Collector Nation - Are Sports Card Comps BROKEN?! Why Low-Pop Cards Are Getting Huge Premiums

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

Nathan Howerton, founder of Nostalgix, joins Ryan Alford to go inside the high-end collectibles market and explain what he is seeing in private transactions that never reach the public auction block. Nathan discusses why buyers are increasingly focused on low-pop, high-grade and visually exceptional cards, and why collectors are sometimes willing to pay significant premiums for truly rare pieces. Ryan and Nathan also examine the limitations of traditional card comps in a fast-moving market. Nathan explains why recent deals can move faster than available sales data, how private negotiation changes the buying process and why Nostalgix removes the identities of buyers and sellers to reduce outside influence and keep negotiations focused on the collectible itself.  They also discuss what makes collectibles endure, the role of nostalgia and scarcity, physical versus digital collecting and some of the unusual high-end transactions Nathan has handled across trading cards, video games, comics, books, coins and other collectibles. Topics Covered The current high-end sports card market Low-pop cards and scarcity Why collectors pay premiums for rarity The limitations of last-sale comps Eye appeal and condition Private collectible transactions Auctions vs. private brokerage High-end negotiations Buyer and seller anonymity How Nostalgix works Using data and AI in collectible transactions What makes collectibles valuable long term Nostalgia and strong intellectual property Physical vs. digital collectibles Pokémon video games and trading cards Comics, coins and other high-end collectibles How a small number of serious buyers can move a market 🔗 Links Mentioned in This Episode Collector Nation Website: https://thecollectornation.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectornation_ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecollectornation YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecollectornation Collector Station Website: https://thecollectorstation.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectorstation Nostalgix Website: https://nostalgix.io Ryan Alford Website: https://www.ryanalford.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford ⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, follow Collector Nation, leave a 5-star review and share it with another collector.

Last comp lies. And nothing lies more than a comp that's either stale or old in a market like now. It's very wild, wild west. We're not a sports card platform. We're not a trading card platform. We're not a comic book platform. Like, we are a collectibles brokerage. How do you navigate all that?

We have so much data out there. We can tell people if something's too high, too low, or right on the money. There's a lot of friction removal, I think, with what you guys do. I'm Ryan Alford. And I'm Bella Schaefer. And this is Collector Nation. We're curating all of the content in the hobby just for you all in one place. All the videos, all the podcasts, all the reels, all those drops you want right here, right now.

Today on Collector Nation, we're going behind closed doors of the high-end collectibles market with Nathan Howerton, founder of Nostologics. We're talking $2 million dollar Pokemon video game deals, extremely high-end cards. Why some of the biggest transactions never even hit auction and why a PSA 10 isn't always enough anymore. Nathan sees the private deals. Most collectors never hear about. So we get into what's actually driving value, what serious buyers are chasing, and whether comps can even keep up with this market. Let's get into it.

Nathan, what's up, man? Welcome to the show. What's cooking, brother? Doing good. Nathan is the founder of Nostalgics. We'll get into Nostalgics, man. You had a front seat to all this stuff at one of the biggest auction houses in the world. Where did all this come from?

When did you realize? there was a room for something different. Absolutely, man. So, I mean, I think, like, everyone starts something in this industry. It starts with just being a collector, right? So, you know, growing up in the teens and 20s, I've always been a collector, and eventually I get into the industry, and I started my own show that we ran for about seven years now. I'm called Collector Summit, and I've had various projects, and eventually I end up working at Heritage.

And, you know, I love everything about that place and the amount of education and knowledge that's in that building is just far none. I mean, I wish people could spend more of that inside time like I got there because, I mean, there's just endless and endless knowledge in that building. But, you know, Heritage is a 50-year institution, and they've been doing things their way, and they've been doing it very well their way, but I've always been kind of an innovative mind, and I've always liked doing my own thing, and I started to see some kind of holes in areas where I could do something differently. And really where it clicked for me is one night

I was sitting watching our real estate show on Netflix with my wife. I sat there and I was like, why couldn't you have a brokerage but do all the same things? Offer that high-end service. Offer the negotiation, the escrow, you know, deal with everything for these clients, but instead of homes, it's high in collectives.

