An insane amount of news has broken over the last 10 days within the collecting landscape. So we wanted to use this weeks Shiny Thing$, the 137th installment, to give you the rundown from around the alt asset universe. 👇

A $25M card no one knew existed.

It’s estimated that around 50 total 1909 T206 Honus Wagner cards exist. The majority of those are accounted for, and the population doesn’t often change. But a newly discovered Wagner estimated to be worth $25 million made headlines on Netflix's "King of Collectibles" this past week. The card, graded SGC 5, was hidden in a safety deposit box for decades before emerging. This is the first “new” Wagner to come to emerge in over a decade. Even crazier, this is the owner’s second T206 Wagner. Read more…

LeBron is still King.

On the heels of “The King Collection” on Rally (a set of 10 LeBron James game worn jerseys from his tenure on the Lakers), Thursday night’s NBA Auction via Sotheby’s saw a huge result with a $180,000 sale of LeBron’s all-time minutes played Lakers jersey - easily surpassing the $50K-$70K estimate. With over 100 jerseys available in the 6/20 "City & Icon Capsule" auction, results were strong with 8 individual pieces selling for 5-figures. Read more…

The newest tech A-Lister.

With a nearly 40% return just over the last month alone, chip/AI computing company Nvidia passed Apple and Microsoft to take the throne as the most valuable company in the world, surpassing the 3 trillion dollar market cap earlier this week. In the process, CEO Jensen Huang is well on his way to becoming a tech superstar the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Much like any A-List celeb, Huang’s autograph has become highly soughtafter, but is nearly impossible to find on the open market. With Jobs and Gates autographs becoming increasingly rare and passing the 6-figure mark in some cases, it may just be a matter of time before we find a Jensen-Huang-worn leather jacket or signed magazine at auction. In the meantime, the asking price for the 2021 Time on which he graced the cover is currently listed on eBay for $250. Read more…

Shakespeare, for everyone.

The Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill reopened this week following a four-year, $80.5 million renovation. The most important piece in the new exhibit: 82 copies of Shakespeare’s “First Folio,” printed in 1623, which are together on public display for the first time ever. In addition to the First Folio, which was collected just after Shakespeare’s death and previously was only available to scholars, the Library contains over 100,000 objects, ranging from paintings, to props, and costumes associated with the works. Read more…

Nothin but a $G thing.

In a sale through the new cultural memorabilia marketplace “The Realest,” Snoop Dogg auctioned off a half-smoked blunt from his personal collection. With a final closing bid of $4,765, the blunt, “preserved in resin on Snoop’s personal ashtray to display for eternity” is amongst one of the most expensive half-smoked items ever sold, falling a bit below the record $12,262 sale of a Winston Churchill cigar. Whether or not the blunt contained any remnant marijuana, and as such, would violate Federal law if shipped across state lines is still TBD. Read more…

Until Next Week…