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Collector Nation
Tom Fallos (The Card Carver) brings LUXURY NOSTALGIA to his craft by SCARCITY | Hosted by Ryan Alford
00:41:28
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- [00:01]
Ryan Alford
The following ZipRecruiter radio spot you are about to hear is going to be filled with F words.
- [00:06]
ZipRecruiter Announcer
When you're hiring, we at ZipRecruiter know you can feel frustrated, forlorn, even, like your efforts are futile and you can spend a fortune trying to find fabulous people only to get flooded with candidates who are just fine. Fortunately, ZipRecruiter figured out how to fix all that, and right now you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip with ZipRecruiter you can forget your frustrations because we find the right people for your roles fast, which is our absolute favorite F word. In fact, four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.
- [00:43]
Ryan Alford
Fantastic.
- [00:44]
ZipRecruiter Announcer
So whether you need to hire four, 40 or 400 people, get ready to meet first rate talent. Just go to ZipRecruiter.com Zip to try ZipRecruiter for free. Don't forget, that's ZipRecruiter.com Zip finally, that's ZipRecruiter dot com Zip DC politicians want.
- [01:03]
Electronic Payments Coalition Spokesperson
To enact harmful credit card mandates that could take away your cash back and rewards points perks that stretch your budget and make life a little easier. Losing these benefits means less money for your family's everyday essentials like gas and groceries. The perks you rely on could disappear, leaving you with higher costs and fewer options. Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates.
- [01:29]
Ryan Alford
Paid for by Electronic Payments Coalition.
- [01:31]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
When I started making these cards, I started just cutting them up in the beginning it was kind of hard to even sell them for like 25 bucks. There was a lot of people, if not the majority, that would just laugh.
- [01:42]
Ryan Alford
Well, the artists typically that have talent and stick with it, have the last laugh a lot of times.
- [01:49]
Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the trading cards and collectibles podcast, the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs and going inside the hobby, are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford.
- [02:08]
Ryan Alford
All about the guests here on the show. We're bringing you the best, the brightest, the coolest in the collectibles, the hobby, the game that is collecting. And you know, I met this guy at the national officially and immediately attracted because I'm an art guy, I'm a creative guy. I've been in the ad agency business a long time and saw what he was doing and it caught my attention. It's going to catch yours if it hasn't already. He is Tom Fallows. He is the card carver. What's up, Tom?
- [02:39]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Hey, man, thanks for having me on.
- [02:41]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, man, I'm pumped. I'm excited to have you on the show. It was great meeting you at the National. Really love what you're doing. I love the category you're creating. There's. There's people doing a lot of different things, but there's a uniqueness to your style and the way that you're capturing moments and time and players and the energy with which the artwork that you're doing. So really respect what you're doing and excited for people to learn more about it and all that card carving you're doing.
- [03:13]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Well, I appreciate it, man. I mean, I'm definitely not the only card artist that is out here, you know, kind of paving the way that there's a whole community of people. I'm just one of many. I've been fortunate to been at it for a while now, and it's been really awesome to see it grow the way that it has.
- [03:32]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, man. It's a crazy industry booming in all kinds of different ways. And I think the unique artwork that you're doing in that style, I think there's definitely. I don't know, there's drops happening. Like, there's this. I don't know, this really fun intersection with the technology of, I don't know, live component social media, and then your artwork and everything with it. I don't know. It's a great. It's a fun time to be getting back into the hobby and seeing all the creativity that's happening. I love. You know, I'm looking at, like, this LeBron James card that we've got on the. The board and Kobe. It's like, I don't know, the way that you can document and sort of bring to life these moments in time is awesome.
- [04:17]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I appreciate it. It's really cool to take pieces like the one that you're talking about, the LeBron there, that's up on the screen, where that's something that Topps issued with Chuck Stiles, who's now, you know, a friend of mine and an artist that I looked up to and still do, you know, for a long time. To take that card where there's so many of them that Topps printed, and then breathe an entirely different life into it is always a lot of. It's a lot of fun, you know, to see that idea come to life and to have Chuck sign it and I sign it, and then to have other companies then Authenticate them after is just. It's pretty nuts. You know, when I started making these cards, I started just cutting them up in that style. And in the beginning, it was kind of hard to even sell them for, like, 25 bucks. People in Facebook groups would laugh when I'd post them, and I was just making them for fun, you know, to start. It wasn't really something that I started making them, thinking I was gonna monetize it or anything, but I started making them, and I recognized that they could be collectible and people would want them. And like I said in the beginning, there was a lot of people, if not the majority, that would just laugh. So to see it grow to where it is now is, like I said, it's just incredible.
