After the pandemic-fueled collectibles boom of 2020-21 and the bust of 2022-23, we're starting to see some evidence that the market may finally have hit bottom earlier in 2024 and may have started to turn around.

Let's take a look at the PSA 10 1968 Topps Hank Aaron card that Mile High Card Company sold for a whopping $157,381 on April 14th. This was a huge sale.

Does this sale portend better days ahead?

Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1934, "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron would grow up to become one of the best baseball players of all-time (third only behind only the legendary Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, according to ESPN). While he's most famous for hitting 755 home runs (the most ever not including Barry Bonds steroid-fueled 762 dingers), he was also just a great hitter overall (.305 lifetime average) and fielder (three gold gloves). He was named an All-Star a record 25 times. 25 times!

Aaron's 1968 Topps Card is a fine card, but not among the most sought after?

While Aaron's 1968 Topps card is a very nice card, prior to the sale mentioned above on April 14th, I'm not sure many investors would include it among the pantheon of great Hank Aaron cards (or make a top ten list of best Aaron cards). By 1968, Aaron had played in the league for 14 years and already been featured on many Topps, Bowman, Laughlin and Bazooka cards. His most famous card, recognizable to any card collector, is Aaron's 1954 Topps rookie card (#128). Two days after the Mile High sale, a PSA 7 of Aaron's rookie card sold for $16,500 on eBay.

Still, there is significant demand for this card; as many as four graded copies of it sells on a daily basis on eBay. It's also an affordable card as well; entry-level (i.e., low to mid-grade) copies of this card sell in the $50 to $85 range. Early in 2024, PSA 8s were selling for in the $500 to $600 range, but on April 18th (a few days after Mile High Card Company sold the PSA 10 for $157,381 on April 14th), a PSA 8 sold for $750.

The Mile High Card was only one of five graded a PSA 10.

What makes Mile High's 1968 Topps card special, of course, is its grade: PSA 10. Of the 5,300 copies of this card that PSA has graded, only five of them have received that grade. It's flawless.

Still, even though PSA 10s like the one Mile High sold are exceptionally rare, a sale for $157,381 for this card is an impressive sale nonetheless. Compare this sale to recent sales of PSA 9s. Heritage sold a PSA 9 in September 2023 for $2,340. PWCC sold a similar card a few months earlier in June 2023 for $3,360. While not nearly as rare as the PSA 10, there are only 167 PSA 9s according to PSA's Population Report.

What do you think about this sale? Is it unusually high or about where it should be valued? Please let us know what your opinion is in the comments section below!