And I basically launched it the next day, spoke with my people at Heritage and never looked back. And so, yeah, so I've been just heads down going with that. we've been so blessed with success, man. And it's really, you know, anytime you start something new like that, it can be a little scary. But it resonated with people very quickly. And we've been crushing record after record. So we're happy to kind of get into that.

Yeah, man. So at its core, Nostogics is auctioning off at a premium, you know, with a premium experience for both the buyers and the sellers, high-end collectibles. Yeah. So we are private. collectibles brokerage and we exclusively only deal with private fixed transactions so no auction on our end got it purely connecting the buyers and the selling selling with fixed fixed degree to prices i think i actually slipped the word auction in there and i didn't mean to no no worries yes so we specifically deal with whether if you come to us with an item we will basically deal with everything for you

You know, we'll go talk to potential buyers. We'll field offers. We'll bring that to you. If we end up closing, we will deal with escrow, we'll deal with transport. I mean, we really take all the work out of it. So you kind of just sit back and just say, yes, no, accept. And same thing on the seller's side. And we leverage a lot of AI into our platform.

So we do like to be very technology forward. And that's something I saw working with a lot of the auction houses where they are a bit more archaic. They're a bit older. and the way they do things, and we really leverage the technologies that we have advantage of today to speed up these transactions and to find potential pairs. And we know, you know, generally, if a price point is going to happen or not. Because we have so much data out there, we can tell people if something's too high, too low or right on the money.

And so we like to really leverage that data into what we do and take advantage of those things. And, you know, that's kind of the benefit of being scrappier and smaller is we can move faster and take advantage of those things. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to oversimplify, but it's almost like you stripped out the auction and it's the, you know, buy it now. It's to buy it now for the high end and you keep, but you keep it private. Yeah, exactly, man. I mean, that's not even, I don't mind simplifying it because I felt like that's what was needed was a simplified process that was done very,

very well and very efficiently very cleanly and that privacy aspect is there because we do deal with a lot of people who they don't want to be out there like they don't want to be out on social media you know trying to buy things and this and that like they want to kind of stay out of it and have a private party take care of that form for whatever reason and um that's been a big pillar kind of of what we do is like hey you you get to stay out of this we'll we'll deal with it for you it's interesting uh I mentioned the article in editorial I wrote on the National, and it was a concept, and you just kind of said it without saying it. There's a lot of things going on. It's, there's collecting, and then there's theater.

And there's investing. There's, you know, it's not binary anymore. This isn't collecting and investing. There's like seven layers of this thing, but it's theater is what the auctions sort of bring a little bit, especially when it's public. and, you know, and look, Golden, he crushes it, dude. I mean, I respect him. I've had him on the show. And he's a master of it.

The theater of the story and being out there and that building, you know, value. But what you're describing is a whole other thing, which is, you know, a true collector or investor that wants to manage their business in private. Yeah, exactly, man. I mean, Ken is someone who I've never had the opportunity to meet, but from afar, like I come from kind of a marketing background. Man, he is a, he's a machine. He is.

And he's cool shit. He is so, like, down to earth and so giving of, like, ideas. And, like, I didn't know him either. I feel like I do now. Anybody at home my show becomes, like, even when it's remote, man, now, you know, Nathan is my bro now. Like, we know each other. We're hanging out.

Like, I get to know people. Like, I'm really listening. I'm really attentive. I really care about my guests. And like, and it, he is, man. He is a beast. And he's, but he's very down earth. Narrative is everything in collectibles.

Like, that's what drives value. That's what drives that interest in that narrative. And like Ken is so good at that, like, creating or extrapolating or bringing that narrative out there, which, I mean, we've seen it in results they've produced. I mean, like, oh. Just give you a prime example. It's like that illustrator, the PSA 10, we kind of feed off each other in different things. Yeah.

