Tasmanians sitting on collectible gold mines worth thousands waiting to be discovered
One of Australia’s biggest trading card collectors has revealed the hidden treasures that could be in your house right now — and how Tasmanians can cash in on the hottest trends.
Tasmania
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Check your attics, clear out your cupboards, and look in your collection folders, you might just be sitting on a gold mine says one of Australia’s biggest trading card collectors.
Hobart’s born and bred Grayson White turned his passion for collecting cards from a side hustle into his full-time job when he opened his first store Cherry Collectables in Melbourne in 2015 and his second in Hobart in 2021.
Mr White saw an opening in the online market to import and resell products in Australia, starting with Transformers action figures, then with his online website to sell NBA cards in 2008.
He said people have a mother lode waiting to be discovered.
“There are gold mines here in Tasmania, I’d hope at some point they would walk through my front door of the shop,” Mr White said.
“I want people to feel that there’s an opportunity to go digging and find something amazing or to start their journey buying and selling.”
National data from eBay showed some rare trading cards have seen a triple-digit percentage increase in price in the last three years.
Mr White said now was a fantastic time to start collecting.
“The online marketplace trading card prices are coming back, but that’s meaning the access to them is growing immensely, we’re coming off the back of two or three years of hyper-growth,” Mr White said.
“We’re expecting that in the next five to ten years, we’ll see five or ten times the amount of collectors globally that exist currently.”
Some of Mr White’s favourite cards from his collection included a Charizard, Cassius Clay’s (Muhammad Ali) rookie card, LeBron James’ Kobe Bryant dunk, and a Wolverine platinum portrait all worth over $20,000 each.
Mr White’s most expensive cards sold were Zion Williamson’s rookie cards for six figures.
He said the everyday person is already an expert in their hobbies and a collector in waiting.
“Most of us between our teens and adult years have studied sport, we understand who is going to be the next great actors, soccer players, or netball players,” Mr White said.
“If you know who the next great soccer player will be, collect soccer cards, collect that particular person.”
“Marketplaces like eBay that enable the trading you can actually make money quite consistently through what you’ve learned and understand, and predict.”
Mr White and his team have supported Tasmanian charities directly from their profit, donating over $100,000 to the Salvation Army last Christmas and between $5-10,000 to the women’s shelter last year.
Cherry Collectables was last year voted the international trading card shop of 2022 and Mr White was also inducted into the trading card hall of fame.
Though the collecting community has changed over the years moving from local card shops to online, Mr White said one thing had stayed the same.
“It connects you with the athletes, celebrities, and teams in an interest and a finance sense.”
Trading cards to look for when collecting:
> Mr Smith said brands like Panini, Fanatics, and Nintendo are very recognisable and historically increase in value the most.
Top 10 most common Australian collectables (eBay state of Collectables 2023):
> Coins
> LEGO® sets
> Toys
> Sneakers
> Art
> Antiques
> Stamps
> Trading Cards
> Memorabilia
> Watches
Collectables on the rise (eBay State of Collectables 2023):
> LEGO® sets
> Sneakers
> Trading cards
> Watches
> Luxury handbags
> Funko Pop!
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