Collector Nation - Are Million-Dollar Cards Actually Smart Investments?

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Are million-dollar cards actually smart investments — or just headline fuel? In this episode of Collector Nation, Ryan Alford is joined by Brian Ludden, CEO of Ludex, to unpack what really determines value in the modern collectibles market. From historic vintage cards to today’s hype-driven moments, this conversation cuts through the noise and explains why scarcity, authentication, and long-term demand matter more than viral attention. Ryan and Brian discuss the psychology behind record-breaking sales, why “iconic card” lists spark debate, and how collectors can avoid chasing trends that don’t hold. They also break down why unauthenticated memorabilia can quietly destroy value and how data-backed tools are changing how serious collectors evaluate their collections. This episode is for collectors who want to understand the why behind prices — not just react to them. 👇 Watch to learn Why vintage cards still anchor the market How hype cycles inflate (and deflate) prices What collectors misunderstand about big sales The hidden risks of unauthenticated items How data and transparency are reshaping the hobby SPONSORS  Are you interested in effortlessly growing your bitcoin portfolio?  ↳Gemini Crypto – Gemini.com/card HOST & GUEST INFO Ryan Alford Host, Collector Nation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford Card Shop: thecollectorstation.com  Download The Collector Nation app on Android and IOS Mike Baker Founder, Mike Baker Authentication (MBA) Website: https://mikebakerauthentication.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikebakerauthentication Brian Ludden CEO, Ludex Website: https://www.ludex.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ludexapp Download the LUDEX app on IOS and Android

1909 Honus Wagner for a mere 5.2 million on a, what, PSA 1? Yeah, what do you think of that? It seems like a lot of money to me. Sometimes we throw these numbers around, and I think people get skewed like, oh, $5 billion. That's a lot of damn money for a card. Do you think they make money on that investment? Yeah, I think long term. I think so.

If they don't, you and I are doing the wrong things, right? because it would mean vintage is going down in the long term, like 10 years, 15 years, and that would mean the whole industry probably isn't doing great. It's always going to be a debate. Who are the goats? Who's this? But, like, I look at I kind of like differently. I kind of like the cards that are the test the time.

Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, you take you inside a hobby. Here are your host, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutton. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. It is Friday, February 27th, 2026, our Friday edition. It's going to be a condensed edition today. We got a card show this weekend, folks. Brian, his voice is teetering in and out, but he is, but this is what CEOs do.

They show up, they show up, but they don't feel good. They put in the effort. They rock it. And he is. Ryan Luddon. What's up, Brian? Hey, do, buddy. It's always good seeing you, and I apologize to the audience for my voice.

I'll say less and think more. Luddx is more. There you go. We appreciate Brian for getting on. The voice a little under the weather. I think he's even under the weather, but this is, he's powering through, so you have to listen to yours truly maybe a little bit more than you want. Let's just be honest.

I know how it is. My wife says the same thing. But I'll be honest and say this. I'm just happy to be here. We appreciate you for listening. We know you have options with your attention, and we're proud to be one of them. Hope you enjoyed Tuesday's episode.

Our guest releases are on Tuesday, Brian and Ryan on Friday. Guest was just a little guest. I mean, maybe someone you've heard of, Brian. I don't know. Ken Golden, Golden was on. They just sold the big cards there, right? I know. It was the first story of the day anyway,

but topical. Like we're tying this together, you know, the topical nature and then it's all working together. Yeah, 1909 Honus Wagner that golden closed this past weekend for a mere 5.2 million on a, what, PSA 1? Yeah, what do you think of that? It seems like a lot of money to me. Sometimes we throw these numbers around and I think people get, I don't know, skewed like, oh, 5 million. That's a lot of damn money for a card.

What's the poppy for that? Yeah. One, two, zero. I don't know. You have to worry about scarcity on that one. You think they make money on that investment? Yeah, I think long term. I think so.

