Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Are Inseparable, Except in Autographs

Hello, Collectors. 

We're less than one week away from officially announcing Mantel and publicly launching our MVP. If you're getting this newsletter, you're ahead of the game, and we appreciate you supporting us since the very beginning. 

February 13th is the big day, and we hope you'll be out in the streets telling everyone about the content and community platform for collectors we’re building. If you haven't checked out the site yet, this link will get you in immediately, and you can grab a prime username, poke around, and have some fun. You’ll even get a special profile badge for being a Day One member (talk about a collector’s item!).

Now let's get into it.

Collector's Item

This weekend all eyes will be on the Super Bowl and the NFL's most valuable asset, Taylor Swift. (We're not really even joking- a survey released yesterday by Seton Hall University showed that 21% of respondents said her presence is influencing their decision to watch the Big Game). 

While millions of Taylor fans will be tuning in to catch a glimpse of the global superstar on TV, plenty more will be running around Las Vegas, hoping to grab a selfie or score an autograph. 

Ah, the autograph… Back in 2014, Swift predicted those autograph seekers were becoming a thing of the past, writing in the Wall Street Journal, "The only memento ‘kids these days’ want is a selfie.”

At the risk of pissing off the Swifties, we can confidently say she missed on that bet, and in the decade since, has been signing autographs nonstop. 

As a result, Swift's signed items can be remarkably affordable. On eBay right now, a signed copy of the Folklore album sells for under $200, with dozens of shops to choose from. 

But what football (and romance) fans really want is Taylor's autograph next to that of her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce. No such (officially signed) items like that exist, unfortunately, though Frankensteined options abound. 

For instance, trading card company, Leaf, released a limited edition card with Swift and Kelce signatures cut from other items, with one selling last week for $1,150.

And an enterprising collectibles shop is selling a signed Kelce jersey framed with a signed Swift photo, for $3,000. 

But before you hit "Buy It Now", we suggest grabbing a signed Kelce jersey for $400, one of those Folklore CDs for $200, and having them framed together yourself, thereby saving at least $2,000. 

Because with some bookmakers taking bets for a post-game on-field proposal, maybe the first official Kelce/Swift dual-auto item isn’t too far off… in the form of a marriage license.

Penny Thoughts 

• Last month a once-nicked "priceless" painting made it back to its rightful owner, thanks to a recovery effort by the FBI 54 years in the making. In 1969, a painting by neoclassical portrait artist, John Opie was stolen from the home of Earl Leroy Wood by mobsters who had originally broken into the residence to steal Wood's coin collection, tipped off by a shady politician. After the FBI finally tracked the painting down, they returned it to Wood’s 96-year-old son Francis, who had it hung at his retirement home, of course.

• Cordillera, a private equity firm, is launching a new fund that invests solely in buying and aging whiskey barrels, betting that premium craft distillers faced with more demand than they can satisfy will be eager customers. We’ll be watching to see how an increase in supply will impact the collectibility of bourbon, though we’re betting ultra-premium brands will continue limiting production to protect their “liquid assets” from too much private equity dilution.

Mantel Update

One more thing! If you’re in LA on the 13th, drop me a note at [email protected]. We might just have something cookin’ you’ll want on your schedule. 👀