Transcript

Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week

From Collector Nation · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 20 min · 3,635 words · 76 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week", an episode of Collector Nation published December 12, 2025 (20 min, about 3,635 words). It mentions 8 people, works and ideas, including Lux, Lodex, V friends, Ken Griffy Jr., Chipper Jones.

What this episode is about

Recent surges in the market prices for trading cards, including a notable comeback for Ken Griffey Jr.'s rookie card, have caught the attention of collectors, reflecting the fluctuating dynamics of the hobby. The discussion also highlights the impact of prominent figures like Gary Vaynerchuk in driving interest and engagement in the trading card space.

Key takeaways

  • The rise and fall of card prices mirrors our collective nostalgia—after all, who doesn't want a piece of childhood?
  • Gary Vee hit 1 million V friends scans, proving that even in collectibles, community thrives over mere currency.
  • From pandemic lows to market highs, card trading reflects our economic rollercoaster—fasten your seatbelt!
  • In a world of digital noise, trading cards remind us that the tangible still holds value and heart.
  • Behind every card, there's a story—collectibles unite us far beyond their price tags, fostering shared memories.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Ken Griffy Jr., V friends, Chipper Jones, Ronald Akuna Jr.
  2. – 10:00: V friends, Andy Cranic
  3. – 15:00: Burbank California
  4. – 20:00: Lodex

Notable quotes from "Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week"

  • We actually just scanned our millionth V friends card.
    about V friends · at
  • Metrics. it's it's a it's really just a da big data company and that data comes to me and I process it as good as I can and then I make a decision. But yeah, it's it's a.
    about Lux · at
  • Chipper. I got freaking Ronald Akuna Jr. behind me, you know? Least you can do is send me Chipper Jones, you know?
    about Ronald Akuna Jr. · at
  • That's cool. And then Andy Cranic. Is it Cranic?
    about Andy Cranic · at
  • Yes. I heard about this LA sports card burglary. $100,000 worth of Pokemon a sports card stolen from a Burbank California shop.
    about Burbank California · at
  • And then there's a stand from our partners at IPO and it just takes the best pictures. you can go to our website alux.com to check it out. We do we are doing pre-orders…
    about Lodex · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Ken Griffy Jr. — Person · Referenced athlete (card market example) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as a concrete example of vintage/nostalgia-driven card pricing via the Upper Deck rookie card market swings.
    2500 as of I don't know 6 months ago and now suddenly it's back up to like five six grand again. The Ken Griffy Jr. Upper Deck rookie. Would you spell them though?
  • Chipper Jones — Person · Referenced athlete (personal collection / fandom) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a valuable pull found in storage and as a point of personal fandom (Braves) between the speakers.
    One was Jordan Beam Team and then one was Chipper Jones out of 98.
  • Andy Cranic — Person · Referenced executive (VeeFriends/Vayner ecosystem) · 1 mention · first at
    Brought up as a person the hosts like and identify as a president; tied to the Gary Vee/VeeFriends discussion thread.
  • Ronald Akuna Jr. — Person · Referenced athlete (background/fandom signal) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a visual/background reference (a Braves-related display) reinforcing the speaker’s Braves fandom while discussing Chipper Jones.

Companies & orgs

  • Lux — Company · Business focus · 2 mentions
    Central company discussed in the podcast, involved in trading cards and collectibles technology

Products & tech

  • Lodex — Product · Business focus · 1 mention · first at
    Product developed by Lux, mentioned as a key technology in the hobby tech space
  • V friends — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a successful product in the collectibles space, with a milestone of one million scans

Places & events

  • Burbank California — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the location of a sports card burglary, highlighting issues in the collectibles industry

Full transcript with timestamps

We actually just scanned our millionth V friends card. That's awesome. Congrats Gary Vee and uh team, you made it. Gary's Gary and I got you know people that try to hate on him was just oh so annoying. Have you seen the market for this guy? That's

so weird was talking about that in the office like pandemic 6 grand went back to like 2500 as of I don't know 6 months ago and now suddenly it's back up to like five six grand again. The Ken Griffy Jr. Upper Deck rookie. Would you spell them though?

Uh, I wouldn't because of nostalgia probably. Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Calling Bluffs and going inside the hobby, are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles here on the Radcast Network. Ryan and Brian coming to you for our weekly Friday edition of the show. What's up, Brian?

Oh, in on nothing, you know, just a just a normal week of uh converting to a C corp, moving uh you know, among holidays. So, it's just really just pretty normal around here.

How about you? How's it going in your end? Uh, you know, just relaxing, remodeling still a little bit. Um,

unwinding two companies, starting three others, uh, sharing, you know, four other ideas with you. Um, filing paperwork for the end of the year for taxes, and, uh, I feel like that's about a third of it.

