Chris Wells has been in the stamp and coin business since 1971. He credits his nephew Daniel Wells with the idea of giving sports trading cards a go. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
A New Plymouth business is stamping its mark on the wild world of American sports trading cards and sporting memorabilia.
Philatelic Distributors has traded in stamps and coins since 1968 but more recently the penny dropped that those hobbies have similarities with card trading.
Chris Wells started working for Philatelic Distributors in 1971 - while still at school - and bought the business a decade later.
He said the trading card enthusiasts had bought a new energy to the operation.
"It supplements our stamp collecting business and no to be harsh on my stamp collecting friends and colleagues, but the demographic in this business is younger men they're upwardly mobile, they've got money to spend and they're kind of a real cool bunch of guys."
Chris credited his nephew Daniel Wells with the idea.
"We were in business selling stamps to stamp collectors and Daniel said 'I reckon we could start doing some card business, with card collectibles and it will give us another string to our bow and I want to explore that' and I said 'go for it' and here we are in this beautiful shop."
Card Crazy was in a former jewellers on Devon Street. Its display cabinets now crammed with card collections and shop window filled with autographed sports memorabilia.
Daniel said it was about putting the business on the map.
"The shop front is just a party piece for us. It is somewhere to look cool, attract new collectors and showcase to the public what we do in this spectacular fit out. It's great. So, the shop is basically a very expensive advert, but we love having it."
Daniel Wells with a replica of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa which was on sale at Card Crazy. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Card Crazy was the New Zealand distributor for Italian company Panini, which controlled the availability of the trading cards.
"That creates that scarcity and that rarity that you need in this hobby. When people are paying kind of a lot of money for some of our products ... our products range from $60 through $19,000 to $20,000 just about for a packet of 10 cards, then they are getting that exclusivity and that rarity."
Daniel sold the $20,000 box to multiple buyers - one for each NBA franchise - then it was opened live online.
The dream was to discover a super rare card.
Last year, a unique LeBron James card was the focus.
"We could've had it just like anyone else in the world could've had it. That product was the $20,000 product.
"It was the flagship product of the year and by the time the card was found those boxes were selling for $45,000 because the chances of finding it were going up and up as more and more boxes were opened and it wasn't discovered, and finally when that card was discovered it sold at auction for $9.4 million."
Recently, a Taranaki customer pulled a one-of-one Stephan Curry card from a $60 dollar box - which could sell at auction for up to $7000.
Card Crazy was also a Fanatics certified sports memorabilia dealer.
A selection of Panini NBA trading cards. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Daniel said it dovetailed perfectly with the card business.
"Scotty Pippen, yeah, we've got a Scotty Pippen jersey in at the moment which is cool but again mightily expensive. That's a $2000 jersey, but hey, who doesn't want a Scotty Pippen autographed jersey to hang at home and bore their friends with, right?"
A customer who preferred not to give his name was onboard with that.
He'd once paid $500 for a Kobe Bryant jersey he had at home.
"It's one of his last all-star jerseys which I still haven't worn. I've put it in a frame and everything and I'm not going to wear it anytime soon because that will definitely go up in price. I think it was just two or three years before he passed away and it's signed down in the bottom corner with his score for that game as well."
This week a unique Michael Jordan and Bryant card claimed supremacy in the sports card world.
The one-of-a-kind 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection dual Logoman (featuring the NBA logo patch from each of their game-worn jerseys) autographed patch card sold for around $22 million.
It was now the most expensive sports card ever sold.
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