- [05:34]
Ryan Alford
Well, the artists typically that have talent and stick with it, have the last laugh a lot of times.
- [05:42]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, for sure. Consistency is super key. I've seen a lot of guys come and a lot of guys go, and not a lot of guys go out and hit the road the way that I do, which helps a lot. You know, meeting people face to face, like, we were able to and to connect is totally different than just being on Instagram or Twitter or whatever. It may be where I see a lot of guys just kind of stay. But I also recognize that the way that I move isn't for everybody either. You know, not everybody wants to put their face out there and travel, and it's just not for everyone. So I recognize that, and I use it to the best of my ability, you know, take full advantage of it and just keep doing what I enjoy doing and being myself, which I know has also been really key to my success. So, you know, like, it's foot on the gas.
- [06:38]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, man. And, I mean, the consistency is it, though. It's like, I don't know. I don't care how talented you are, what you do, Certainly there can be, like, these moments, like, you catch, I don't know, magic in a bottle or something, but it's all about stacking the wins and, like, people getting and seeing what you're doing consistently. And, okay, you do one card and you did 10 of them or something. You had, like, a big launch. But then if you don't follow that up and keep, like, consistent product in the market, new artwork, new different things, and that's where it get. That's hard. Like, you know, a lot of people can't stick with that, but you're obviously getting traction and sticking with it and finding these moments to stand out, and that's the key In a lot of things. To have success across industries for sure.
- [07:23]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I feel like if you're not taking risks, you're not going to really get very far. I sometimes will create art and put it out knowing that it's something that's not going to resonate with the majority of people. Might be something that I just really wanted to see myself that, you know, really resonated with me. And I just wanted to create it and get it out of my head and I make it and I drop it and only a couple people are interested. And that's just one of those things where as an artist, if you're the type of person that's a creative, you have to just keep creating. So you can't just pick and choose, you just have to make it and see what happens.
- [07:57]
Ryan Alford
What's the creative process like for you? You know, talk me through like where the inspiration comes, the process for creating a piece, releasing it, you know, kind of top to bottom.
- [08:11]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Well, there's a few different ways that I create pieces. There's the cut pieces, which is where my name came from, the card carver, where I take existing cards from Tops and other manufacturers. I cut them up and then I make them into a new piece of art. Basically. I'm usually creating a shadow box. I'm taking the edges of cards, cutting them out, just the border and then I'm stacking them so that I can then build the card so that it has, you know, a 3D aspect to it. And then I also design stuff digitally and I print them. And when I do those, it's usually a drop of 10, which is something that I think is going to continue to be key to my success, is not creating too many pieces. There's guys that are printing 20, 30, maybe even 40, sometimes some, honestly we don't even know how how many some of these guys are printing. So I try to keep it to 10. There's one sample, one artist proof, and sometimes there's the gold frame canvas I call them, where I print just a one of one on canvas and then I apply a 22 karat gold plated metal frame to the canvas and I always auction those off. So but yeah, I'm either cutting them up or I'm designing something digitally. Everything that I do is really comes from the heart and is influenced by all the things that I've consumed in my lifetime. I don't really like to just do sports, I like to mash things up. You know, why be confined to just making Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball card when I can mash Ken Griffey Jr. Up with everything else that I love so much.
- [09:46]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, that's an interesting point. I mean, you do have this intersection of culture, sports, a lot of things. I mean. I mean, you think about what happens. I am staring at, like, shoes on my table that were, like, influenced from rock stars to rappers and everything else. You got freaking rappers making shoes. You've got basketball players making art. Like, I don't know, it's all sort of tied in this nostalgia culture. What pop culture. Like, it's an interesting blend that's happening now. That's a lot of fun.