Yeah, that's what you can remember. That's what I can remember. No, man. Hey, thankful. It's been a good year. A weird It's been a strange year in some ways, but it's it's it's all good. Happy, healthy, family's good. Trade you. Most of the cards I've bought are up. So,

that's all that matters. That's all that really matters at the end of the day. I mean, kids are great. You could always have another one, you know.

Exactly. Um, what see? I mean talk a little bit about the business like you know we talk about the functional things at Lux and I know you do some of the behind the scenes but you know running a a company of at your scale in the hobby with all the players you're talking with and the partnerships I mean what's happening behind the scenes?

I mean it's like it's it's it's one of those things where every day you come in here and there's always something different. Um, and there's always a challenge, but there's always, you know, there's good things. You get some wins once in a while, but my day is meetings and meetings and then partnership meetings and then more meetings. I think last week I was in meetings for 31 hours. And I don't I don't I don't waste time in meetings. I'm like, "All right, guys. What do you got for me?" But it's marketing, it's it's branding,

um, it's customer acquisition. um metrics. I mean, it's it's a it's really just a da big data company and that data comes to me and I process it as good as I can and then I make a decision. But yeah, it's uh it's a little bit of everything, man.

Uh yes. And then just tracking all the card movement, you know, and like all that. Have you done anything with the storage units?

No. I was there last weekend though and I found two um inserts, 90 inserts. Uhhuh.

One was Jordan Beam Team and then one was Chipper Jones out of 98. And each of those cards are worth like raw 3400.

Chipper. I'm a Braves fan, dude. Chipper. I mean, I got I got freaking Ronald Akuna Jr. behind me, you know? Least you can do is send me Chipper Jones, you know?

Yeah. Just make me an offer. I'll get you. I'll give you uh what what's here? Oh, I'll get you.

Speaking of this, have you seen the market for this guy? That's weird. Was talking about that in the office.

Yeah, it's like it was like, you know, a couple like pandemic six grand went back to like 2500 as of I don't know, six months ago. And now suddenly it's back up to like five six grand again. The Ken Griffy Jr. Upper deck rookie. This one's only a seven.

Yeah, but the 10 the tens are going for Yeah. Yeah. I mean, would you sell them though?

The 10? Uh, I wouldn't because of nostalgia. Probably in the storage unit. I found 30 of those.

King Griffy Juniors 10 or just ungraded? Ungraded. Raw. Did they look good? No, I looked at I took like five and this was a while ago. So, this is last year when I found them and it was $2,500 and I was like, you know, I doubt there's a 10 here. So, I have to go back there and pull them back out. Uh, there's a whole binder of every rookie card. Collectibles.show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at.show. We want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value.

Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the value. It's about what you're collecting. What means something to you. Share a story. Share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week that was your favorite player and you nailed it. So, case hits at collectibles.show. Send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in where we share that on the show with us. We want to feature you on Collectibles show.

We actually just scanned our millionth V friends cart. Oh, that's awesome. Hey, congrats. Congrats, Gary Vee and uh team 1 million scans. Hey, you you made it.

We're going to give uh we're going to find out who that person was who scanned the millionth card. And uh I have a couple V friendrand cards that Gary gave me that I'll give it to that guy.

That's cool. And then Andy Cranic. Is it Cranic? Cran. Andy. I like this the president.

Good guy. You got him on the show. Yeah, I like those guys. I mean, you know, Gary's Gary and I gota, you know, like if you got I think you're just looking for a fight for a fight like if or like to just be disgruntled like if you really dislike Gary like is he my cup of tea every day? Like no. But I respect the hell out of him like and have no problems with him. It's more just am I, you know, it's kind of like am I ready to turn that program on? It's not always, you know, I don't need Gary to remind me some I probably should have been doing.

Like it's more that than anything. It's more me than Gary. Uh but to but people that try to hate on him is just oh so annoying. And like I get why it's easy to like look when you're successful and you talk and you've been in front of the camera for 10 years. You get people get fatigued, but don't get it confused. Dude's running around people. He's balling

big time. What's going on this week? Well, we got some movers, I'm sure, in the weekly card market and the Lux scans. What's happening? I think Yeah, these don't surprise me. Let's see.

Let's see. I mean, finally Drake May is not in there. Yep. He was like four four weeks in a row. He was a top guy. Okay.

There's two of these guys that kind of surprised me and one that should not after his week last week, his first breakout game. So,

Shadore Shadore. So, his downtown uh PSA 10 was traded 1,200 bucks end of uh November and now it traded $2,000 um now and scans have increased by 34%. The second one is so situational because Daniel Jones went down and they got to go find a quarterback and they find Philip Rivers. I mean, Philip Rivers comes back and he's a 41% scan rate. um his uh PSA is 20 2,0004 tops PSA 10 is up uh from 160 to 210 and then this last one he's 5 years after Philip River started and he's still playing at a higher

level. Yep. Stafford 31%. Okay. And then on the fallers we have one faller and it's the mirror image of Philip Rivers.