I mean, I don't see if they don't, you and I are doing the wrong things. Right? Because it would mean vintage is going down in the long term like 10 years 15 years and that would mean the whole industry probably isn't doing great and i mean that's sort of the shiny example of of vintage and scarcity right yeah i mean i don't personally have a lot of interest in it other than just the news of it i mean i don't know like i don't say whether i could or couldn't afford that but whether i could or not

it wouldn't be like on my list. Yeah, I mean, it's great for the industry. You know, anytime we get headline news like that, even with the Pokemon that, whatever, Paul sold, like that's the industry. It just is. It's going to bring more money. Anyone holds cards they're going to go up.

Anyone who's vintage, it goes up. Anyone with Pokemon, it goes up. So I love the headline news. This industry needs more of it. it is getting a lot, a lot, lot of clickbait for sure. Yeah, Mr. Wonderful's on every other. I mean, I flip, I don't have time like now, you know, like I've had in the past where maybe I'm catching more of the news or watching, you know, news show.

But when I do flip it on, it seems like I randomly catch Mr. Wonderful talking about a card or a story or something. So we're definitely in the mainstream. And, you know, we had a call earlier. I won't name with who. You know, the media is catching on. And I think the brands are catching on and all that. And I think that's great for, I think, the visibility of the hobby overall,

as well as projects that you and I are working on. And so we're thankful to be in it. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun industry. The, uh, we got these in today. These are fun. We ripped these in the story yesterday. V friends, super stickers, spectacular series, hangar packs.

we have those at collector station. Just, you know, there's no shameless plugs on this show. It's just a plug. Oh, I'm getting it. Billah, our very active, very wonderful producer handed me this. So there you have it. You've got two packs in the V-Fren Super Stickers, and they're a fun rip.

They've got some numbered cards. They've got parallels. Gary's doing it right, man. It's, it's, it's, I think they're spanning paths. just kids now. I mean, some of the cards are, they're coming out with new names, different stuff.

It's all, it's fun, though. Yeah, he does it, right. We've talked about that. Yep. He's a, yes. Only behind,

only behind my buddy, Ryan. Yes. Yeah, world class marketers. Gary and Ryan. It's newest agency. Ryan and Gary. I need that.

I'm going to tell them I'm going to go first. Ryan and Gary, R&G. But, uh, I like them because, they have positive messages. They're fun to open. And they lean into everything that's kind of fun about the new, like modern cards, parallels, numbers. Like, they grab your attention. We've got them sitting on the shelf. And I'll say this.

We'll put some of this footage in if you're watching. You get to see it. That's why you got to tune into the YouTube. They look good sitting on the shelf. Like they were sitting over there. We had them kind of as merchandising for the packs. I was like, that's really sharp in the shelf. I think our wonderful executive. producer. Bella is coming back in to actually have them in hand. And you see the colors and the variations lighting, hopefully doing them justice. I mean, this shrewd shark reminded me of you, Brian. Look at that thing. The shrewd shark gets CEO. I'm Brian. I'm eating up all the competition. Oh, and then, oh, I forgot we had this. That's just my, you know, Gary signing my chill-chin-chilla card. You know, the original series.

No big deal. You know what else I like about the V friends is when you ask like a, you know how there's like this cremogen people in every industry? Oh, yeah. Get off my grass. It's like, yes. The Blow Forum,

if you want to like see a bunch of old guys with opinions, like a million opinions, like go to blowout forum and then just put like V friends in there. And you'll just get. Crapping on it, I'm sure. That's not collecting. That sucks.

Like, that's terrible. And I'm like, don't be so offended by it. Like, what are you offended by that? Why does that offend? That's Steph Curry on a V friend sticker. Yeah. You ever heard of him? Maybe you don't like Steph Curry too.

But, you know, like, come on. It'll like anything except what they like. Yeah, no, but that's, that is the crumaging crowd. And it's so funny you bring that up. We were at the National and walking around. And my buddy, Gio, who does. one of the best shows in the hobby, you know, sports card nonsense. We love Gio, Jeremy, all those guys.

So walking around with Gio, and I noticed this too. Gary is on the floor early walking around doing deals. Dude's real. Dude's in the hobby. You can hate him because he's a great self-promoter and he's a great marketer. But the dude's real. He's in it. He knows the culture.