Different structure of folks, but there's a lot of opportunities on every end. And there's a lot of people that fall on each spectrum. There's probably more people to fall in your spectrum, actually, you know? It's funny, man. It's like I always say, like, the auction houses drop the big boulder in the lake, right? Yeah. And it's like, my world is to ride those waves. like so whenever they drop that boulder in the lake through some big sale or something

happens like i got to ride that those high tide rises all ships baby exactly man and so like we are all in the same ecosystem like you know we all the same data affects us all same sales effect us all and things like that and so yeah like it's uh i very much look at it as an ecosystem and you know we're all a part of it so we want to keep it private now are we negotiating negotiating so absolutely man so like as far as nostalgic's handling negotiations for yeah like i'm assuming not everything or very few times or some do are like set price no my day would be so much easier but no it's uh no man i mean a big majority is always you've got someone you know they got their ass you got someone who you don't interest you at a certain number

and it's finding that finding that that spot where both parties agree and like That is a kind of nice thing. It's like what the private really takes out of it is like we take the ego out of it. We take the knowledge of knowing who the other party is out of it. So like you're just dealing with. They don't know. So that you're the middleman, the true middleman. They have no idea who is on the other side.

I think that's better. I mean, you know, you can take that a million different ways. But I don't know. And these kind of deals, I think that's better. It just more often than not, it's more productive. You have less. Like people just get. We used to always say this in the auction world is if you're auctioning something big,

don't go out there and publicly blast to everyone that it's yours. Because people just get kind of funky when they know who's selling it and this and that. Like when it's anonymous and all that, people just, they kind of do their thing differently. Yeah, it brings in variables that just don't need to be there. I mean, especially if you're a well-known individual, people will try and price gouge you. Like, you know, if you're someone that's kind of, of a name or your celebrity or this or that and if you know people will try and take advantage of that and so like we offer a lot of the just kind of that anonymous aspect of it is very beneficial

it just think it helps things flow smoother like we just get less less headaches in that process keeping everything private 100 and you know let the let the collectible be worth what it's truly worth versus what it's worth with maybe artificial influence. I'm not, like, I'm careful the way I say that because I'm a marketer. And I believe that valuable premium marketing raises the value of things, if done correctly. But there's a fine line of artificiality. I'm going to make up that word if it doesn't exist, Nathan.

But, yeah, like, right? I think yeah it's tough man it's like any sort of marketing on it like even if it's not pushy of a story necessarily you're trying to like just just exposure in general creates you know demand and if without that it doesn't have value

so like there's a fine line right like scarcity if people don't know it's scarce so they don't know like it's I mean because you can argue like putting features on the page of what it is is marketing right it is i mean it's best point of i mean merchandising you know like that is that marketing well you're just you're just you know if you're not using like hyperbole and like overblown statements that that could be misconstrued i mean if there's only one of them

one of one marketing i well no yeah but it's all there's only one no exactly i mean if it's a true fact it's a true fact and we yeah something like we do like prior ourselves on like especially like we've had this a lot with a lot of our TCG clients where like these numbers are just feels like daily going up and like I will try and advise people like hey look when you're buying like I I'm not advising you that this is some spectacular number and it's going to just go up and up and up and up it's like look man like that's what the ask is today and you know it is but like I do try and kind of advise people like look you're buying up top mark you're setting the new record and like what happens beyond that is like no one knows for certain so like we do try and keep

things we try and guide people realistically like there's no sense for us in just closing a sale to just close a sale like we want you generally to be happy with your transaction feel like you did it with as much knowledge as possible so that's kind of a nice thing with we do is like there's a little bit of that advisory side we're like hey man like look this is so far beyond the last sale and like we're in no man's land on data like I just want you to understand that and like so that's kind of a nice thing we we do because a big problem I have with auction was when you throw that item out there you have no idea what's gonna happen at the end of the day and like I really wanted to

provide a service where you knew exactly what was happening in the transaction you know what you're getting paid you know what the result is and if you don't like it don't take it like it's a risk-free environment yeah I mean I mean, because let's be honest, and there's been stories already about this. I mean, there's shill bidding going on. There's all kinds of shenanigans, and you know what's happening. I mean, I'm sorry. You know, it's like, yeah, it's happening.