So yeah, the other Daniel the other side of the coin. Yeah. I mean, his his stuff's almost down 50%. It's 50 time.

Yeah. From a 250 uh 2019 Panini Silver Prism PSA 10 250 to 132. I mean, at 100, you got to buy it.

Yes, I would agree. So, uh, Otani oneof1 logo man is already at over a million bucks on auction. Is it now it's going to set the record for highest ultramodern card sale?

Wow. Wow. A million bucks for a single card out of like 20 to 20 25 tops. I think

that's amazing. Good for that person. I mean, it's crazy that I guess in theory. I don't know. I'd like to know sometimes what what these cards came out of. I mean, a lot of times they're breaks out of, you know, expensive hobby boxes. But sometimes sometimes you go to Asheville Brian Asheville North Carolina on a couple's retreat and you go into the shittiest card shop you've ever seen and you buy five packs of Don Russ and you go back to the room and everybody goes to sleep and you start going through the second pack in your boxers, your wife's snoring and the fourth, fifth, sixth card is gold.

It's Josh Allen out of five. Come on. Yeah. $5,000 Josh Allen. This was exactly a uh it's it'll be a year ago in January that I did that.

That's why going to marriage That's why going to marriage weekends that works. Everybody's asleep. And I was like doing a the silent yell dance going no way. I was like unbelievable. gold uh downtown Josh Allen out of five out of a

I think the moral of the story the moral of the story is go to marriage counseling weekends and just buy a bunch of stuff and your marriage is perfect.

Yes. Uh and uh and he's my favorite player chances. I mean unbelievable. It's a good story and it's true. Uh

what's that card worth now? It's it's I think it's five to 10. I mean like it's it's been it's so rare. It's like what's somebody willing to pay?

Yeah. Make an offer someone out there. Yeah. You won't sell it. No. You don't sell

Mm-m. Well, not stuff I like. I mean, I got Everybody needs to come to the store. You're going to see some fun stuff. Unfortunat I'm going to put some of my collection out that's not for sale. It's fun to look at. You know, you can hold it. Um you don't mind me holding my gun. Just kidding. Just joking. We got cameras and insurance.

Museum pieces. Museum pieces. But no, that's a good story there, dude. The biggest hole in the wall car shop I've ever seen.

That's crazy. That's why I say so great. But look, Brian, I got to tell the rest of the story. Literally, I go in there

and I I was kind of downtown hunting a little bit. No, no, of course I'm realistic. No way I'm getting it right. But the guy in front of me bought everything but the last five packs out of this box. And I was going to buy everything that was left in the box. He bought like 15 packs.

And I'm like counting as he's going through it. I'm like all I did was come in here to buy the rest of that hobby box. It was a hobby box. And he goes he bought 15 ahead of me and I bought the last five.

Cir Guy's life never turned around. He's probably He is probably in a van down by the river,

but no one in the shop. I didn't go back to the shop. I mean, like, I went back to Greenville. I mean, it's an hour and a half away. Like, I didn't go back and go, "Look what I found in your shop." Maybe I should have, but it was more just And I think I actually negotiated the packs, too. Like, I didn't pay full price. You should have given him a rebate. You should have gone back.

Giving him a rebate. I think they he had them like at like $24 a pack or something. I think I got them down to 15. 75 bucks for $5,000 Josh Allen.

Yeah, that shop's probably out of business, you know. Yeah. I don't know. You know,

nice. They were nice people, but it was just dump. I'm just going to stop. I'm not going to name any names. I don't even remember the name. It was, you know, by then we'd had, you know, the afternoon cocktails with all the couples. It was a couple's retreat, you know, getting away, you know.

That was awesome. Don't worry my wife care about that because then when I take her on a couple's retreat, she won't know the the real reason why I'm doing it. It's to buy packs and break up because it works.

Yes. I heard about this LA sports card burglary. $100,000 worth of Pokemon a sports card stolen from a Burbank California shop.

How does Was it like a smash and grab? Do you know? I don't know all the details. All I know is there's I've heard about four or five of these stories. A lot of increase in theft. I'm like, truly, and it's terrible. I mean, I don't You don't want this to happen, but surely you got insurance covering your merchandise. You would hope. I mean, tell me. I mean, I'm new to this, but I mean, I keep insurance on what I own. Like, that could be

most shops. Most of the shops don't have it. Like, at least the ones that I know, um, they did. But I mean, it's not bad.