He's studied it. he's been collecting a lot longer than most people that are busting on him. And sure enough, like what you're talking about, we were doing a little promo with Gary and literally guy behind me with a camera, my camera guy was there, we're filming Gary and one of our guys, this guy, like, he's probably like a 25 year old. And he's like live blogging or something. And all he's doing is Rip and Gary. And he's nobody, no, no, no, Wersville, you know, like never heard of, never seen

He's going, yeah, Gary's slipping on these stickers still. Let's see where else, like, he's like live reporting, like just trash talking. And I'm like, dude, do you not have anything better to do? Like, what is the problem? People are the worst. Like, I just don't get it. Like, you just have to have something. You have to have a foil.

You have to have something to hate. That's how it is. I mean, that's how, you know, that's the way it is. There's always a hero. and they're not an enemy or whatever they could. I know. Yeah. I've known Gary a while and even before, you know, I knew him, you know, following and learning of him through social, of course, like 10 years ago.

But now personally knowing him, I don't know many people that are more real than Gary. Like, you know, like, it's, it's, it's, or is smart. Yeah, man. mad respect. I mean, like he just, he does it. Like,

he does it, he says it, he does what you say, says, like mad respect for him. I know. But I love what you guys are, I think y'all are cooking things up together too

with Luddx and different things here and there projects. I've heard you dropping names. Yeah. We got some things spinning up. Yeah. Um, I know you were in Toronto. So,

uh, is that right? or Canada, where were you? You were somewhere for something important. Well, Lodax went international, went to the Toronto show. I did not go up there because I was sick. Well, I say you, I mean, Ludd, I mean, Ryan LuddX, yeah. The community was there.

Community. Dr. Collectible, shout out to him. He gave us some tons of love. My boy Tristan was up there running the booth. Steve Menzzi does an awesome job at the Toronto show. If you guys have not been there, end of April, the Expo in Toronto, that's their national. And if it's anything like what they showed me, it's probably, I mean, 70% hockey, 20% Pokemon and 10% everything else. So it's a show.

I mean, it's like it is an untapped market out there for opportunities. but Steve does a great job. He's up to 10 shows all through the country. I love it. Great. So now we're, yeah, we went international. Canada. Canada. Oh, hey.

Well, I'm sorry we had to beat you in hockey, but we do love you. You're a good ally. I mean, dude, we had no right to beat them. No. No right. Are you kidding me? It's like the Hall of Fame All-Star team in their prime or close to it

versus some decent American guys who I love and respect the hell out of, but let's just be calling what it is, right? They got outplayed like in every aspect of the game, the U.S. And it was just the hot goalie. I guess you run into, same thing, run into a hot pitcher in the World Series. Like, I guess, I don't know hockey that well,

but, like, I don't know, I didn't know that that could change the game that much. Like, that's what happened. And they got a little nervous, but we had no right to win that. But, dang, was it exciting. Yeah, it was exciting. I mean, proud of being American.

Women's and men's for the first time since 80, right? I mean, in some ways, and I know the odds didn't seem, there were nowhere near as the miracle on ice, but in some ways, versus that Canadian team, it feels like another miracle on ice. Yeah, I mean, I thought the odds were even too close when they came out and they played that way. It was like the ice was tilted wherever.

Well, yeah, I mean, the odds were, I don't know, on paper. And again, I'm like, you and I are casual hockey guys. Like, we're not, I'm not a, I'm learning and getting more into it. I'm in the store and look at cards. But I am, I'm a life ball basketball, football, baseball guy growing on the hockey side. So I'm speaking from, you know, lack of knowledge on every part of the game. But on paper, that looked like a bigger mismatch. than maybe the odds were, but I don't know.

But who runs the jerseys? Like, I know upper deck hockey, but who has the Olympic contract? Who has the Nike? I know they had Nike on there. Yeah. Who has that? I don't know. I would imagine.

I thought Upper Deck was, you know, had hockey pretty much cornered on every front. We ripped some Olympic stuff. Yeah. Like, in the Olympics, it was tops. But, like, man, what an opportunity. That's insane. It'll be interesting to watch. What's the halo effect from this, right?

