Another Month, Another Record Sales Haul

Happy Thursday, Collectors.

The teams here at Mantel and Yahoo Sports kicked off the nomination window for The Hobby Awards, including taking nominations for categories like Best Hobby Shop, Best Collectible Show and Best Marketplace.

We also announced yesterday that Steve Aoki — DJ, entrepreneur, collector — has joined The Hobby Awards judging panel. Steve showed Mantel his collection last year and was is, in a word, holysh*tinsane, so we’re beyond stoked to have him as part of this initiative.

Know Hobby brands, businesses and personalities worthy of recognition? Make sure to nominate your favorites on Mantel.

The Times (UK): Regent Street’s Trendiest Shop? An American Trading Card Import

Fanatics’ new flagship store on London’s Regent Street is blowing past expectations, projected to generate $25M in annual sales, more than triple initial estimates. The store has become a destination for collectors, bolstered by celebrity athlete appearances and the growing popularity of Topps trading cards under Fanatics’ ownership. High-end boxes sell for thousands while foot traffic remains steady, signaling major UK interest in the trading card space. A Topps licensing deal with the Premier League, which kicked off this summer, gives Fanatics a massive edge, and the brand is betting big on physical retail as an “experiential” hub to normalize card collecting across all age groups.

SCD: August Sports Card Grading Data Shows Daniels, Jordan, Clark Among Most Popular Submissions

If you look at card grading data from August, you might think the industry is facing some tough times. Numbers were down last month, with roughly 839,000 sports cards slabbed across the four major companies, a month-over-month decline for all but Beckett. And the share of TCG/non-sports cards continues to grow, with more than 1.45M cards submitted for grading in August, outpacing sports card submissions nearly 2 to 1. As cllct reported, “August’s 2.28M total graded cards is down 1% compared to July, but up 27% year-over-year.”

But card grading numbers show only part of the story. This week sports card industry sales data company, CardLadder, released sales figures from August, showing more than $416.8M in card sales, crushing July’s $308M number… which was a record at the time.

cllct: PSA to Offer Cash for Cards When Grades Revealed 

PSA has expanded its “Offers” program to allow collectors to receive and accept cash offers on their cards immediately after grading, no longer limited to cards in the PSA Vault. Now, once a grade is revealed, a 24-hour decision window opens where collectors can either accept a cash offer from PSA’s buyer network, send the card to auction via PSA’s eBay store, or vault the card. This marks another step in PSA’s secondary market ambitions, following recent moves like discounted grading for immediate resale and its certified repack program, all aiming to streamline liquidity post-grading.

The Independent: Olympic Legend Sells Off His Gold Medals and Flees US for Fresh Start

Three of Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis’s medals — two Golds and a Silver — sold at auction in July for a combined $430,865, part of a personal reinvention that includes relocating to Panama and downsizing his possessions. Louganis’s Gold from the 1984 Los Angeles Games fetched $199,301, while his 1988 Seoul Gold earned $201,314; both represent his unprecedented back-to-back sweeps in Olympic diving. His 1976 Silver, won at age 16, sold for $30,250. Louganis said he was motivated by financial need and opted for transparency over PR spin, noting previous attempts to sell had failed. All three medals were auctioned by RR Auction.

The Athletic: Polish CEO Apologizes for Snatching Kamil Majchrzak’s Hat Away From Child at U.S. Open

Don’t be this guy… A video of a grown man ripping a game-worn tennis hat from a child’s hands at the U.S. Open sparked outrage online, and now, the man has apologized and mailed the hat to its intended recipient. Piotr Szczerek, a Polish businessman, claimed he misunderstood player Kamil Majchrzak’s gesture (🙄) and believed the hat was meant for his own sons. (Thankfully the young fan eventually met Majchrzak, who gifted him a new hat and swag bag). The incident reignited conversations among players like Iga Świątek and Felix Auger-Aliassime about the chaotic scramble for gear post-match and the awkward fan dynamics that often unfold courtside.

NYT: The European Heir Restoring Forgotten American Cars to Glory

Italian luxury scion Nicola Bulgari has quietly assembled one of the most unique car collections in the world at a repurposed drive-in theater in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The NB Center for American Automotive Heritage houses about 200 American cars built between the 1920s and mid-1950s, most of them humble Buicks, Nashes, and Studebakers, vehicles that rarely fetch six figures, yet embody a golden age of U.S. design and engineering. With full restoration workshops, a transplanted Sinclair gas station, and a mission to preserve overlooked American craftsmanship, the center serves as a working shrine to cars the high-end market often forgets, and makes us suddenly want to visit Allentown, which NYT recently wrote was a city on the rise.

Bloomberg: Moncchichi Makes a Comeback Amid Labubu Craze

Monchhichi, the fuzzy-faced monkey doll first introduced in 1974, has swung back into pop culture thanks to Gen Z collectors, TikTok virality, and the global Art Toy boom. Sales of the nostalgic toy more than doubled this past fiscal year, reaching ¥4.6B (roughly $31M), driven by international demand and celebrity endorsements, including a viral Instagram story from BLACKPINK’s Lisa. Influencers are fueling the frenzy by sharing their Monchhichi hauls, prompting long queues and strict in-store limits, and the toys now frequently share shelf space with Labubu and Sonny Angels in high-design lifestyle shops. Meanwhile someone somewhere is waiting anxiously for the Kipling backpack monkey to come back in style…