The Weekly Rip 2.23.25 [unexplainable]
We explore the 2013 Prizm Jordy Nelson Finite 1/1 sale from eBay and why we can't even begin to explain why things in the hobby happen the way that they do.
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The Weekly Rip
Your Stacking Slabs Sunday Update
February 23, 2025
The Hobby is rarely straightforward.
Earlier this week, I was scrolling through my saved searches like I always do.
Most of the time, it’s routine, checking for cards on my radar, seeing what’s ending soon, keeping tabs on market trends. But every once in a while, something jumps out.
This time, it was a 2013 Prizm Jordy Nelson Black Finite 1/1.
I love Finite parallels. Always have. There’s something about a true one-of-one that feels different from every other type of rarity. And while I wasn’t planning on bidding, I was curious. Jordy Nelson isn’t a Hall of Famer, but he’s a Green Bay Packers legend. Packers collectors are as aggressive as any fan base in the hobby. I knew this card would get attention, but I wasn’t sure how much.
I hit the watch button and moved on.
When the auction ended, I had to double-check the price.
$4,250.
That made it the most expensive Jordy Nelson card of all time.
Not a rookie card. Not his 2008 Chrome Superfractor /10. A 2013 Prizm parallel.
If you had asked me to predict his highest-selling card, this wouldn’t have even been in my top five guesses. And yet, here it was.
This is where collectors start asking, How did this happen?
We want everything to make sense. We want clear data, logical comparisons, and explanations that fit into a formula. But the truth is, this hobby doesn’t always work like that.
Maybe the winning bidder had been chasing this card for a decade.
Maybe two passionate Packers collectors went head-to-head, neither willing to back down.
Maybe someone had a big sale of their own and had money to burn.
Without talking to the bidders, we’ll never know. And that’s what makes the hobby exciting.
We can analyze past Finite sales. We can look at what other Packers legends’ top cards have sold for. We can compare this to similar players. But at the end of the day, sometimes a card sells for what it sells for simply because two people wanted it badly enough.
And when a big sale like this happens, there’s always a ripple effect.
Other sellers will take this number and use it as justification for their own listings. Suddenly, more Jordy Nelson cards will pop up with inflated Buy It Now prices.
But that’s not how it works.
One auction doesn’t reset the market. One person’s willingness to pay a record price doesn’t mean everyone else will follow.
The best thing we can do as collectors is accept that we won’t always know why a sale played out the way it did. The hobby isn’t always logical, and it isn’t meant to be.
Sometimes, it surprises us.
And that’s what makes it fun.
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