The Mantel Hobby Awards Voting is Live

Collectors, The Mantel Hobby Awards ARE LIVE!

As I wrote about this week, the collectibles industry should stop and celebrate our wins and each other more often. And since nobody else was raising their hand to take this effort on, the team at Mantel decided to, well, take on the mantle.

We polled the collecting community to land on our nominees, and more than 600 people, brands and products were suggested. We whittled that list down to 90 finalists across 15 categories, and voting is now underway.

Anyone can vote, and we’d love the entire community to make their voices heard. Just head to https://thehobbyawards.com/, and let us know who you think should win categories like Best Hobby Shop, Executive of the Year and Best Marketplace.

Winners will take home a limited edition trophy made by our friends at ghostwrite. We’ll be making two trophies available to voters through a giveaway, so if you want to enter, after you vote, drop us your Mantel username. That’s it!

Voting runs through November 21st, and we’ll be announcing the winners during a livestream with Yahoo Sports in December. More to come there.

So let’s celebrate what makes The Hobby so great. The people. The brands. The products. The content. Vote for your favorites today.

NYT: Whatnot Raises $225 Million as Investors Bet on Livestream Shopping

Livestream shopping platform Whatnot raised $225M at a whopping $11.5B valuation, nearly doubling its value from a year ago. Founded in 2019 with Funko sales, the LA–based company now spans categories from sports and Pokémon cards to fashion and plants, with vendors in nine countries. Whatnot recently passed $6B in GMV, doubling its 2024 total, though it isn’t yet profitable as it prioritizes growth. The money will be used for tech innovation, international expansion, and we expect, enticing more sellers to join the platform, as they are starting to face competition from Amazon and TikTok Shop, along with sports-focused apps like Fanatics Collect and Loupe.

cllct: Collector Loses $3M on Babe Ruth Rookie Card Flip

Above the Mantel has been on a streak of highlighting record-breaking sales, so this news nugget caught our eye. A Babe Ruth Baltimore News card, often argued as his “true rookie,” just sold at Heritage for $4.02M, a staggering $3.2M loss from its $7.2M purchase less than two years ago. That pencils out to a daily loss of $4,609 (roughly one of these Ohtani/Ichiro cards per 24 hours) while held. Despite being 4x rarer than the T206 Honus Wagner, the card remains polarizing: a newspaper-issued minor league piece rather than a mainstream rookie release. Heritage had estimated $7M, but the market spoke otherwise, setting what’s believed to be the biggest loss in hobby history.

The Athletic: What’s It Like to Catch Shohei Ohtani’s Home Run at the World Series? This Dodgers Fan Can Tell You

Shohei Ohtani’s bat made World Series history in Game 3, and lifelong Dodgers fan David Aguilar was the one to catch it. Sitting in section 307, Aguilar snagged Ohtani’s second homer of the night (and eighth of the postseason), a blast that made him the first player since 1906 to notch four extra-base hits in a Fall Classic game. The ball immediately became the most coveted souvenir in Dodger Stadium, but Aguilar, grinning ear to ear, declared: “I’m going to hold on to it until I die.” We applaud the passion, but we’ll see if that conviction holds when the auction houses find Auguilar’s cell number.

cllct: As Cards Get More Expensive, Average Collectors Have Power to Fix It

You might have heard the debate earlier this week after Upper Deck president Jason Masherah posted his concerns with the direction of The Hobby. Sports cards are more expensive across the board with million-dollar grails hitting records, and prices for blasters and hobby boxes creeping up every day. Masherah warned that the top 10% of spenders are driving much of the market, making it fragile and less accessible. Yet, per Ben Burrows at cllct, Card Ladder data shows everyday collectors fueling record transaction volume. The challenge ahead: balancing speculation and rising prices with keeping the hobby open to new generations of collectors.

Hypebeast: Rare 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0 Supercar Hits the Auction Block

A one-of-one 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0 has surfaced on Bring a Trailer, with the auction closing Halloween night. Finished in Verde Hydra (a color somehow not on the rainbow), the only example known in that color, it represents the final year of Diablo production and the transition between Lamborghini’s raw V-12 era and its modern refinement. With just 19,000 miles, recent servicing, and its 543-hp 6.0L naturally aspirated V-12 paired to a gated five-speed manual, this scissor-doored icon is equal parts analog thrill ride and collector centerpiece. We’re expecting a huge final number, with current bids already north of $500,000.

Mantel: The 5 Most Haunted Collectibles of 2025

J.R. Fickle’s 2025 Halloween collector’s list is equal parts spooky and tongue-in-cheek (mostly the latter). Panini’s Score-A-Treat and Pokémon’s Trick or Trade BOO-ster Bundles remain the go-to candy alternatives, while the nostalgia play is strong with Disney’s Halloween Treat VHS and a box of 1990 Gremlins 2 cards. For the offbeat historian, a 1949 Edgar Allan Poe stamp sheet makes for an oddly perfect seasonal display. And because it’s never too early, Topps Holiday cards round out the list, with a nod to Topps Chrome Labubu, still puzzling collectors everywhere.