But the question is what will happen now? Will the prices continue to climb, stabilize or go back to the previous levels? For the answers to those questions, you go to the experts, in this case Eric Beckerman of Sportsbuy.com.
Beckerman said the hottest Phelps item was the autographed Fans of the Game card. He mentioned that although there have been several non-licensed products produced, the Michael Phelps 2004 Donruss Fans of the Games card is considered Phelp's rookie card. The only other licensed card as of this date is the one made by Topps in 2008.
Fans of the Games Card
There were 300 signed and 5000 non-autographed cards produced. Beckerman reports that the non-autographed versions of the card that were selling for $15 - $25 prior to the Olympic games more than doubled in price to sell for $50 - $60.
The autographed versions skyrocketed even more. Beckerman reports that Sportsbuy.com completely sold out of the autographed cards. Pre-Olympic games the cards were selling for around $50, they jumped up to $150. after the first medal, jumping in price after each win all the way to $800. After the Olympics ended the cards were settling down to around $600. each.
The Future?
It's impossible to predict the future in what the values of something will be in the future, but Beckerman says that after this significant rise, things will calm down and the market level will find itself. The signed cards will probably settle around the $300. - $400. range. The non-autographed version will most likely will settle around $40., just a bit more than the 2008 pre-Olympic values.
Will the predictions be right? Only time will tell!
More About SportsBuy.com
SportsBuy is a Sports collector community that enables collectors to buy and sell cards and other sports memorabilia. There are no fees for the buyer and no up-front listings fees for the sellers. The seller pays a 10% fee only when and if an item sells.
When a buyer makes a purchase they actually pay SportsBuy, who in turn holds the payment in escrow until buyer receives the merchandise from the seller and both parties are satisfied.
The company started in 1991, adding a web site in 2001 with store fronts only. The auction portion of the web site was added earlier in 2008. The company has over 128,000 registered users with 11 million current listings.