- [10:19]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah. Well, I recognize right away when I first started making these cards because I stumbled across through my collecting, stumbled across this whole community of guys that were doing the same thing. They were cutting the cards up. Some of them might have been doing a little bit of painting on them and stuff with markers and stuff, but primarily everybody was cutting them up and everybody was doing just sports. Adding some type of, you know, super refractor material in the background or something. Shiny vine vinyl material. They were getting at Michael's or Hobby Lobby or whatever. And it was fun. But like I said, I recognize. I'm like, why am I just doing sports when I can take everything else and mash it up? And nobody else was doing that. So, you know, the thing that really kind of where I started to make my name was with the Jordan Rookie reprints. I did, like three or four. They were all different, but they were all the shadow box style. And it would be Jordan and incorporating G.I. joe in the background and Super Mario and Spider man and the Goonies and all these different things. And nobody had seen anything like it. And luckily nobody else really messes around with that style. You have to have a deep inventory and a lot of patience to be able to mash all those images up and not have them look like garbage, have it all make sense. Colors, matching the theme, all, like, going together. It's not just cutting up a bun pick, grabbing a handful of cards, cutting them up, and it's all going to work. I'll spend hours sometimes moving the pieces around, cutting things out, and then I decide I'm not going to use it and I have to cut up more stuff. And, you know, it's painstaking sometimes, but it's a lot of fun.
- [12:02]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, that's kind of down that point. It's like this balance of scarcity plus time and, you know, everything's hand done. Right. I mean, I know you print some things, but, like, it's kind of all comes together by hand. Is that. Would that ever not be the case?
- [12:19]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, I mean, no, because, I mean, when it comes down to it, like for me specifically, I don't have a team. Some of these guys I know for, you know, have family members, their wife might be helping them, some of them have employees. Now I do everything from the design to the manufacturing to the fulfillment. I. I'm customer service you on social media, you know, literally doing everything. So my hands are on every piece from beginning to end. And I'm printing off the fronts, I'm printing off the backs, I'm assembling the pieces. The labels are all hand cut and printed by me right down to, you know, they all come in a slab like this that I get from Zion, their Mag Pro case.
- [13:07]
Ryan Alford
That's awesome.
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Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
And then this fits into these acrylics, you know, the thick slab.
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Ryan Alford
Love that.
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Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
This one's the Piggy Banks Michael Jordan Crown collaboration.
- [13:20]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. As I say that, Piggy Banks has been hitting my radar. Like, did you do that with them?
- [13:25]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah. I've known Piggy Banks for, you know, since he started. Basically I was making cars a little bit before he was. I was cutting them up and I think I'd printed a couple like tobacco size cards. I had plans to print cards, but Piggy Banks came in and he had great packaging from the start. Obviously had a really good plan. He was printing the cards and he was slabbing them, you know, with the label up top and everything, like PSA style. Before anybody else was really messing around with that. And he was doing so good with that. I decided to just kind of leave it alone for a while. And I just focused on being the best that I could be at cutting cards. And eventually I was like, you know what? Like, I have all these ideas. I started printing the cards also and that actually started to really take off even more than the cut cards. So that's really been my main focus over the past year. I'm still cutting cards up, but printing and doing the drops with the 10 variations and the canvas gold frames has been really where. Where things have been at for me.
- [14:25]
Podcast Announcer
You see something you like in our pack grips on the show? Check out the Rad Collective ebay store and ebay live shows@ebay livestore.com or@breaking rad.com all the cars we rip on the show will be available on both platforms.
- [14:47]
Ryan Alford
The printing, is that, I mean, is that like getting into like graphic design? I'm assuming?
- [14:53]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, yeah, yep.
- [14:55]
Ryan Alford
And so do you.
- [14:55]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yes. I'm designing the Pieces. I'm also doing stuff where behind me it's kind of hard to see, but in this frame back here is a Louis Vuitton piece that I did where I took a shopping bag from Louis Vuitton and I took like a hundred plus year old piece of art that I found at an antique store here in Maine where I live. And I took the art out of the frame, I tore the art apart and I mixed it. So it's like a multimedia piece with an image of Jordan and this hundred year old artwork and then this frame and then I took a picture of that and you know, I created a slab companion for it.
- [15:33]
Ryan Alford
I love that.
- [15:34]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
With the blue strap from the Louis Vuitton bag, which is also part of the frame.
- [15:39]
Ryan Alford
I love that.
- [15:40]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
So It's a special 101, 22 karat gold frame, Louis Vuitton, I call it bag work with the image of Mike.
