NEW YORK (AP) — A mint situation Mickey Mantle baseball card offered for $12.6 million Sunday, blasting into the document books as probably the most ever paid for sports activities memorabilia in a market that has grown exponentially extra profitable lately.

The uncommon Mantle card eclipsed the document simply posted a couple of months in the past — $9.3 million for the jersey worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the contentious “Hand of God” aim in soccer’s 1986 World Cup.

It simply surpassed the $7.25 million for a century-old Honus Wagner baseball card lately offered in a personal sale.

And simply final month, the heavyweight boxing belt reclaimed by Muhammad Ali throughout 1974′s “Rumble within the Jungle” offered for almost $6.2 million.

All are a part of a booming marketplace for sports activities collectibles.

Costs have risen not only for the rarest gadgets, but in addition for items which may have been gathering mud in garages and attics. A lot of these gadgets make it onto shopper public sale websites like eBay, whereas others are put up for bidding by public sale homes.

Due to its near-perfect situation and its legendary topic, the Mantle card was destined to be a high vendor, mentioned Chris Ivy, the director of sports activities auctions at Heritage Auctions, which ran the bidding.

Some noticed collectibles as a hedge towards inflation over the previous couple years, he mentioned, whereas others rekindled childhood passions.

Ivy mentioned savvy traders noticed inflation coming down the street — because it has. In consequence, sports activities memorabilia grew to become an alternative choice to conventional Wall Avenue investments or actual property — notably amongst members of Technology X and older millennials.

“There’s solely a lot Netflix and ‘Tiger King’ folks may watch (in the course of the pandemic). So, , they had been getting again into hobbies, and clearly sports activities gathering was part of that,” mentioned Ivy, who famous an uptick in calls amongst potential sellers.

Add to that curiosity from rich abroad collectors and you’ve got a confluence of things that made sports activities collectibles particularly enticing, Ivy mentioned.

“We’ve form of began seeing some development and a few rise within the costs that led to some media protection. And I believe all of it all of it simply form of constructed upon itself,” he mentioned. “I’d say the start of the pandemic actually added gasoline to that fireplace.”

Earlier than the pandemic, the sports activities memorabilia market was estimated at greater than $5.4 billion, in accordance with a 2018 Forbes interview with David Yoken, the founding father of Collectable.com.

By 2021, that market had grown to $26 billion, in accordance with the analysis agency Market Decipher, which predicts the market will develop astronomically to $227 billion inside a decade — partly fueled by the rise of so-called NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that are digital collectibles with distinctive data-encrypted fingerprints.

Sports activities playing cards have been particularly in demand, as folks spent extra time at house and a possibility arose to rummage by way of potential treasure troves of childhood reminiscences, together with outdated comedian books and small stacks of bubble gum playing cards that includes marquee sports activities stars.

That lure of being profitable on one thing that may be sitting in a single’s childhood basement has been irresistible, in accordance with Stephen Fishler, founding father of ComicConnect, who has watched the rising rise — and profitability — of collectibles being traded throughout public sale homes.

“In a nutshell, the world of recent sports activities playing cards has been going bonkers,” he mentioned.

The Mantle baseball card dates from 1952 and is extensively considered one in all only a handful of the baseball legend in near-perfect situation.

The public sale netted a good-looking revenue for Anthony Giordano, a New Jersey waste administration entrepreneur who purchased it for $50,000 at a New York Metropolis present in 1991.

“As quickly because it hit 10 million I simply turned in. I couldn’t maintain my eyes open anymore,” Giordano, 75, mentioned Sunday morning. His sons monitored the public sale for him. “They stayed up and known as me this morning vibrant and early to inform me that it reached the place it reached.”

The cardboard was one in all dozens of sports activities collectibles up for public sale. In all, the gadgets raked in some $28 million, in accordance with Derek Grady, the manager vp of sports activities auctions for Heritage Auctions.

“Sports activities collectibles are lastly getting their due as an funding,” Grady mentioned. “The perfect sports activities gadgets are actually beginning to rival art work, uncommon cash and uncommon artifacts as an ideal funding car.”

The switch-hitting Mantle was a Triple Crown winner in 1956, a three-time American League MVP and a seven-time World Sequence champion. The Corridor of Famer died in 1995.

“Some folks may say it’s only a baseball card. Who cares? It’s only a Picasso. It’s only a Rembrandt to different folks. It’s a factor of artwork for some folks,” mentioned John Holden, a professor in sports activities administration regulation at Oklahoma State and newbie sports activities card collector.

Like items of artwork that haven’t any intrinsic worth, he mentioned, in terms of sports activities playing cards, the price is within the eye of the beholder — or the pocketbook of the potential bidder.

“The worth,” Holden mentioned, “is regardless of the market’s prepared to assist.”

Comply with Bobby Caina Calvan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BobbyCalvan