Yeah, it's just like when you go and like, look, the upside of auction is the chance that people get in the fight. And it goes for some just unimaginable number, which we see happen all the time. And so while we don't provide that wild card, like the chance that it. goes just nuclear. What we try and provide is assurance in that you're getting the number you accept. And if you don't want that, you don't have to accept it. Like, it's a no risk process is what we really try and provide. It's called certainty. Absolutely. And so, and people really, I mean, because like, look, for every win at auction, there's the losses that don't get promoted. Because, I mean, why? Like, they're not going to go out there and push that. There's the people who thought

they were going to get $2,000 and ends up at $500 bucks. And so there's tons and tons and tons of those. And like, so I try to really provide like, hey, look, in my ideal mind, we're kind of the bottleneck before you get to the ocean of auction houses. So like if you have something special, try us first. Let's see if we can make something happen on a guarantee certain level. And if it doesn't happen, then then you go out to the ocean from there and see what happens. Yeah.

And it's a lot of friction removal, I think, with what you guys do. And, I mean, that's some of the biggest things. It's like they get in the way of probably these big deals. It's like there's too much friction. And how do we get that out of the way, make it seamless for both parties? What? The market is so crazy. And you just said it.

Like, we print some fun t-shirts for Clayton Nation, what I'm wearing, one of them, great at our. for raw. And one of them says last comp lies. I mean, another one lies more than a comp that's either stale or old in a market like now. You know, when you've got so much institutional money,

so much attention, so much demand. That's got to be hard. How do you navigate all that? It's crazy, man. I mean, honestly, it feels like it's different.

Every client, every deal, like in terms of, like, we get some clients, you get real. analytical with it. Like, I mean, they're looking at these things like, you know, a hedge fund would analyze, you know, opportunities and buying stocks.

Like, they get real into it. And so, and then we have other clients who go a little bit more off of just their gut and they're like, hey, it's a low pop. I don't know. What do you think about this? And so it's totally different depending on client. But right now, in cards especially, man, I just tell people, like, look, it's very wild, wild west. and a lot of this is truly just like, especially for some of these low pop no sales last year type items.

It's like, look, you just, they can kind of ask what they want right now. What are you willing to pay? Yeah, exactly. And a funny sense is, like, I kind of like that because that's like, that's what collecting is. Like, you know, we get, we have all these cool tools now that provides all these sales data and comps and that. But like, at its origin, it used to just be, what's it worked to you? And like, you know, what does it? you know, what do you want to pay to have that?

And so, like, yes, it's insanity, but it's kind of cool at the same time. It's like, that's what it used to be. Yeah. What's just does it work to you? And that's one of the things that drives me crazy, you know, in a hobby shop now and a card store, like, the cons matter. They set the market, certainly. But it's what are you willing to pay and what do I want to sell it for? And, you know, quite frankly, I don't give a shit what the comps.

are sometimes. Like, it doesn't mean that I can realistically, like, try to get $400 for $200 comp card. No. But you know what? We sort of paint this brush that, oh, it's a bad, you know, like either to sell it, whether it's a dealer or just somebody selling something, that if they set a price, well, they're the bad guy because they didn't come to the lowest comp that may or may not be valid, that may or may not have happened, that may or may not, have closed at 4 a.m. in the morning on an auction because someone mislabeled it and they thought it was 4 p.m. and it snuck through. It's like, I don't know, man. Like just priming and get rising crazy. Especially now with how nitpicky people are getting in terms of like really specific, like high appeal and things like that.

Like there are so many variables that can wildly swing. So if you're just looking at number comp, it's taking a really high view of something that may or may not tell the story. And so I do feel like, especially with a lot of my card transactions right now, it really is just like, here's what they're asking. And, you know, are you willing to get close enough to that or, you know, this or that? And like, I'm getting a lot. I feel like honestly, a lot of our transactions recently are throwing data out the window. Because. Yeah.

Yeah. Because it's just like it doesn't even matter anymore. And like, that's what happens when you have a bull market rush like this over the last year is like the numbers are moving faster than the comps can even tell the story. So it's like, yeah. Yeah, it's a comps. Collector Nation is not just a podcast. We are your one-stop shop for all things a hobby. All the best creators, all the best reels, all the best content curated for you every day.