- [15:48]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [15:48]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
And then you have the 101 wall piece to go with it. That's the type of stuff that I've really been focused on lately. Nobody else is really doing that type of stuff and trying to innovate and do things that are different from other people. And also, I mean, I don't just want to do cards. Not to say that it like bores me just doing cards, but I want to do so much more. So that's just kind of where my head is at.
- [16:13]
Ryan Alford
Luxury nostalgia.
- [16:16]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Luxury nostalgia. Yeah, I mean that's the key word. And just making things because I mean, when people see things that are different, it catches their eye. But if you can also make them feel something more than just like, oh wow, this is different. Make them feel something. And that's where, you know, artwork that like grabs people and tugs at those, those heartstrings and really makes them feel something. That's what, what is special and what works so well. That's what people want.
- [16:41]
Ryan Alford
There's a guy I know who said people think with their head and they buy with their heart. You're, you're looking at that guy.
- [16:53]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
It's, it's super true. That's a great quote.
- [16:57]
Ryan Alford
It's true though. Maybe, you know, if you can make, if you make them think, it'll make them stop. But if you make them feel, they pull out the wallet. And I don't mean that it's just about business, but it, but because it has value, it's more that, like more. I don't mean that as much commercially like as, I mean when people spend their money, it has value to them. It has Meaning, and it's deeper than a thought. And I think that's where nostalgia and tying into, like, something that. Okay, wow. It's arresting. It grabs my attention, but then it triggers something that makes me want to have it. And I think that's what you're tapping into.
- [17:34]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I think people just want to feel something at the end of the day.
- [17:37]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [17:37]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
You know what I mean? And if you can do that for them, you know, with your artwork, there's a lot of people that really value that as they should, because it's something special. Not everybody, you know, finds or figures out how to tap into that magic. And I've been really lucky the last few years to do that. It's really just a culmination of everything that I have done throughout my life, whether it was a success or a failure. And there's been a lot of failures. It's all, like, equal to this right now. And that's where, you know, being a leader in this space can be sometimes difficult because people will want to, you know, follow the same path and stuff. But you just have to remind yourself that if you're gonna be a leader, people are gonna follow 100%.
- [18:20]
Ryan Alford
What inspires you, though? Like, I mean, there's probably. Is it going to different shows? Is it consuming content? Like, where do you. Where do the ideas percolate from?
- [18:29]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I've just always been a creative, and I guess I never realized it when I was younger, but I've recognized it more and more later in life that not everybody is a creative and just how much value there is in that. You know, I was the kid that. When he was in. Like, when I was in third grade, I was getting in trouble because instead of paying attention to math class, I was trying to draw GI Joe comic books, you know, in my desk and stuff. Having the teacher come and take. Take the paper away and throw. Throw it away. And, you know, I was drawing my own starter jackets and my own Nike shoes in middle school. So I've just always been creating. It's just always been in me. I don't really know that there's any. Like, I don't even think about inspiration. Like, I just. It just is what it is. I'm always. My mind is always doing it.
- [19:19]
Ryan Alford
But there's definitely probably, I guess, these moments that come and go, like, you know, Kobe's birthday coming up or just happening or the. The milestone with LeBron. I'm sure you're kind of being creative. You're naturally into and into sports and pop culture and different things. You probably keep your, I don't know, eye on the. What's happening or it grabs your attention. Like, be a moment to document in your way. Right.
- [19:43]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
For sure. I honestly don't focus on that. The. The right now stuff as much as probably I should. And you know, and to be honest, you know, the Kobe day just passed and it seemed like every single artist that is out there right now making cards and slabbed art, they all put out a piece.
- [20:03]
Ryan Alford
Right.
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Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Like for it. And it's just like if 20 artists are all putting a Kobe card out the same day, is that really going to be good for everybody? I'm not sure. Yeah, maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. I didn't. I didn't put one out. I was busy doing other stuff.
- [20:16]
Ryan Alford
Well, it's good and bad. I mean, sometimes there's. You make a good point. If everybody's doing it, it still is valuable. But if you're busy, that's a good thing too.
- [20:26]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Right? But I don't know. But I hear you.
