographs are hitting new heights with seemingly every major auction. 

Where does that leave us? With our wallets feeling a little lighter, but also with a lot of hope for the future of baseball card collecting!

Source: cllct

If you thought Pokémon cards were just a pandemic-era fad that died when lockdowns ended, December 2025 had some news for you. Heritage Auctions hosted a trading card event that totaled $5.27 million, and the headliner wasn't a baseball legend or basketball icon. It was a Charizard.

A PSA 10 Gem Mint Charizard card sold for $550,000, but that was just the beginning. Trophy Pikachu cards, given to tournament winners in the late 1990s, also crossed into six-figure territory. Meanwhile, tropical Mega Battle decks from the early days of competitive play found enthusiastic buyers. And perhaps most surprisingly, a PSA 9 Snap Bulbasaur fetched $200,000, making it the most expensive Bulbasaur card ever publicly traded (the “Snap” Pokémon cards feature a photo taken by a player in the 1999 Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap).

And then, of course, Logan Paul’s controversial $16.5 million sale of his Pikachu Illustrator card to… Anthony Scaramucci’s son. Unreal.

It’s old news that the Pokémon card market is getting hit with a mix of scarcity and a maturing collector base. What’s interesting is how persistent the demand has been since the initial pandemic gold rush. Apparently, the kids who played Pokémon Red and Blue in 1996 still have enough cash left to keep reclaiming pieces of their childhood! Fun times. We say more power to them.

Source: Heritage Auctions

On December 15, 2025, Collectors, the parent company of PSA, announced it would acquire Beckett, its longtime competitor in the card grading business. The deal sent shockwaves through the hobby, and not all of them were positive. That’s in large part because Collectors now owns 80% of the sports grading market.

It’s starting to smell like the Federal Trade Commission’s least-favorite 8 letter word, and it’s not “gradings.” (It’s… it’s “monopoly.” The answer is monopoly.)

And now, a New York congressman is asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into whether Collectors Universe has committed antitrust violations.

Paul Lesko, a plaintiffs’ litigator, had the following to say about the acquisition: “Soon after PSA bought SGC, SGC raised prices, they got rid of a bunch of discounts for group submitters and they’re taking less submissions. All of that is bad for collectors and investors alike.

“In the antitrust analysis, it looks worse and worse for PSA. Now, does it get to the area that, hey, now you’re immediately an illegal monopolist? That’s what you would need to discover to go forward” (Sports Collector Digest).

For investors sitting on ungraded inventory, the message is clear: submit cards sooner rather than later. Grading costs are likely to rise as competition dwindles, unless PSA is found to be in violation of antitrust laws.

Source: Sports Collector Digest

The world of collectibles is wide and deep, and there’s a constant stream of new releases. Here are some of the big ones that are coming up:

The collectibles market of 2026 is not the hobby your dad knew. It's faster, more expensive, more institutional, and more global than ever before. The $496.2 billion market cap is just the beginning if the 6.2% compound annual growth projections hold.

But with collectibles’ global nature comes a great benefit: Because there are more people and everyone is more connected than ever, now is the best time to be a collector for the love of the hobby. All of your online and in-person groups and clubs probably have more members than ever, right? Over the last few years, Collectibles.com itself has grown significantly as a utility and community for all who collect.

For investors, the strategy is becoming clearer: the ultra-high-end grail pieces are behaving like fine art, for crying out loud. These are now real stores of value for the ultra-wealthy. Meanwhile, the lower-cost entry points, base cards of sports stars, and raw vintage in lower grades all offer exposure with less capital and easier exit options. The middle ground, cards worth a few thousand dollars that aren't truly rare, face the most pricing pressure as the market matures and capital concentrates at the extremes. Wouldn’t want to be stuck there.

And for collectors, the result of 2025 is that as the market became more investment-focused, the pure joy of collecting didn't disappear… It just got more expensive. The collectors thriving are those who found their niche, built genuine expertise, and understand that at the end of the day, these are pieces of cardboard, fabric, metal, wood and plastic that tell stories about who we are and what we value. The passion is priceless!

Collectibles are a major asset class, that much is clear. The $628 billion question is whether the hobby can maintain its soul while existing as an asset class.

Fasten your seatbelts. This could get a little bumpy, but we think it’ll be a lot of fun!