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Hey Collectors,
LeBron James has one more checkmark on his side of the NBA đ ledger- first male athlete to get the Ken Doll treatment. Earlier this week Mattel announced that James would become a Kenbassador (their term, not ours), with his signature doll hitting store shelves April 14th for $75.
Mattel did LBJ right, putting his doll in a pair of Nikeâs, with an AP Royal Oak on his wrist and a pair of Beats headphones in his hands. Pre-sales of the doll are already flipping for 3x the purchase price (Buy on eBay).
Of course, thatâs not the only figurine catching the eye of collectors and resellers this weekâŠ
via NYT, Michael Reaves/Getty Images
It turns out the most unexpected star of The Masters collectible universe isnât a signed Tiger Woods ball or an original 1934 badge â itâs a gnome. Since Augusta National began selling Masters-themed gnomes in 2016 for under $50, theyâve transformed into one of the hottest resale items in the golf memorabilia world. The 2016 edition now commands thousands online (Buy on eBay), with newer releases regularly flipping for hundreds. Their limited availability, quirky annual designs, and a dash of Augusta mystique have turned them into must-haves for collectors.
BTW- with The Masters starting today, Mantelâs Keegan Wagner has some golfers, and their trading cards, worth keeping an eye on. You can read it here.
If you want to really rile up someone who grew up in the 90s, send âem your ranking of Sports Illustrated for Kids cards. Mike Metzler ran through the most important cards ever torn from the magazine, and it didnât take long to see rebuttals pop up on Mantel, including one in this weekâs Mail Day.
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In a delightful twist on traditional trading card games, the children of Kawara, Japan have gone all-in on collecting local legends â quite literally. The viral Ojisan TCG swaps out dragons and superheroes for the real-life middle-aged men of the Saidosho community, with favorites like âFirewallâ Mr. Honda and âAll-Rounderâ Mr. Fujii gaining cult hero status. Originally created to bridge generations, the hand-made cards have turned civic volunteers into hometown celebrities, complete with shiny card upgrades for real-world good deeds. For „500, you might just pull a holographic soba master â and maybe, make a new role model too.
On the heels of Alex Ovechkinâs record-breaking 895th goal, a wave of hockey memorabilia has hit the spotlight, starting with the stick of Ilya Sorokin, the Islanders goalie Ovi scored on. While Sorokin gave up the goal and his equipment, Budweiser gifted the 28 netminders Ovechkin never scored on commemorative cans of beer. And Topps quickly dropped a 10-sticker NOW set ($29.99) tracking Ovechkinâs milestone goals, where buyers can chase rare parallels. Meanwhile, the 1994 Rolls-Royce Corniche IV gifted to Wayne Gretzky after he passed Gordie Howe with goal No. 802, is heading to auction, with a pre-sale estimate of nearly $900K.
A man has pleaded guilty to a long-running fake memorabilia scheme that spanned nearly a decade. Anthony Tremayne admitted to selling between $250K and $550K worth of forged items, including fake autographs from stars across sports and entertainment â think Kobe, Prince, even the Kardashians. He allegedly used bogus certificates of authenticity to back his forgeries and even duped an undercover FBI agent. His plea deal reduces the charges to a single count of mail fraud, but he still faces up to 20 years in federal prison.