- [20:30]
Ryan Alford
Well, there's borrowed interest. I call it borrowed. I mean, sometimes people hear that word and they don't like it or they think it's bad. I personally love it. Like, because, look, everything we do in life and marketing and sales or whatever else is hard. I mean, it's just. It's hard to get attention, it's hard to make sales. There's moments in times that you can sort of tag on to that does some lifting for you to a degree. But there's a fine line between creativity, originality in that statement as well.
- [21:01]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, I mean, I'm inspired by what I grew up with, nearly 80s and 90s culture.
- [21:06]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
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Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Really inspired by music and just creatives. I was always. He's gone off the deep end, you know, But I was always inspired by people like Kanye who did so much across so many different boards creatively. You know, Virgil with all the stuff that he did with clothing to this day. Pharrell is one of those people like musically, Michael Jackson.
- [21:29]
Ryan Alford
I mean, you know, Pharrell's the head of.
- [21:33]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Is the creative designer. The head of Louis Vuitton now.
- [21:37]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. Crazy.
- [21:38]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Which is crazy.
- [21:39]
Ryan Alford
It is crazy.
- [21:40]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
The guy that's, you know, he's done sneakers. He had his own skateboard brand, multi platinum friggin music producer.
- [21:49]
Ryan Alford
Well, I mean, you know, but this is all sort of what I call taste making, right?
- [21:54]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yes. Yeah.
- [21:55]
Ryan Alford
100 taste makers, they. They know whether it's a sound or a shoe or a shirt or pocketbook or brand or a card, they have A vision creatively that sets people's taste. And a lot of people don't know it till they see it. Guys like you see it before we believe it, you know?
- [22:18]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, my. I don't know where he got it from, but my dad always used to say you have to see the invisible to do the impossible, you know, so that's, you know, being. Being that, like, step ahead and seeing it is huge.
- [22:30]
Ryan Alford
And being willing to do it, you know, like, everybody thinks they. Oh, man, I had that idea way before. Well, great. Did you do it? Did you put it pen to paper? You know, because. Yeah, if you didn't, that and a dollar will buy you a pack of gum.
- [22:50]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Right?
- [22:51]
Ryan Alford
So, yeah, man. It's execution is everything. As they say in. In all things. Tom, like what. What's got you excited right now, man?
- [23:01]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I got Culture Collision coming up in a couple weeks. I think it's September 12th to 14th, whatever that weekend there is. It's always a really good show. I've been really fortunate to become really part of the show. I designed the trading cards at the show. It's also the. The artwork that I designed for the trading cards. They also use for all the badges, the vendor badges, the. The VIP badges, the sponsors. I've also done some collaborations with Prism God, who is the owner of the show. Him and his wife, Joyce. You must have seen the bags that we released at Culture Collision that I designed. The neat cash for cards we're also doing. Yeah, thank you. They're a lot of fun. We're also doing some hoodies that are going to be coming out, crewnecks and sweatshirts at the next Culture Collision with the same graphics on it. And then I'm out in Vegas for a new show that I'm really excited about by Rock Solid Productions or Promotions, Family Run. Really nice couple that throw the show. And I think it's going to be really good. The last one I was at that they put together was great. They've got Sam Williams from the Dallas Cowboys and trying to remember who the other autograph guests that are coming, but either way, it's going to be a blast. I'm looking forward to that stuff. I'm working on some things and maybe Philly and New York City. I've got some collaborations coming that, you know, kind of secret and in the works and.
- [24:24]
Ryan Alford
Come on, we can break it here on the show.
- [24:27]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I know, I know some of them. The details. Some of the details haven't really been ironed out and I don't want to get ahead of myself on some of them. But I'm always trying to do, do bigger, bigger, better things, you know.
