Things We're Buying (Including Marilyn Monroe's Hair)

Several weeks ago, we ran a section with “three things I’m buying and three I’m passing on.” I was told it was great by our boss here, Evan Parker… and promptly never did it again. Just to spite him.

But, it was also the holiday season and I was spending money on others, not myself. Now that Twelfth Night has come and gone? Back to being selfish! In fact, in reviewing my actions, I didn’t actually pass on much this last week. I kind of went on a spending spree. 

Observe the imbalance in the two lists… 

FOUR THINGS I’M BUYING

1. Cheers Rittenhouse hobby box ($150) — One of these weeks we’ll write an epic Mail Day about our love for Rittenhouse – possibly the most underrated card manufacturer out there. The things they do with autographs and inscriptions are bold and best-in-class. For instance, if you wanted the actor who played Littlefinger to inscribe an autograph on a card, and I asked you to imagine it being anything at all… what would it be? “Chaos is a Ladder,” right? And then there’s even a little drawing of the ladder!:

And this is a card listed for $575, so there’s a definite market for Rittenhouse. Now comes Cheers, with a billion iconic lines. They have “NORM!” chase cards. This set is going to deliver, big time, in value and fun — and while it might seem niche, you can check out Rittenhouse autographs on eBay and see how well they do on the open market (shoutout to someone in last week’s Hot Takes newsletter pointing out this set coming soon). 

2. Lauren Betts anything – in our first Mail Day, we sang the praises of Lauren Betts. And now UCLA is the No. 1 team in the country and Betts is averaging a double-double and is Top 20 in the nation in blocks. UR Welcome. But it gets better. We live in an era now where staying in school could net you millions if you’re even slightly marketable; Betts is already represented by William Morris Agency. Her cards aren’t cheap, but they are still very much undervalued. Get on them before March Madness, when she will upgrade her fame big-time as the team makes a deep run.

3. Marilyn Monroe Icons Collection ($500) – I’m not sure what to expect from this Leaf set, but they’re promising one hair strand or one cut signature per box. That feels $500-ery to me, although I’m not sure what I would do with these cards after I open the box. Sell them? My hunch is a hair strand card could go up to $400 on its own, if not more. It might require a little patience for the set to get some buzz, but Marilyn Monroe doesn’t have a lot of hair strand memorabilia out there, or a lot of autographs, really. And memorabilia hunters might just be searching her name, not realizing there’s a set out there. Just double-check the box odds before you buy; I’m going off the Leaf website details. 

4. Paul Skenes TBT rookies ($15-ish) – I love the Paul Skenes story as much as the next guy, but I also just spent $500 on Marilyn Monroe’s hair. So instead of breaking the bank on a top-line Skenes card, I’m opting for aesthetics. And the Topps TBT line has two great ones. The 1988 Topps Football Super Rookie homage:

…and the 1960 Topps Magazine Baseball Rookie Star set:

Because it’s Skenes, prices are going to be mildly inflated, but the cards just look cool, and the print runs (3680 for Rookie Stars) are still low enough where these cards will still – for whatever it’s worth – be more scarce than your base versions across other sets. 

TWO THINGS I’M PASSING ON

1. Disney Genesis box ($450 on eBay): When the set was released as cases and boxes at noon on Jan. 1, I had one in my cart before the Topps site crashed. I refreshed intermittently for hours, rage-searched CardPurchaser’s comments to see if anyone had gotten anything, and then sat by as they were released again and popped up on eBay for 4-6x the $100 release price. Would I have done the same (sell it for $450) if I got one? Absolutely. Will I now take some imagined high road and blame “bots” for scooping up all the cards in minutes, crashing the site, and then being at the ready when the lights went back on, blocking out those poor Disney Adults (of which I am not; I am an opportunist here)? Also yes forever!!

2. Skeleton Crew 3.75 figures: Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’m really enjoying “Skeleton Crew” on Disney+. It’s basically the Goonies and Indiana Jones but with a really incredible pirate droid. I haven’t thought to rank Star Wars droids yet, but SM-33 would be Top 3. (In fact, if JR Fickle can aside for a moment — for all the gripes of the new Star Wars shows, they’ve really done a fantastic job with the droids. I can’t recall one being annoying or bad. Some of the series themselves aren’t great, but the new droids? Entertaining and fresh!). Anyway, I go to see how much an SM-33 figure is and… it doesn’t exist. They only have one for the Jude Law character. I don’t know if that means they didn’t have much hope for this show or what, but there’s a line of Funkos for the show (also no SM-33, though), so… that’s a bummer. We will wait and sign a petition and that will be that. 

Before we part ways this week, I just want to point out a quick ICYMI story from Michael Salfino in The Athletic. It ran a month ago, but it’s a fascinating read on a 75 year old “rookie” card that may not be a rookie card at all. 

Enjoy your weeks, everyone! Thanks for hanging and allowing us to get weird in your virtual mailboxes!