The sports card boom of the early 2020s created a wave of hysteria, leading to some outright crazy price tags on some cards.
But as with any market driven by hype, not every card held its value. In fact, some saw jaw-dropping losses in just a few short years.
Here are 10 cards that collectors lost big money on. The losses get bigger as we go down the list. Beware, some are the sort of horror stories you’d expect to hear around a campfire.
10 Terrible Sports Card Buys
2018 Panini Prizm World Cup Kylian Mbappe #80 (PSA 10)
Soccer cards gained a lot of new attention during the sports card boom of the early 2020s, and no player rode the wave of hype more so than Kylian Mbappe—he was the sports’ brightest young talent.
In 2020, a collector got a bit too carried away and paid $5,000 for a PSA 10 copy of his base 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup rookie card. Given the commonality of the base version, it was a questionable purchase to say the least.
While Mbappe has established himself as one of the world’s top players, the value of the base Prizm rookie was unlikely to stay anywhere near that value, even graded PSA 10. A general market cool-off also contributed to a drop in value.
By 2024, the card sold for as low as $42 in a PSA 10 grade.
🔻 Loss: $4,958
📉 Percentage Drop: 99.2%
2019 Bowman Chrome Autograph Orange Refractor Wander Franco #CPAWF (BGS 9.5)
Here’s another good example of when prospecting goes horribly wrong. Prices of Wander Franco’s rookie cards ran up as the hype around his status as a top prospect took hold.
The values of Franco’s cards basically tanked overnight with the news of the serious legal issues he faced off-field—a nightmare for any collector who’d poured money into his cards.
You have to feel for the collector who paid $90,000 for a BGS 9.5 graded copy of his 2019 Bowman Chrome Autograph Orange Refractor (/25) in 2022, because by late 2023 a copy of the card in the same grade sold for $2,070.
🔻 Loss: $87,930
📉 Percentage Drop: 97.7%
2002-03 Panini Mega Craques Cristiano Ronaldo #137 (PSA 10)
At one point, this 2003 Panini Mega Craques Cristiano Ronaldo rookie card was the holy grail of modern soccer cards.
Its downfall can’t be attributed to failed potential because he was already a global icon and established as one of the greatest players of all time when a collector paid $312,000 for a PSA 10 graded copy of the card in 2021, during the sports card boom.
The market cooled, and by 2023, the same card sold for just $60,000—a brutal correction for the collector who bought at the peak.
🔻 Loss: $252,000
📉 Percentage Drop: 80.8%
2019-20 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph Gold Zion Williamson #108 (BGS 9)
When Zion entered the NBA, the hobby crowned him the next superstar—and prices reflected that. Perhaps no player is more symbolic of the hysteria over sports card speculating during the pandemic.
A Gold parallel RPA from National Treasures (/10) fetched $269,500 in 2021, driven by his raw talent and massive marketability.
But injuries, conditioning concerns, and inconsistent performance dragged values down fast. In 2023, the same card sold for just $66,000—it would likely be even less today.
🔻 Loss: $203,500
📉 Percentage Drop: 75.5%
1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan #57 (PSA 10)
Even the most iconic basketball card of all time wasn’t immune to the hobby’s market correction.
During the peak of the 2021 boom, PSA 10s of Michael Jordan’s Fleer rookie were selling for as much as $738,000. While that number raised eyebrows, collectors believed it was the true grail.
But as the bubble burst, values dropped significantly. By 2023, PSA 10 copies were selling for as low as $130,000—a steep fall, even for the GOAT, and a sobering reality for the collector who paid the $738k.
🔻 Loss: $608,000
📉 Percentage Drop: 82.4%
2018-19 Panini National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph Emerald Luka Doncic #127 (BGS 9)
Luka Doncic is often referred to as Luka Magic by his fans, but there’s nothing magic about the steep drop in the value of his Emerald parallel National Treasures Rookie Patch Autograph card (/5).
A collector made a big bet on Luka and shelled out $900,000 for a BGS 9 graded copy of the card in 2022, but by 2024 it sold for $158,600 in the same grade—a rough hit in less than two years.
🔻 Loss: $741,400
📉 Percentage Drop: 82.4%
2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Rookie Patch Autograph LeBron James #78 (BGS 9)
The NBA card nightmares continue, with one of the most sought-after modern basketball cards ever made.
LeBron’s Exquisite RPA was once the face of the ultra-high-end market. A BGS 9 copy of the base version (/99) sold for $1,200,000 in 2021, at peak hype.
But market forces and collector fatigue hit even the King. By 2024, that exact card sold for $292,800, reflecting a massive $900K+ loss for that unfortunate collector.
🔻 Loss: $907,200
📉 Percentage Drop: 75.6%
1996-97 Topps Chrome Refractors Kobe Bryant #138
This is widely considered the best rookie card of one of the NBA’s greatest ever players, and one of the most sought-after cards of the 1990s.
The Refractor parallel of Kobe Bryant‘s ’96-’97 Topps Chrome card is quite rare, but it becomes extremely scarce for copies graded a BGS 10 Black Label—only 2 exist.
One collector deemed one of those two copies valuable enough to spend $1,752,000 on it in 2021. However, just 18 months later, that same card was sold for $795,000.
At the time of the sale, it actually set the record for the most money ever lost on a single sports card.
🔻 Loss: $957,000
📉 Percentage Drop: 54.62%
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 (PSA 8)
Even arguably the most iconic sports card of all time isn’t always a safe bet.
Mickey Mantle’s ‘52 Topps card is considered to be the holy grail by many, but it’ll leave a sour taste for the collector who paid $2,112,000 for a PSA 8 graded copy of it in 2021, only to see a copy in the same grade sell for $972,000 just two years later.
A drop of over $1 million, despite the card’s significance in the hobby.
🔻 Loss: $1,140,000
📉 Percentage Drop: 53.98%
2000 Contenders Rookie Ticket Auto Tom Brady #144 (PSA 10)
If ever you’re having a bad day, spare a thought for the collector who lost over two and a half million dollars on a single card.
Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and his Contenders rookie auto was the crown jewel of modern football cards.
At the 2021 peak, one PSA 10 copy sold for a mind-blowing $2,880,000. But just two short years later, another PSA 10 changed hands for only $289,000.
🔻 Loss: $2,591,000
📉 Percentage Drop: 89.96%