So is it last past like this little buzz here? You've got Upper Deck actually releasing Hockey Blasters this week. So there's short print around it, so smart. Jack Hughes is doing a Tops Now thing. You know, he scored the last point in the game. So they're only available actually through today. So there's a one-of-one auto They should put his teeth

They should put pieces of his teeth in there Yeah Like a like the bat relic It's the teeth relic Tooth relic That's an interesting Like a horror movie The tooth relic

I got the 101 Coming now From tops now We've got the tooth relic Of Jack Hughes But I think it I think it plays out very similar to World Cup.

Like, it gets people excited for a moment, and it will get people excited the next time it happens. And then baseball kicks, opening day starts. Yeah, I mean, is it good for the industry? Yeah, probably. Yeah. But I don't think it's, like, going to, I mean, we saw hockey scans pick up.

There's no question over the weekend. And after that game, but it's still significantly lower than, you know, any other, it's right below magic for us. We need some audience interaction here. We've been, hey, if you're listening and you've been dropping comments, we love you. Keep doing it. I replied to as many as I get to. That is me, Ryan, replying to those, almost every one of them, me or Bella.

And so keep asking, keep asking questions. It shows us that you're listening. Those have been picking up every week. had someone Brian asked, hey, he's trying to talk his parents into getting to the national. And if he gets in, he brought up the logo. I said, look, he's in, Luddux Lounge. We'll at least for one night.

If he makes it there and mentions the show, we'll get him in, right? Yep. One hundred. And then, but I want to get some feedback. Hockey. Are we into it? Are we buying more hockey cards? Are we getting into it?

Love your feedback. You know, inform us, entertain us. Do we have a hockey listening, correct? or excuse me, hockey collecting crowd out there. And we'll take that feedback. Because you can also get feedback on this. I've got access to a Gordy Howe jersey signed. This is where I was going, Ryan, to get your opinion.

I think he's universally kind of like that. You got Gretzky and then I think he's in that second tier. But close. I mean, he's one of the biggest names, Hall of Famer. I have access to that. It's unauthenticated but supported. supposedly would pass authentication with flying colors. So it's discounted, but I have access to buy it.

What do you think? Who's it from? Yeah. Where did you get it from? Yeah. Providence and all that. Yeah. And the big thing is like, you know, the studies show technology can help.

There's some companies out there that definitely help. Honestly, 40% of, of all of memorabilia is forged. And it's always going to be that way. There's some companies out there trying to, you know, stop that. But I don't, I personally don't buy any, you know, whatever, unauthorized. Yeah. Yeah.

Because it just doesn't work. We had a Michael Jordan jersey come in. and the to our store our office which we're not even as like hey can I bring this in it's from one of Michael's games and blah blah blah and so we took it

you know we give it to you know Mike Baker and his you know his own partner Damien and they're like this is crazy they're like the company matched the jersey due to the game but it's a fake autograph so the guy basically whoever he had gay board a real gayboard jersey and then diluted diluted the value by putting by doing a fake auto

crazy that's what an idiot like you not think out i guess maybe thinking i got half of it so it'll get it'll fly it'll fly man yeah i wouldn't buy it i wouldn't buy it yeah all right what do you guys think out there. Yeah, I know. Let me know what you think and what you'd pay or not pay. I was quoted 200 bucks. And I, and I looked it up and it looked like just, and I don't, again, if I find out the jersey itself where it's from and all that, and I can, and that has value, like the upside there. But like, just a basic one was like get one for like 550 authenticated. So I don't know. Well, I think where you have to ask yourself, are you will, just wear it. Are you willing, like, that's pretty cheap for a jersey.

Yeah, I know. Like, I don't want to wear an autograph. Walking autograph, I guess. I mean, maybe. If it's a double XL, I'll throw that baby on. If you fake, you get a hockey. 200 bucks. Yeah. True.

One way to think about it. I mean, I guess the unauthenticated doesn't matter if you're going to throw it up on your wall and it looks like it's real and you're a big fan of them to get it and to, you know, have it as a memorabilia knowing it's probably not going to increase in value necessarily because it's unauthenticated, but it means something to you as a fan. It's not a bad way to do it. That's a piece of art at that point. Yeah.