- [24:46]
Ryan Alford
All right, guys, let's get to the news of the week. First off, today's a Friday. When this comes out, the boys and I will be at the Haywood Mall trading card show this weekend on Saturday. So if you listen to this on release day like you should, anywhere in the upstate of South Carolina, southeast, stop in, we've got a four table setup. We'll be promoting the podcast and everything. Rad Collective. We'll have all ton of great cards, some great wax. You can come meet me or the boys. And of course we'd love to talk to you if you're in the upstate listening to the show, which you should be. We appreciate you. So that's where us and the boys will be. And of course, lots. There's a big show in Dallas you might know about. One of the largest shows happening this weekend as we speak. Huge show. The King of Cards is going to be there. He mentioned that if you hadn't checked out that episode, need to go. That's your news of the week. Go check out the episode with Kyle. It was awesome. Really enjoyed him. Just a really authentic dude, man. And you know, that's why we're in this space as guys like him. Like the future is bright with guys like him, my boys and everything that we're doing with the Rad Collective. So shout out to him, hit the back button on the episode. Listen to everything the King of Cards had to talk about and that he's up to. Really fascinating some of the deals he's put together. Watching him on YouTube and of course his love of Johnny Manziel. Of course we went there talking about getting the, the card and the really the difference in cards collecting and car business. So check out that interview. Really enjoyed that also. So some of the, I mean the biggest headlines really this week have to do with just the booming industry. We've been talking, we talked about this. You're gonna hear me talk about it. Our content on Instagram, my personal channel at Ryan Alford talking about just the industry. So I looked at the sales month over month and card ladder does a great job. They put out this data of all verified online sales. $416 million is how much business was done in August. I had to like double check that. I did a double take. And of course, yeah, okay, 12 million was on the Kobe card, but are you kidding? Back that out, you're still at over $400 million. You're talking like 30 to 40% up year over year in the industry of just this is just verified online card sales. So think how many deals are happening in those trade nights. I was at the National. We know how many deals are happening. Tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands of deals going down there. I will, I would beg to say there's 5 to $700 million in deals happening across the board. Unofficial data, but 416 million and just verified online. The leaders being ebay. Go figure. EBay did 301 million less than cards. Holy cow. They talk about a booming business. Ebay doesn't want card collecting to go away, man. That is a huge chunk. Fanatics at 37 million in heritage at 33. But man, those are the biggest leaders. And then it's spread across the rest of them. The Busiest day was August 17th. 256,000 sales were done that day and over the whole month. This is what's crazy. 5.87 million transactions, huh? Are you kidding me? Unbelievable. How much money is exchanging hands in this business. That's why we're here. We want to bring this data to you and just to talk about all the opportunity that is in the space. And then from a grading standpoint, you had 2.28 million cards graded pretty much flat month over month, but it was up 27% year over year. So we talk about grading and it really fueling and driving parts of the industry or lots of the industry. That's what we mean. 27% year over year. PSA did 1.66 million which was up 19 year over year. CGC 438, 000, up 10%. And SGC? Oh come on man. 118 000, down 23. I mean have you ever seen a, an example of a company buying another company just to let them flounder and fail potentially just to put them out of business? You know, I guess you could do it, but if you're gonna do it, why just buy them and fold them? I guess you can get slow burn here. The slow death of SGC had a little bit of competition. So I'm looking forward to talking to Mike Baker to talk about his perspective. Mike Baker's doing card grading. He was one of the lead graders at, I mean pretty much the league or he was the first employee at PSA and then was like head of grading for 10 years. So Mike's doing his own grading and authentication. He's going to be on the show here the coming weeks. So look forward to talking to him about some of these numbers. But grading stuff and drive a bit. Here's what's interesting, you know, that's why, you know, trading cards and collectible space and sports. Hey, we're sports guys. The boys and I love sports. But Pokemon was 58 of PSA's volume. Almost 60% of the grading volume was coming through Pokemon. The top PSA set was 2024 Dondrus Optic Football. Hey, go figure. Probably a lot of downtowns and everything else in there. The hottest set of year. It makes sense. And of course, the top TCG set is Destined Rivals. We've quite a few packs of that. Destined Rivals. Tell you, I don't know all the rules with the Pokemon stuff, but you're gonna see us doing rips of that. It's fun. Beautiful artwork. So I appreciate the artwork. I do know enough to be dangerous illustration rare. I can throw the vernacular around. Got a holo, reverse holo. I know the vernacular, but the boys talk a little bit more about that in coming sessions and releases. But again, the amount of Pokemon, that's a huge opportunity. We have a lot of Pokemon cards laying around. Really nice ones. I've never graded anything Pokemon, but you got 60% of freaking PSA's volume from