And if you're interested in learning more, go to the Collector Nation. or download our app on iOS or Android. We'll see you there. Talk to me. You know, what does separate someone buying a $500 collectible from a $500,000 one besides their bank account? You know, man, it's funny. It's like, I think there's less differences than you would think.

Like, I feel like for the most part, we're always speaking. what is the rarest, coolest thing that I can get to show off for my price range. And whether that's $500 or $500,000, I mean, I think more or less people are just looking for something that is special they can add to their collection. You know, they're looking for something. At the end of the day, it's always about having something someone else does. Like that's the core of it. It's like, I love this.

One way or another we end up back where we were is like five-year-olds on the playground. I've got it. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. And look what I have that you don't. Either I got it and you don't or I want it because I've seen all my friends got it. So I want it too.

So it's either one of those two scenarios. And so, you know, man, like honestly, the numbers change, but the mentality is generally the same. You know, they want, they want rare. They want something special. or they want something that they see others are chasing. And so I would say, you know, the focus over the last six months I've seen a lot is everyone is hyper-focused on, you know, really low-pop stuff. Like, population is running everything right now. So people are the better.

Yeah, absolutely, man. And like, I agree with that. I'm like, hey, look, I think that's your safest harbor is going to be rarity. Like, if the supply is limited, you know, you don't. need as much demand to really squeeze those numbers. So, you know, I'm all for it. I'm like, yeah, I agree. I think low pop stuff should be the premium and should be where the focus is.

And so that's where I'm getting a lot of my people right now is they're willing to pay excessive premiums for those really special items, the low pop type stuff. Yeah. That's the name of the game, scarcity. I want to talk a little bit about nostalgia. So talking to Nathan Howardton, he is the founding. of nostalgics. I just like saying it, man. Nistologics.

It's a cool name. So if everything's about rarity, everything's about show it off, I got this, you don't. Where does nostalgia play in all this? You know, I always feel like, when I talk to people, I'm like, there's three things like I look for in a collect,

what needs to have. It needs to have some form of nostalgia. and needs to be backed by a strong IP and it needs to display well. If it crosses those three things, you probably got a pretty strong collectible on your hands. And so I think at the end of the day, the things that hold up the best collectible wise is like, it does have to be rooted to some form of nostalgia

and connection with people. Like even my clients who are big, big, big, big, kind of industry investment type spenders, they still are going after items that they have familiarity with as a kid. like, you know, like, yes, they are spaying, a amount of money on Pokemon, but that's because they play with Pokemon stuff when they were a kid. Or on the sports side, you know, they have some connection to that player or that team. And so at the end of the day, I feel like there's always got to be some sort of connection. I very rarely get people that are just buying to buy an item

because they have no connection with it and they think it's, you know, a good investment. I think those people end up just buying stocks. Like collectibles, I feel like I have some sort of some connection there. What's your opinion, Nathan? It's somewhat related to what you just said, maybe a little bit of a leap, but digital collectibles.

Man, I don't. I mean, you know, it's like, you, your brain went where mine kind of goes. And the only reason I bring it up is because I have kids.

And so you're doing with the high end. You're doing more. affluent. People that have collected, yeah, I'm sure you have some young

rich clients, but a lot of them have built wealth over time, so they're probably 50 plus, you know, so digital doesn't

mean shit to them. For the most part, I'm certainly putting a lot. I think you'd probably say yes to that. But, you know, kids do value digital things more than we do

and where my seniors do. So, it's why I bring it up. It's like a hard one to get my head around completely because I see both sides of it. But I still, I don't doubt for one bit the physical collectibles will always, I mean, at least in my lifetime, be in play. But there's no denying that kids do place value in digital things more than I certainly do.