The jersey. I bought the jersey at that point. But you have to get it. Like, I would never sell it without getting authenticated, you know. Yeah. No, I would, I would buy it to authenticate it to resell it. But anyway. I'd wear it at pawn hockey.

Yeah. I'll wear it on trade nights or something, you know. I'll just get everybody that comes to sign it next to. them be like whoever they are Jim Smith they are it was pretty cool yeah

but um tops ripped released 75 iconic baseball cards and people are not happy basically look you know the answer

Brian when you put out a list of the greatest the best the most interesting you get way more blowback on well why did you leave out that or who did you

do, then you do. Oh, yeah, that's definitely right. So the complaints are always louder than the praise, uh, if you haven't figured that out. But they, here's, here's what they were unhappy with. Paul Skeen's rookie one of one being number five as one of the most iconic baseball cards. Hmm. Interesting. Would you, would you have beef with that? Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't like, I want to pull it, but. Yeah. love to have it. So sell it. It went about my list. No way. That's marketing. You know, they know what they're doing. Exactly. O'Tani Rookie

again, being number 10, and it was like a random rookie card. It wasn't like what most people consider his better rookie cards. And Mike Trout was nowhere to be found on this 75 iconic baseball card list. So they were happy with those, they were unhappy with those three things the most. I mean, what's their definition of iconic, I guess, is where we come down to. I know. It's like most valuable or most iconic. I mean, most popular.

Very popular. Yeah. Those are all, I mean, if you went and did, because modern media, the impressions that the Paul Skeins, Ricky 101 and got, because of modern media and the time that it happened, it probably is like chart busting. because, you know, they did a tour and freaking Dix. They had it at the freaking Fanatics Fest, you know, at the, at the, uh, at the, uh, Dix, like, lounge area. They had it on display. So it did a whole, the card itself did like a media round.

And then, you know, once it sold the whole value in the media there, it's probably so, like, the value of the impressions of, of the media is more like what this, uh, this 75 iconic is. Yeah. I mean, Dick's basically is like, oh, I didn't know Dick sold cards. I didn't know they were into cards in collecting. And now you do. So a million dollars is nothing to them. And so I think it's a smart move. But I mean, 75 anything you call iconic cards, like, it's always going to be a debate. Who are the goats? Who's this? But like, I don't know. I look at iconic differently. It's like, iconic are like the cards that, that has said, have tested time instead of the test of time.

Yeah, 52. I can name, I can name like five for me, like 52 manor rookie. The Bo Jackson card for me, shoulders, baseball bat, Michael Jordan rookie card, Ken Griffey Jr., upper deck rookie. I mean, it's just for me. I'm going to get hate mail now too, Brian, but that's okay. I can take it. For me, like my air growing up at others. Roger Clemens, 1986, rookie card. Don't ask me why.

I know it probably wouldn't make many people's, but like when I was growing up, like that was like a badass iconic card, you know? Like the greatest picture of the time, right? Yeah, you look like him. I think that's why you like him. Do I? That's been a bad thing.

I think Clemens is kind of a striking, strong, manly, iconic figure. Yeah, handsome. I don't think I could throw a hundred mile per hour gas heater though, you know. I mean, my arm's not bad, but it ain't that. I don't think that. Jeez. Dude, throw some nitro balls.

But, yeah, I mean, those come to mine. There's others. A list are always created to be debated. They, I like that, Brian. Created to be debated. It's called ClickBank. That's why every blog, every blog, ever made. It's a little marking lesson

for everyone. Whether you want it or not, we'll blend in. Every article, the five best cards you can see at the National this year. We've got the ten greatest rookie cards of all time. We've got the five most

unappreciated pitchers from the New York Yankees. Every article. They get you. They hook you in. Yeah. It's like number one hook. Did I hear there's a card show in South Carolina in Greenville? G. Vegas.