this month at Pokemon. It's obviously an opportunity. And the hit rate supposed to be out there. I'd like to see what, what, tens, nines, eight, what. What's a grading scale for newer stuff and how it's falling. I mean, because I look at some of these, sometimes I open these packs and man, the balancing is so off. Like, the centering of the cards, like, drives me crazy, but crazy. The numbers that are being done in grading and overall sales, from a price trend perspective, you've got football is up 10%, baseball up 9%, and basketball up 7%. Everybody's up, baby. The numbers are up. But I'll tell you, football right before season makes sense. So totally makes sense to be up. That's pretty natural. You got college football launch last weekend. We'll talk about Clemson. Man, what a disappointment. Yeah, look, close game. Love my boys. Just wanted to. To get the W. So. But nonetheless, football season's here. NFL starting this weekend. And of course we've got both playing. So I mean, my. My Saturdays and Sundays are kind of made now Saturday be watching some of the games from the. The card show Clemson plays Troy, I think. So we watching that. And then Sunday NFL, of course, first Sunday night game is. That was actually last night when we were recording this ahead of Friday. So the first NFL games already happened when we recorded this. I mean, you guys saw this, the headline sale, the Jordan Kobe dual logo, man, $12.9 million. What do I think about that? I mean, obviously everybody and their brother's been talking about this. It's out there. What's my perspective? I mean, being, you know, back in the hobby for a year, collecting, growing up. Look, I think it's good for the hobby, you know, bringing more business in, bringing more investors in. Mr. Wonderful. Whether you like him, love him or hate him, he's a good businessman and he understands investing and he's put a lot of money into one piece of cardboard because he sees what I see. This industry is ripe for investment and it's a safe asset class. And so I think it's good the shining the light from a broader perspective. You know, you don't want it to bring in more bad players. That's be the one probably the cautionary tale. But I do like the fact that you're seeing people that are smart in a lot of other aspects of business and money and finance and other segments come into the industry. And I think that's good for the industry overall and will help raise prices. Probably in the short term you're seeing some of that, but we'll see what happens long term. Biggest thing I would say is check out if you're into Pokemon, go get this graded. Like clearly there's a trend there. Get that Pokemon graded. I'm going to pull some of mine out. Like I'm going have to do a session here. I'm going to bring out got my magnifying glass and light. The boys and I are going to have to do some sessions where we're looking at and and evaluating the grading, especially on Pokemon in particular, trying to see and compare what's getting graded correctly. And it's a little different. You know, you look at all these football and sports cards, you kind of get used to knowing what to look for. You're looking at corners, centering the surface. And it's similar thing with Pokemon, but I find it a little harder to tell the exact centering on those. You can definitely see when like one stripe or something's thicker or thinner than the others the way you can't football. But then it gets a little off for me because sometimes shifting can be off and is that you gotta have the right tools to do that correctly. But I do think there seems to be a ton of opportunity with the number of of cards being sent in for upping the value of your collection by getting them graded. Those Pokemons sitting around. So we got a few ourselves. Last but not least, check out breakingrad.com it's where our website is. All the cards and breaks that we do. And of course on Instagram, breakingrad.com is actually our handle there. My handle is at Ryan Alford, all of our deals and then go check out our ebay live store for of course cars that we're selling wax and then that live shopping that we're about to start. We're going to have the release date coming up, I promise. We've got a huge release of 2024 football. The best of talking, the best of the best hobby boxes, best breakers boxes. We've, we've stored it back, folks. It's going to be an awesome. We'll do pre sales for that. So all the best boxes of 2024 open all at once can be fun. It's going to be a blast. It's going to be on ebay live. Appreciate them and appreciate you. That is the news wrap up for today here on trading cards and collectibles.
- [35:51]
Podcast Announcer
You see something you like in our pack grips on the show, Check out the Rad collective ebay store and ebay live shows at ebaylivestore.com or at breakingrad. All the cards we rip on the show will be available on both platforms.
- [36:13]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. Anything you're carving as we speak that you can talk about.
- [36:18]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I for a while now have been keeping tucked away. I've got about 80 each of Kobe Bryant game used jersey pieces and Michael Jordan game used jersey pieces. And man, I probably had them for like almost a year now. And it's probably time that I do something with that over the next few months. So gonna start releasing some of that stuff for sure.
- [36:39]
Ryan Alford
That was cool.
- [36:40]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I know. Yeah. Some people are going to be excited about those dual Jordan and Kobe game used jersey pieces.
- [36:47]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, it was a big sale with one of those guys this week. 12.