Yeah. I mean, is it Yeah. First of all, it's very hard to find a a a real company, a carrier that does it.

When they do do it, you have to make sure that your inventory is up to exactly what it is if you want the money back, right? Else it goes under like this umbrella. But at some point, that's why we're Lux. I went to talk to Chub Insurance and I said, "Why don't you use our technology?" And so when you go into these shops or these collectors, you can have a digital receipt and then those guys if they sell the car could take it out and you have a you have your value. Um and they like the idea, but um I got busy. I don't know like they didn't get back to me, but I still like the idea.

Cool, man. Any final thoughts? Anything else happening? I know we've got a few announcements, don't we? Don't we have a new uh you you know there's so many updates to Lux every day. There might be a piece of hardware that uh may or may not be in pre-sale mode.

Yeah, it's uh the Lodox light box and we created it I started it a year ago and it's probably on iteration 20.

Um but it's it's a light box. It takes perfect pictures. You can do penny sleeves. You could do um top loaders. And then there's a stand from our partners at IPO and it just takes the best pictures. Uh you can go to our website alux.com to check it out. We do we are doing pre-orders uh delivery by January 15th. Uh but I I I invented this with a guy from Canada because I just saw the the need for having something at this caliber. Um and hopefully people like it. But yeah. Yeah. So

I used your pre your demo like at the national uh and it worked pretty damn good. I think that was the premodel the whatever you want to call it. And the concept though and it it was getting pretty damn good for a uh a demo model. Uh so I'm sure the final

and it it makes it super fast, dude. It's like you know like scanning them in with the little slide kind of fun too. There's something like I don't know. I was like, "Hey, it's kind of fun." Like sliding the cards in.

It's a cool sound if you do top loaders. Like click. Yeah, I think that's what it was. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like so uh I get so happy when I do it. Yeah, exactly. I think it's the cash register like goinging. You should You should have added a sound effect to the side, you know, like when it goes through.

What you got going on? Oh, you know, get the store up and going. Um, you know, I think we'll announce next week some stuff that you and I have been talking about with the collectibles media and all that. So, we'll we'll save that for next week. But got

the store. You know, my my wife held an event in my store last night before I'd even opened.

You know, she had her Christmas party here. That's cool. So, it went well. No, no cars seem to have walked off the uh and so yeah, man, it's starting to look like a a legitimate spot around here. I'm gonna do some B-roll film for that uh probably over this week. We'll have it for next week and talk about some exciting things Brian and I are talking about in the media space for where and when and how you can watch this show and other shows in the hobby. So, we'll we'll tease that and uh leave it there. Other than that, hoping the Jaguars stay hot. Uh and uh you know, and Josh Allen keeps kicking it.

And the Bears need a a comeback. They need a comeback week. They have to beat Cleveland.

Got to beat Cleveland. Bounce back. You know what the high temperature is going to be on Sunday?

I don't want to know. I remember the high that score might be six to three. [clears throat] two good defenses and uh that's a frozen ball is what that is.

That's honestly like almost too cold for me to go. Almost. Yeah, almost. I just had to drink more beer.

Exactly. Cool, man. Appreciate you as always. You know where to find us. Collectibles.show. You can watch the full episode. You can download content from there. We got the full episodes. We got links to all of LEX's stuff. And want to send a shout out to Jason and Matthew who are here today. Jason's one of my biggest fans from the business show. Jason Center, his dad Matthew's here. We want to thank them for stopping in the studio. We always love it. Hey, they might have got some special stuff. So, hey, give us a shout. We'll come and see us in the studio. And of course, you know where to go. Go to the app store, type ludex.

You're going to get the greatest scanning, trading, digital collection management, everything right there in the app store. No matter where you're at, LED X, changing the game in the hobby tech. We're always changing the game right here. Ryan and Brian are always here for you in the hobby. And we appreciate everyone for listening and we'll see you next time on Trading Call.

Thank you, buddy. Yeah, brother. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Olford. Now get out there and collect yours.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week"?

Ryan Alford (Host), Brian (Host).

What is "Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week" about?

Recent surges in the market prices for trading cards, including a notable comeback for Ken Griffey Jr.'s rookie card, have caught the attention of collectors, reflecting the fluctuating dynamics of the hobby. The discussion also highlights the impact of prominent figures like Gary Vaynerchuk in driving interest and engagement in the trading card space.

What is mentioned in this Collector Nation episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Lux, Lodex, V friends, Ken Griffy Jr., Chipper Jones, Burbank California. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Unexpected Card Price Surges Shake Up The Hobby This Week"?

The episode runs 20 min; the transcript is about 3,635 words in 76 timestamped sections.

More from Collector Nation

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.