The Weekly Rip 2.4.24 [The Return]
The Weekly Rip Newsletter from Stacking Slabs returns after a long hiatus
A big thank you to the Card Ladder team for being the official data sponsor of Stacking Slabs. Their team and product is amazing. If you’re looking to make more data driven collecting decisions make sure you check out Card Ladder.
Welcome back to The Weekly Rip!
The Weekly Rip has been collecting more dust than Sekou Doumbouya base Prizm slabs. I haven’t published anything here since July of 2021! I think about that era of the Hobby a lot. I think a lot about creating content in that era, too. It was such an absurd time that brought absurd people to the front line of our feeds. A large chunk of these people didn’t give a shit about cards. They spent more time perfecting their YouTube thumbnail to be optimal for the algorithms than they did collecting sports cards. Luckily, most of these grifters have come and gone. Their Instagram presence vanished quicker than Sam Bankman-Fried’s moment at the top…can you believe FTX commercials with the players we collect were actually shoved in our face during the Super Bowl?
Here’s the Basketball Index in Card Ladder from 5/1/2020-05/31/22. A +212% rate of growth during that time span isn’t normal and many who bought during that time are still licking their wounds years later. We tend to focus on the highs and lows of the market, but don’t necessarily discuss the opportunity to learn during that era. It was the “What Not To Do Era”.
Things we learned not to do:
Trust people who care more about themselves and the clicks than the cards they’re supposed to be talking about
Buy cards because other people say “It’s a great time to buy that card right now!”
Invest deep pockets in gimmicks like fractional ownership or send our cards to marketplaces where the operators have zero experience on how to run them
We’re still playing clean up after the escape of a contingent of hucksters that left their waste behind, but seems like we’re finally finding balance. Personally, I’ve felt a collector wave forming for the last several months. There’s been a resurgence of collectors sharing their cards and pairing them with stories. Collector focused narrative is what gets me out of bed every morning and it’s what I’ve built the entire Stacking Slabs platform around. The easiest piece of evidence around a desire for more collector focused content and community is the wave of support that I received this week when I opened up the Stacking Slabs Patreon Page. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect out of the gates. I had spent the last 4 years pouring my heart and soul into this passion project and giving it away for free. I’m still stunned that so many of you want more from me and are willing to support that with your Hobby budget. It means a lot and the more support that I get the more I can put into this project. I have deep gratitude for anyone who has listened to an episode, signed up for the group, and even just told a damn friend about the show. It means a ton.
There are moments during our scroll that stop us dead in our tracks. These moments are signals that the collector wave is continuing to build. One of those moments happened to me this week when I saw nuggetscollector1023 post his recent 2022 Prizm Nikola Jokic Gold Prizm. If you scrolled past the post without context you might have recognized that it was a cool card of the NBA’s best active player and moved on to the next post. If you took the time to read the copy and scroll to the next slide you would have noticed that it was more than just a new pick up. It was a moment where a collector proudly shared that a current collection he was building likely just had its biggest moment of the year. It wasn’t just about a new pickup. It was about finding that missing piece of a run. A signal that not only continuity matters, but collecting matters in an era where people are lighting their disposable income on fire by participating in repack product breaks on TikTok full of someone else’s garbage.
These moments matter. I’ll never forget the episode that I did with marinocollector where he mentioned the significance of Gold Prizm runs in this era. He offered context for their popularity, significance, and why chasing them has meant so much for his Marino collecting.
Tim has collected cards over a span of several decades. I’ve always viewed him as a 90s and early 2000s football guy. The last thing that I was expecting was for him to place an ultra modern parallel like Gold Prizm on a pedestal, but that’s what he did. It’s in these moments that we gain new perspectives about certain players, products, and parallels. Also, we begin to understand what cards matter deep in the hearts and minds of collectors.
I think Gold Prizm runs are really freaking cool. They’re challenging. They take endurance. They take the funds. They take patience. It was awesome to nuggetscollector1023’s post to stop me in my tracks this week. It was a moment that reminded me that all of the loud voices will eventually quiet when the new shiny object has lost its luster. When the dust settles the collector will always be there standing tall…just collecting our damn cards.
Your Hobby Community Alternative
The Stacking Slabs Patreon group is live and the response has been awesome.
Collectors are joining to consume exclusive content, connect with other collectors, and promote their cards. I dropped an exclusive episode on defensive players this week for members. Members can expect more data focused, collector content with your membership.
Why Black Refractors are Gateway Refractors with John (@packnicholson)
I’ve never thought about Black Refractors as Gateway Refractors, but that’s how John aka packnicholson describes them on the latest episode of SSP. I always enjoy talking to John about cards and really enjoyed the stories that made up this episode.
Outreach for Cards Doesn’t Need to Be Transactional
Recently, I purchased a Tyrese Haliburton card (will share when it lands) from a collector on Instagram. The collector had no intention of selling it. In fact, I found this card by searching “Tyrese Haliburton” in the Showcase feature of Card Ladder. I reached out to the collector on Instagram and over a month later he decided to sell it to me because he just purchased a big card.
This moment was a reminder to me that we should never treat our communications with other collectors as transactions. It’s always good to plant the seed that you have interest in their cards, but we always have the opportunity to do much more. We all share a similar passion. These are the moments where we start deeper relationships that can lead to more of the right type of cards for our PC. Transactional operating will always lead to transactional results.
The conversations actually led to an interesting question about my Haliburton collecting that got me to think. I will share more on Wednesday’s episode of SSP on the main feed this week.
P.S. If you’re looking for a Haliburton collector to follow check out tyresehaliburtoncollectorph and enjoycards_ig. I’ve had a blast connecting with them and checking out their collections.
P.P.S. Here’s the most impressive Haliburton card post I’ve ever seen by pence.lu from China. It’s only got 60 likes!
A Space for Promoting Auctions
A big part of the new Patreon roll out is creating more opportunity to bring visibility to cards at auction. I’m a big believer in the use of consignors. They alleviate so much work for me, but oftentimes can’t offer the promotional treatment for every card that comes through.
In future Weekly Rips and other SSP channels I’ll be promoting cards listed for auction by members of the Patreon group. I know we’ll have some included next week.
For now, I’ll share one of the cards that I’m letting go of that ends tonight. I want to thank Nic (thewharfsportscards) for helping me get this card on listed.
1998 Fleer Brilliants Gold Peyton Manning Rookie /99 #120 BGS 9 Mint
Hope you enjoyed the return of the Weekly Rip!
Happy collecting,
Brett