Happy Almost July 4th, Collectors.

Today happens to be my daughter’s first birthday, and I know what most of you are thinking: ‘Why are you writing about that here? She’s just 1 and can’t even read yet!”

Fair! But there’s a (loose) collectibles angle! Right before she was born I bought a box of 2025 Topps Series Two baseball, given it had just come out. My plan was to open it with her at some date in the future.

The box is still sealed- for whatever reason she hasn’t been bugging me to rip it yet- and now I’m thinking… maybe I should buy a new box every year and then open them all up with her at some arbitrary date in the future (e.g. 18th birthday or, if I’m impatient, whenever she can say ‘Shohei Ohtani’ clearly).

And that got me wondering… have any of you bought something timed with the birth of a child (or other monumental life event) with the goal to keep it tucked away until another monumental date in the future?

I’d love to hear about it if you have.

OK… so the lede was about my daughter and then the first link is to an article I’m quoted in about a company I just joined. Sorry, I know this week I’m being self-indulgent. But I really enjoyed this piece from Sports Collectors Digest breaking down Alexis Ohanian’s acquisition of ONIT and the work the team is doing to create premium trading cards for as many college athletes as possible. And as I said in the piece, “How many times in your career do you get a chance to go work for something that you’re already spending money on and you’re already passionate about? You’ve got to be excited about it.”

The ball from the New York Knicks’ Game 4 comeback victory in the NBA Finals was pulled from a Sotheby’s auction just before bidding opened after being returned to the team. The ball, tipped in by OG Anunoby to complete the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, will remain with the franchise. It’s a pretty major moment- in the past, an item like this might hit the auction block and end up in a private collection forever. But somewhere along the line the Knicks thought better of letting go of one of the most important items in team history. Let’s be honest, even if some private collectors are disappointed, the ball belongs at MSG forever (or until they tear down the arena to make more room for Penn Station).

Three of the hobby’s most iconic cards—a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, a 1979 Topps Wayne Gretzky rookie, and a T206 Honus Wagner—will headline CGC’s showcase at Fanatics Fest. The display comes as CGC pushes further into the high-end grading market, expands capacity to handle growing demand, and introduces new submission tools aimed at making grading faster and easier for everyday collectors. The big question? Will collectors flock to CGC (and will secondary prices reflect that), or is PSA’s hold on the hobby too strong to disrupt?

Shohei Ohtani’s card market reached another milestone as his one-of-one 2018 Topps Chrome SuperFractor Rookie Card sold for $2.56M at Goldin. According to the auction company, it’s the highest public sale ever for an Ohtani rookie card, underscoring continued demand for his earliest releases as one of baseball’s most collectible modern stars. And like all Ohtani-related records, the smart money is on it being broken in short order.

Erling Haaland’s World Cup performances aren’t the only thing turning heads. A viral TikTok spotlighting his collection of Hermès HAC and Birkin bags has surpassed 10 million views, causing sports memorabilia collectors to think about handbags and handbag collectors to think about sports more than they have… ever? Other stars, including Lionel Messi, Virgil van Dijk, and several French national team players, have also been spotted traveling with sought-after Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton pieces, which certainly are more stylish than the Nike duffle bags of old.

A Florida contractor has been accused of taking $40,000 from homeowners for renovations that were never completed, with investigators alleging much of the money was spent on signed baseball cards purchased through an online auction site. According to authorities, bank records showed no spending on materials for the project, and the contractor was later arrested on a charge of grand theft exceeding $20,000. Detectives believe there may be additional victims. Had the homeowners just been patient a few more years until the handyman could flip the cards for a profit…

J.R. Fickle (who I promise is not me, even if the email tool sometimes puts my name in the “from” line) is making the case that soccer offers the strongest long-term collecting opportunity, pointing to the sport’s global audience, the World Cup’s unmatched visibility every four years, and relatively affordable cards of stars like Kylian Mbappé. The rankings also placed the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, and tennis ahead of the NFL, arguing that football’s hobby has become increasingly concentrated around just a handful of marquee quarterbacks. I’m not sure I agree… but I stopped questioning Fickle after his tips made me $3 flipping Balloon Boy relic cards.