- [36:53]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah. I didn't even think about the timing of that. Yeah, I've just been sitting on those. So they're slabbed by Beckett and each one of them has it says like authentic game use memorabilia pieces and there's little squares they were left over from upper deck or someone doing, you know, cards.
- [37:10]
Ryan Alford
Oh, that's a nice find. Nice hold.
- [37:12]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I grabbed those and like I said, I just kind of been waiting. I just have so many ideas and things I want to do. This piece behind me, the Louis Vuitton in the frame. I've got two more frames right in front of me. I've been going to antique shops and flea markets all over Maine hunting for frames specifically. I know what I'm looking for, and it just has. It has to catch my eye again. I'm looking for things that move me, that make me feel something, and it has to go with the art because I know what I like to create for art, and I know the style that I'm looking for. And so I've been. I've been hunting, like, all summer for frames, and I have maybe like half a dozen of them now altogether. This piece, the Louis Vuitton piece in the frame, I'm trying to do a bunch more of those. I found a handful of frames I've been hunting all summer. Antique stores at flea markets here in Maine. Like, it has to be just the right one. I've seen hundreds of them, and I've wound up with just a handful that I'm going to put art in. I'm really excited to do more of those with the frames and the companions. Maybe even do, like, my own show at Bleaker Trading or somewhere like that this fall or winter with them.
- [38:21]
Ryan Alford
That would be awesome. And hey, I want. I want a special. Ryan offered special edition something, you know.
- [38:26]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I think we're gonna have to. We'll make it happen. We'll make it happen.
- [38:29]
Ryan Alford
Can we get a collab going?
- [38:30]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Absolutely. Let's do it.
- [38:34]
Ryan Alford
I know, man. I need you. I need the Carver's artistic vision around this. Yeah, you know, like, I mean, let's get some attention.
- [38:42]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I think we ought to do something and drop some cards at a show together. That would be pretty fun, too.
- [38:46]
Ryan Alford
That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, man. Let's set up together. I mean, need to get you to G. Vegas.
- [38:52]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I'm into it.
- [38:53]
Ryan Alford
And they got show here. We can meet in Charlotte or Atlanta or Charleston or, you know, wherever.
- [38:59]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, I'm into it.
- [39:00]
Ryan Alford
I love it, man. Hey, man, I love. I love what you're doing. I can't wait till you start sending me stuff and I can display it on my. My table here, you know? Like, can you do, like, if you do a 1 of 10, can you do it an 11th piece that, like, I will never tell. I will never sell. I will not flood the market, but can, like, sit here on the table, you know?
- [39:23]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Yeah, we can get you.
- [39:24]
Ryan Alford
I won't tell anybody.
- [39:25]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
I got something. I got something. Absolutely.
- [39:29]
Ryan Alford
I love it, man. Hey, tell everybody where they can learn about the drops, learn about where you're going to be and keep up with everything you're doing.
- [39:36]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Best place to find me is on Instagram. It's just the Card Carver. The Card Carver across all social media. Also thecardcarver.com but the best place to see what's really happening and understand what's going on, I would say, is Instagram. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Always happy to, you know, answer new collectors questions. And a lot of people have a lot of them. So, you know, love to hear from you.
- [40:01]
Ryan Alford
Hey, we're keeping it real here. I'm meeting a lot of people in the space and what I love about what you're doing and is like, I met you. We immediately hit it off. We're talking like old friends and there's so many people in this space where I'm kind of like, I'm not sure about or I'm like, I don't feel welcome or something. But it's guys like you that are both highly creative, highly talented, doing something really unique and then you're just real man. So I really appreciate you.
- [40:29]
Tom Fallows (The Card Carver)
Likewise. Same. Same vibes. I always appreciate when I meet new people in the hobby. You know, just like you said, you either vibe with people or you don't. Some people have good energy, some people not so much. So when you do encounter that, it's nice to keep it around you. So I appreciate you. Thank you for having me on and definitely looking forward to seeing you on the road.
- [40:51]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, brother, can't wait. Hey guys, you're going to find us Collectibles show. That's the website. You'll find the full audio, video, social clips and everything in every way to meet, see, greet, buy stuff from the Card Carver. We'll see you next time.
- [41:06]
Podcast Announcer
Thanks for tuning into the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect yours.