Yes, baby. Oh, yeah. Wilder. Mike Wilder puts on a great show. He does it here. It's the biggest show in the upstate. That's about every three months. Haywood Mall, yours truly, the collector station,

collector nation, radical team. We'll be there full effect promoting the store, collector station, as well as this show, Collector Nation. We'll be handing out t-shirts, kissing babies, smacking backs, you know, all kinds of stuff. So Bella, are you going? Bella is going.

Bella is going. She is working in the background, actually, right now, on some of our merchandising for the show. So Brian was asking Bella, if you would be there. Yep, it's Baby's first card show. We'll see how overwhelmed I get. And maybe I'll learn some things. probably we'll learn some things. It's pretty smelly.

A lot of dudes. Oh, I already got the room spray ready to go. I'll just go up to people, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. The direction I'm walking, just, yeah. You'll smell my presence. You might be the only female there. Oh, it's not that bad. It's a lot of Pokemon people.

Yeah, Pokemon. Bella, you've got to report back. I'll just gaslight a bunch of men and try to convince them that I know what I'm talking about. How much mansplaining is Bella going to get? See, little do they know. I, Bella Splane. I've coined the term. Yeah.

So don't you even worry. We'll have fun. It will be fun. Buy a car. Get some money from Ryan and buy a card. I'll give her an allowance. go walk around, you know, like... One dollar.

I'll get me more than that. I'll get you like $100 or something. You got to really get something good. And you'll get a better deal. So you... It's a mentally like, oh, they'll give you like... It's my first card I've ever bought

and they're going to give you like a $200 card for my $100. And I'm going to sell it and give you the $100 back and pocket the other hundred. All right. Deal. I'm going to try... I'm going to try to get to the next week and what she bought.

Like what? Yes. Was it baseball, basketball, football? We're going to do this. Don't let us forget to do this. We're going to be busy, but we're going to do this. Okay. And we're going to film it.

Callan's going to film it. I gave my daughter 100 bucks at the National, and she came back with a C, um, SGC 10 Taylor Swift card. Yep. Yep. I love it. Sounds right right. Hey, I bet you that thing's probably gone up in value.

Probably. You know, kind of like her bank account. You know? Yeah. Swiftly gone up. Hey, short episode today, a little tight 26-ish minutes. Brian's voice is carried through, but probably doesn't have much left. He needs to get in bed.

We've got to get back to work. We've got to get prepared for this show. If you're in the southeast and you want to make the trip to Greenwles a great place to visit. Come to the show this weekend. We'll be there on Saturday from 10 to 4 at Haywood Mall. You won't be able to miss us. We're going to have a 10 by 8 huge 10 feet tall or 10 feet wide. I don't know, banner. We're going to be the people with the marketing presence at the car show, three tables, spread out, and we'd love to meet you. So if you are in the area, or local listening, come say, hello, and, you know, tell us what you think of the show. We appreciate

you for listening. Any final thoughts, Brian? No, man. Have fun. I think in your future, I think you're going to run, partner with that guy and run the show and make it bigger. Yes. Those Turdamas. Don't give him any ideas.

He already has too much going on and for my mental sanity. That's why we can't talk too much because we just yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Oh, I love it. I love it. Brian, appreciate you, brother. go get better, get that voice healed up. All right, brother.

Love you. Love you, man. Hey, guys, the DeCollectornation.com. Go check us out. The apps out. Go to the Collector Nation app in the app store. And while you're there, don't forget, L-U-D-E-X, the best scanning app right there, O'Brien's shirt.

That's how you spell it. Gorgeous merch, my favorite hats that I wear every day on the desk here. I don't want to overpopulate it. That's why I got our Clector Nation hat on. He's got the Luddick shirt on. But L-U-D-E-X, go in the App Store, let me tell you, collection management. I've saw some of the newest features today. Let me just tell you.

Constant innovation happening with Brian and his team. Helps just sell some cards on eBay quicker than anyone. Integration with other things coming, planned, and of course, just that digital collection management. So you know what you got, how much it's worth, all of those things. L-U-D-E-X, L-D-E-X, proud to partner with them and for just, I'm just on the team, baby. I'm just happy to be on the team. So we appreciate you for listening. Check us out on YouTube.

We'll see you next week on the Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at Collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.