No, absolutely, man. I think, you know, you don't want to like, you don't want to be like the old guy. It's like, oh, just new. Yeah, I know. And it'd be easy to be that guy, Nathan, or the guy that pans, you know, NFTs that kind of had their day and are sort of still around but aren't I'm not saying they aren't they are and there's a lot of money on them but it's still not what it was made out to be here's my take and I'm not saying this is necessarily right or wrong but like my take here we got we have

David's take that is exactly right I want everybody to pay attention right now we're going to put this on the record okay Nathan go ahead I want you to make sure I did put that announcement on there first yeah we should we have to pause the clip you at this will be the highlight club This is not legal advice. I think that the physical will always reign supreme because it's finite, true rarity. Like, it's a physical item, especially vintage where it's true organic rarity. Like, I think that will always reign supreme. Do I think as we keep going and going that digital assets or, you know, different variations of that will have value?

I mean, if that's what the youth gravitates toward and that's their thing and that's what's displayed to them and they value, then it very well could. I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, if, like, we do see a lot of companies are pulling back from physical media, like, you're starting to see that become a thing. So if physical items become more and more of a, you know, a scarce asset and digital is what's displayed in from them. Like, if all the modern things are kind of released digitally, then that's what they'll collect. And that's what the, you know, so it's hard to see I think there's a place in a room for it, not necessarily that. I don't think in my world it'll necessarily be so much a thing.

But if that gets people involved in collecting and then maybe from there, they gravitate towards older physical vintage items, I'm okay with that. Like if that's an entry point for people and they can kind of get some into collecting that, then great. That's cool with me. It does seem like you didn't say this. I'm going to say it for you. Go for it.

copy and paste are really easy buttons to hit on the keyboard that you can't and i don't care what's old 3d printing uh you need 3d printing a pomem nintendo game from you know like i mean you can but it's not the same and that packaging maybe it will be one day i don't know maybe it's coming but you know it's it's a lot harder than hitting copy paste i'll give you a perfect example, I mean, on the Pokemon game side is we just closed a transaction by time this is out there, it'll be out in the world, but we had a $2 million dollar transaction for three Pokemon video games. Now, they were the highest grade first prints of the first Pokemon video games that came out. And like, to your point, can you play that game digitally

right now? Absolutely. But the value is in that first origin physical piece. And so I I think digital can serve as an entry point. And, you know, maybe that's what gets someone in there is that. But, like, I don't, I think the value will always be in the physical. What do you think about that is my last digital question. And then we're going to get into some juicy. I want to hear about, like, some juicy numbers and like, like the biggest, the most demand things. But, you know, it's kind of like the metaverse, you know, that I pan that whole thing when it came.

And I still think there will be some. video game like world that will play around it, maybe, probably. But I'm assuming you kind of have the same feeling there. Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to take a lot of attempts of throwing things out the wall and seeing if something

sticks. And then eventually we'll get to that point where it's like, you remember that movie Ready Player 1? Yeah. I think eventually we'll get to something like that where you're more like the AR. I think it's the layer on top of our physical world, right? I mean, I think that's where they've pivoted to the most part is, you know, kind of like, how do you layer the digital on top of,

like, what you're seeing to inform and improve maybe reality. Let's, let's improve reality before we try to throw ourselves into a total non-reality, right? No, exactly, man. I think, yeah, you know, it's like, there's been a lot of attempts at digital collectibles, digital assets. Like, I mean, some have crashed and burned horribly. Some are still chugging along, but like at the end of the day, like, I still see physical winning. Like, you were at the national, for example, I was at San Diego. I saw so many of these new companies doing like these new, like art cards or precious metal cards and things like that.

And I just think the physical will always be where it is. Like, I think digital offers something to someone and maybe in time will be a thing, but like, I don't think physical is going anywhere. Like kids want to rip paths. Kids want to open up. Kids want a tangible experience. I think grown adults do too. Like I think everyone wants a tangible real experience.

