Finding Value in the Ty Cobb T205 Issue

 Triple SSS Sports Cards is a Detroit company with a nationwide presence at card shows and an inventory of graded rookies and stars spanning the major professional sports. Maintaining an extensive selection of vintage cards, the Triple SSS Sports Cards team is knowledgeable about baseball legends such as Ty Cobb.

A Sports Collectors’ Daily article brought focus to seemingly minor distinctions between Ty Cobb’s T205 and T206 cards that can have an outsized impact on value. The T206 is a classic tobacco card set, with single cards distributed as freebies with early 20th century packs of tobacco, similar to Cracker Jack toys. Cobb cards from the set in any kind of gradable condition fetch at least a couple thousand dollars. The 524-card T206 set, printed between 1909 and 1911, actually has four Cobb card variations. The T206 Cobb card with the most-desired green background variation starts at $5,000 or more.

With only 208 cards, the 1911 T205 set has fewer Cobbs. This relative rarity is reflected in the grading “pop” report. Although more than 1,000 of the green-background Cobb cards are graded by PSA (a sports card grading company that assigns numerical grades from 1 to 10, depending on card condition), fewer than 700 of the T205 have been PSA graded. This does not reflect in the price, with T205s selling in the moderate $2,000 range. Collectors, who may remember a few years back when T206 Cobbs were available for under $1,000, could potentially profit by seeking out this less-heralded classic Ty Cobb tobacco issue.

Card Traders Are Starting to Consider Lacrosse Cards

 Triple SSS Sports Cards specializes in selling pre-1975 investment quality sports trading cards. Established in 2000 by business partners Mike and Mark Skerbe, Triple SSS Sports Cards maintains a third-party-graded inventory of sports trading cards, such as basketball, baseball, football, and hockey, as well as non-sports trading cards.

The sports trading cards industry is re-shaping, considering card traders are becoming interested in other sports, such as lacrosse. It is noticeable that lacrosse is recognized as the oldest sport in the US and America’s fastest-growing sport in the last 15 years, according to a study by the NCAA. The previous two years have witnessed several important lacrosse events, which indicate that lacrosse is slowly becoming a popular spectator and participation sport.

The first and oldest lacrosse card was released in 1878 by the Huntley and Palmers Biscuit Company. The card, a part of a 12-card multi-sport set, is a colored lithographic depiction of a lacrosse game. Since then, there were no known releases of lacrosse cards until 2021, when a 55-card set featured professional lacrosse players from the 2021 season of the Premiere Lacrosse League (PLL). The set was called the 2021 Topps PLL First Edition Set.

In 2022, Topps issued two new sets of lacrosse cards: the Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse, the first women’s set released by Topps, and the PLL Holiday Edition. After the release of the three Topps lacrosse trading cards, the industry has observed a surging interest in lacrosse cards. Industry insiders say that lacrosse cards may be considered an emerging market in sports card trading.

Prizm Becomes Panini’s Flagship Chrome NBA Product

 Triple SSS Sports Cards is a Detroit, Michigan, company that offers a full range of graded cards spanning the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. With the Triple SSS Sports Cards team regularly traveling to card shows across the country, they stock cards from in-demand sets such as Prizm.

One of Panini's established chromium stock basketball brands, Prizm, followed in Topps Chrome's footsteps, introduced in the late 1990s as a companion to traditional cardboard stock issues with the same design. It ultimately became the most sought-after rookie issue of stars such as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.

Following the 2009-10 season, which featured Topps Chrome rookies of Steph Curry and James Harden, Topps lost its license to produce NBA cards. Its successor Panini released the first Prizm set in 2012 and brought back the iconic chrome look with an updated format. Also introduced was the concept of “silver” short-printed cards (similar to chrome refractors of the Topps era) and other short-printed variations, such as gold issues serial numbered to 10.

Today, with dozens of sets produced by Panini throughout a single season, Prizm retains its status as the must-have product for hobby collectors. Examples of high-end Prizm sales on eBay in late 2022 include a 2017-18 Jayson Tatum Orange Prizm rookie /49, graded PSA 10, for $19,999, and a 2013-14 Green Prizm rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, graded BGS 10, for $15,600.

The 2022 National Sports Collectors Convention Exceeded Expectations

 Headquartered in Shelby Charter Township, Michigan, Triple SSS Sports Cards sells various vintage sports collectibles online. The company also deals in collectible cards at conventions. In the summer of 2022, representatives of Triple SSS Sports Cards attended the 42nd National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Although the NSCC is always a top draw for collectors and industry professionals, the 2022 event was among the most successful since the first NSCC in 1980. NSCC officials said the 2022 gathering “exceeded all expectations.”

The 42nd NSCC attracted more than 60,000 attendees, manufacturers, exhibitors, and licensors. This high number of participants made the 42nd NSCC the second largest in history and the largest since 1991.

Further, NSCC reports the sale of all available dealer booths and a record-breaking number of attendee VIP packages. WPG Talk Radio confirms that “crowds were enthusiastic and large” during all five days of the 42nd NSCC.