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For over 75 years, Topps has dominated the card manufacturing industry and propelled the card-collecting hobby into its modern glory. Still, up-and-coming hobbyists often ask, “What is Topps?” 

Without overstating, one could confidently identify Topps as the most iconic card manufacturer worldwide. As monetary proof, the highest-value trading card ever sold at auction was a $12.6 million Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card (SGC MT 9.5) — recently, in August 2022.

To explain the history of Topps and its transformation from a humble, penny-apiece gum company into a modern trading card giant, we’ll walk you through the company’s history from inception to modern-day.

For both novice and experienced collectors, the sports card grading process often remains a mystery. Unlike other areas of consumer interest, the card grading industry hasn’t seen much computer automation — with a few exceptions. Sports card grading involves highly trained experts with an eye for finding near-invisible defects in virtually any brand of card.

The truth is that the sports card grading process is more complex than some people may believe. To help you, we’ll guide you through the card grading process and how to get your sports cards graded. (Plus, we’ll explain why it’s so expensive to do so.)

Sports card grading began in the early 90s, with Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) becoming one of the first card grading businesses. Others like Beckett Grading Service (BGS), Sports Guaranty Company (SGC), and Certified Sports Guaranty (CSG) soon followed. They grade sports cards to certify their condition, authenticity, and value.

If you have a stack of trading cards you’ve been hanging on to, you may have thought about having them graded to certify their condition and value. If not, or you’ve never heard of sports card grading, this article is for you!

“Antique,” “retro,” and “vintage memorabilia” are words frequently used interchangeably to say an object or item possesses value because of its age and rarity. The truth is, each of these words means different things. We’ll go into detail as to what each means and provide examples.

Whether it’s the 1980s or more recent years, we’ve seen massive booms in popularity for various sports and gaming card packs. When those trading card packs are in high demand, some people will do whatever it takes to find the highest-valued cards — often, by unethical means.

We want to teach collectors about the junk card phenomenon and why a vast majority of sports cards from the 1980s and ‘90s have almost no monetary value in today’s collectibles market.

In the collecting industry, authenticity is king. Whether you’re looking to buy sports cards or to collect a piece of memorabilia, there’s nothing more important than the authenticity of your purchase...

When sports card collecting erupted in the 1990s, traders and collectors needed a way to guarantee their investments remained valuable. To that end, third-party agencies were formed to determine the authenticity and quality of individual sports cards...

Shopping for memorabilia online has become both increasingly popular and significantly more difficult due to misconceptions around the distinction of memorabilia versus collectibles...