I just don't think, you know, maybe 50 years from now, it'll be different. But I don't see that change right now. Yeah, I think it's the bolt on. It's the, yeah, I think the stuff that's cool is like, okay, NFC chip or whatever it is that shows you, like if it's an autograph, like it shows you where it when he signed it or he or she. And or, you know, those kind of add-ons that add to, you know, the. item, the collectible, whatever it might be in some way that you can, you know, put in your library or own on top of the physical thing. Those are the things that excite me more than, you know, some notion. But let's talk about the real shit. Nathan, talk to me about some of

the funnest things that have been bought and sold across the platform and deals you've brokered. Absolutely, man. So I think one of the things, like when I came out, what I really wanted, nostalgic, to quickly, like, establish ourselves as we're not a sports card platform, we're not a trading card platform, we're not a comic book platform. Like, we are a collectibles brokerage. So that means we will deal with everything from vintage wine to dinosaurs to paintings, you name. Like, if it is a high value collectible asset, we will deal with it. Because we focus on. I understand high value those transactions. I don't need to be an expert in Renaissance paintings. I need to be an expert in placing that in a buyer's hands. So that is really what we focus on here. And that's a cool thing with that is like,

we are getting all kinds of stuff around. So, you know, right now trading cards reigns supreme. You know, cards reign supreme. And that's really, that's one of our biggest driver.

I would imagine for everyone, you know, that's kind of the biggest driver right now. And it just feels like, like we have that sale we just put up recently of the T-17 Pokemon card at 750,000. I mean, which is just a monster number. And that puts it in one of the highest selling single Pokemon cards of all time.

So we've got that side going on. We've got huge demand right now. Like, this might be funny to you be here. But man, like one of the most top items I get requested right now is Harry Potter stuff. Yeah. I'm getting so many people asking for first editions of the book or the uncorrected proof. and things like that. And like, I mean, I probably get two requests a day about Harry Potter items right now.

So, like, that's one of the interesting things we got come up. We've dealt with a lot of high-end comics. Comics is an interesting one because it's a much older demographic. It's an older collectible. And they haven't really found that way to gamify it the way cards has. Like, you've got the pack ripping and all that kinds of stuff. and card world. And like,

I was just talking with your producer before you got on kind of a little bit about this. It's like, you go to a card show, man, you'll see kids doing deals. You'll see, you'll see kids, teenagers,

things like that was a deal. That's not a thing in comic. So like, it's an older demographic, but there is still tremendous value at the top end of it. So, like, for instance,

we've had a few multimillion dollar comic deals pass through. And they're all focused on like those top population, highest grade of comics. So, Yeah, and it's, yeah, I mean, I try to think about anything really peculiar outside of that. The comics and the coins, people have been trying to, like, convince me that's going to be as big as cards. And I know they're big markets. I know they're already, like, you know, gigantic number of markets.

But I don't know. I can't quite get there mentally. Like, it will be quite what cards are. But coins, man, is, it is a monster. Like, in terms of the volume in it and the amount of money transactions. that I just it's such a different world like from like more of the pop culture collector

type of stuff. It's just a whole different world but I mean, the historian world, you know, in a lot of ways. Like that and some of it's cool man. Like through nostalgic we had one of those ancient Roman coins pastor that's got like Caesar on it and stuff. Yeah. It's cool seeing an item that's not 10 years old. It's like thousands.

Oh, 10,000, 20,000 years. Yeah, whatever it is. Yeah, man. So like that, you know, that kind of gets me fired up as a collector. you know, seen something more like that. Probably one of my most interesting ones that passed through is we had a magazine that was distributed of venture capital firms. And apparently it's Elon Musk's rookie magazine cover. And it's just, it was a magazine that sold for 30 grand.

And we're talking just straight up, just like magazine with Elon Musk on it. But this individual is a huge fan of his. And that's his first ever published magazine thing. And so, and you never know, man. You never know. Yeah, you just never know. We get interesting requests all the time. Yeah, that one's fascinating.

I mean, it's like, that feels like a true collector on some level. I mean, I'm sure they're telling their friends and showing off and all that. But there's definitely a level of collecting there that's a little different than your average item. We do, man. I mean, we, so like we get all the, you know, the trendy, popular trends type stuff, like cards and all that. But then we do get these kind of. little oddball requests every now and then where there's just people who are really passionate about something specific and you know whether it's an individual or older technologies i mean

we get a lot of requests for like original ipons or original iMac computers and things like that so man it's like that's the thing is like there's just there's so much out there there's so many collectors out there so many like it goes so far beyond even the car world and things like that so what's the yeah As we close out here, Nathan, what does sort of set the taste market? Like, you know, what is driving on the broader level? You know, we talked about the sizzle and the guys that are out there, you know, pumping things up and doing things and marketing.

