How Much is Zohran Mamdani’s Autograph Worth?

Whatever your political leaning is, leave it at the Mail Day door. We only care about value. And fun.

And so with Zohran Mamdani being sworn in as New York mayor, I wondered, softly to myself, How much is his stuff worth?

This sprung from Mamdani being on the cover of New York Magazine this week. If I wanted a hard copy I would pretty much have to be in New York to get one — trying to buy one online is a labyrinth of frustration and confusion. Sellers on eBay are asking $13-15 for a copy. Which led me to pondering this puzzle: how much an autographed copy would be worth. 

Mamdani has a few autographs up on eBay — they vary wildly and none are authenticated. He didn’t really reach celebrity status until his campaign; it’s not like people were hounding him for his signature during his years as an assemblyman. This is, in other words, an entirely new market. There are no comps. Influencers doing staged Instagram haggling at shows over Mamdani autographs would implode. 

I searched for what I thought could be some close comps in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but she is more on the national stage than Mamdani. Still, her autograph prices — they are few and far between — range in the mid-hundreds to thousands… with the caveat that these are listed prices and not “sold.” But they have held staying power after early news buzz. 

Quick side note: I would have thought the AOC comic book, especially in good graded condition, would have been worth a lot more. It is not. I don’t know if it’s a “buy low” or it was just too widely available…  something to ponder another day. 

As for more comps(ish)?

You can get a signed Bernie Sanders book for under $100 right now. Donald Trump, depending on how you feel about certain COAs, may run about $125 on the low end. Jesse Ventura can be had for $60. Ron Paul is a surprisingly low $20! An autographed photo of outgoing NY mayor Eric Adams sold for just $11 at Pristine Auctions in 2024.

Mamdani isn’t going to show up at The National signing flats for $125 so his signature will likely remain hard-to-find for a while. And I’m not saying “stalk the mayor of New York City,” but if you happen upon him, ask for an autograph! Get it certified! And sell it! He is a savvy media personality, he will stay in the spotlight. At the very least he will have either a long political career or a long media one.

A certified authenticated Mamdani autograph on even a flyer? My hunch is $200. If you get that New York magazine signed? I’d start the bidding at $300 and see where it goes!

As we kick off a new year I wanted to try something new here at Mail Day: actionable card buying advice. Today’s topic?

The Single Best Value in Cards

The player? Trey Lance. 

You may view Trey Lance as a bust. Most people do. And that’s exactly why his market is so great right now. We can’t buy Malik Willis cards after his late-season surge for the Packers showcased him as a potential starter in 2026. That market is adjusting. 

But Lance? Buckle in!

1. Why Trey Lance?

Forget about Sunday’s game, where he played with backups and forced passes to Keenan Allen in the first three quarters to hit his receptions incentives. Pull back the frame to 2021, when Lance was picked at No. 3 by the 49ers, an organization that rarely misses in talent evaluation — they traded up from 12 to get him. Lance got his first career start in Week 5 after coming in for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo the previous week. He put up 349 yards and 2 TDs while running for 130 between those two appearances, in a game and a half. He was then benched again until the final week of the season, throwing for 239 yards and 2 TDs and running for 31. He won the starting job in 2022 and broke his ankle in the second game. This eventually opened the door for Brock Purdy. 

In 2023, Lance lost the backup role to Sam Darnold and was traded to Dallas. He spent the season as the No. 3 QB and didn’t see any game action. When Dak Prescott was injured in 2024, the Cowboys went with Cooper Rush over Lance — but they gave him a shot in the last game of the season (there’s a theme developing here) where he threw for 244 yards to receivers like Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, and KaVontae Turpin. 

Lance will be a free agent this offseason and he has recent history on his side, with Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith and even Daniel Jones having realized their potential several years and teams after being top picks in the draft. 

If this tantalizes you, read on!

2. What are we buying?

-rookies

-autographs

-PSA 10s

-Panini Prizms

A few notes! I am one of the biggest Leaf fans you will find, and Leaf is an incredible way to get into the Lance market (or any market) at a low price point. But this is a full-on resale gambit. Leaf is my “sentimental/FunC” home; Panini Prizm is where I go if I’m speculating or buying low hoping for giant returns.

The 2021 Prizm set has a billion parallels, so you may want to consult this post before you buy. A caveat to the note — someone looking at a parallel might just think orange disco or red white and blue parallels are cool…and simply buy those instead of a scarcer version. 

3. The markets respond

One of the reasons I don’t love collecting modern football cards is the insane premium on QBs — and little value elsewhere. Collectors sniff a QB being good and the prices skyrocket — and they started high to begin with. But where we can exploit the market is in the perception department — people think Lance is a bust; he’s not. He just had some really bad luck and timing. People think the 49ers thought he was trash and got rid of him; they were being magnanimous and let him develop as a better fit elsewhere. When he’s played, he’s shown good passing ability and elite running skill. 

The timeline we need here with Lance and his currently-deflated card prices looks like this:

1. Someone in mainstream media is going to speculate that teams are looking at Lance as a starter

2. Rumors will then start about a team… let’s say the Raiders, loving Lance — “Tom Brady, especially”

3. Lance’s $20 PSA 10s will climb to $50

4. Lance will sign somewhere and will get a shot at winning the job. $50 becomes $100.

5. Lance wins the starting job in camp. $125

6. Lance has a decent Week 1. $140

7. Lance has a monster Week 2 and runs for 50-plus yards. $175

My hunch is it plateaus there as he continues to show off his abilities as a runner. Fantasy football hype will help push up his value as he becomes a Top 5 QB in the format because of his running skill. 

4. Who’s with me??!! 

The only way to actually get any value in the modern QB card market is identifying misperception and hoping the right opportunity presents itself. There is risk — maybe Lance doesn’t get a starting job. Maybe he gets hurt. Maybe he lands in a bad offense for his skills. But rarely do you get a chance to buy into the only real area of value in modern cards — the starting QB. Here we are. Believe and get in or don’t and… buy more JJ McCarthy cards, I guess?

One last note this week. Leaf sent an email late Sunday night with a brilliant gambit trying to sell more SI For Kids licensed cards: we have low print runs.

From the Book of Leaf:

This week’s SI for Kids Series 8 marks the lowest print run ever for an SI for Kids licensed card by Leaf, making it one of the rarest modern releases on the market.

I’ve often pondered (I ponder a lot) about this — something with a print run of 62 is super-scarce… but it’s because nobody wants it. And while you can argue that this is a low print run of a possible future star, it’s still airbrushed and the whole SIFK crossover remains a little confusing. 

The angle here is great, though. And I got my first couple cards in the mail over the break and they’re great quality; they also did the fake perforations perfectly. 

This email isn’t making me buy more cards, but you can’t help but love the idea.