But where is the, is this just more, you know, as we get more affluent, as we get hopefully, you know, as of mankind and a better. place. I don't know, you can always debate whether that happens every day. I don't know. But like on the fluent market level, more time, more time to think about what they collect. I mean, what sort of sets the taste market? I mean, at the end of the day, man, it's big transactions. Like, that's all it is. It's like if people start seeing, it's very follow the leader, right? If they start seeing, if people start seeing stuff moving or they see someone they know by it just it just fall later and like this is something i think a lot of people

don't realize is whether it's a specific category of cards or comics or books whatever i don't think people realize how few serious players it takes getting into something to completely change in driver like it doesn't take thousands of serious collectors getting into something to change it it takes 20 it takes 20 heavy bidders or buyers to get into something to come completely change its trajectory and people start following. And so that's the thing, man, is it doesn't take much to really change these things. The numbers make it swing. Absolutely, man. I mean, it's always like, you know, that's kind of things like when we talk about, you know, some of the great marketers that really push these things. It's like at the end of

the day, it's numbers is what moves stuff. And so, you know, if people are seeing strong numbers, they'll run that way. And if things start pulling back and those numbers are track and then people kind of, you know, they'll pull and adjust somewhere else. And so because I feel like at the end of the day, that's what gives people confidence to kind of go into these things and seeing those numbers. Nathan is to close out, walk me through how people can leverage what you're doing in nostalgics like from beginning to end, you know, the process, what they can expect and where to learn more.

Yeah, absolutely. So right now, if you go to www. nostologics with an X at the end.com. I know, I'm sure we can add it in on here. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you go to our site through there. That's going to cover everything we do top to bottom process. It's going to cover some of our historic sales, lets you know everything about us. From there, there's a become a client button. You go ahead and fill that out, that kickstart back end. And then once your account's approved, you do get a fancy client portal where you can go in there and you can do your want. list, you can manage deals. We'll serve you matches based on like AI suggestions and things like

that. So if you feel like, hey, you know, you want listed Jordan rookies, you know, this just came up and feel like there's an opportunity for a match here for you. So like, you have to manage all that in your client portfolio there. And outside of that, we're very communicative. I mean, right now I'm the senior broker and you'll work with me most of the time. And I keep a real open line of communication and I try and be pretty straightforward with people and just get things done smoothly and keep it moving. I mean, we, uh, we, I think a lot of people can testify that, like, we've had scenarios where I'll make nothing on the first transaction because it's just that thin to get it done because I want people to kind of see the process and be happy with things

and that's done. So we take a real long-term approach to this. Like, I want people to work with us for a long time. I don't want to just, you know, have you in for one deal and gone. I want you to feel like you got a place here for the long run. And that doesn't mean that, you know, if you, that's something like we would like to say, is like, if you just have a question, like, maybe you want to go to the auction around and you have a question for us. You can, you know, you're happy. Go ahead and ask us questions based on what we're seeing and doing.

And we'll try and steer you in the right direction. Because like we say, you know, it's a big ecosystem. And I look at things like, we all, we either all win together or we fail together. So we try and steer people along the right way. Nathan, you're going to make it, brother. Yeah, because you already figured it out. If you want to get value, you start by giving it. Yeah, absolutely, man.

And so I appreciate your time as well. And, you know, I'm sure we'll go back and forth and talk on things. And hopefully I'll write a show or something. Yeah, man, love to stay in contact. And I'll definitely refer you. We'll have all the links to the stuff with Nostalgics. And I know we can do some business and pleasure. together in the future. Appreciate you for coming on.

Hey guys, you know where to find us, thecollectornation.com. We've got articles. We've got videos. We've got the best podcast in the business. Yes, we do. Right now. We have Nathan in Nostalgics who is on today. We appreciate him. We're going to have all the links in the show notes to highlight clips. Thanks for tuning into the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube,

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