Weekly Market Report - June 28, 2006

A Fresh Look at Sports Collectibles News

This week McFarlane unveiled photography for NHL 13. The most intriguing thing about this series is that it includes five first time figures and one second time figure. The entire set is loaded with young stars. The set includes rookie figures of Dany Heatley, Alexander Ovechkin, Bryan McCabe, Henrik Lundqvist, and Alex Tanguay, as well as the second figure of Joe Thornton.

With his recent MVP award, the Thornton figure in the Sharks uniform should generate some interest, but the real catch in this series will be the rookie figure (and variant) of Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin could be one of the all time greats and his rookie figure should draw a ton of interest. [read release]

Topps is commemorating Dwyane Wade's NBA Finals MVP award with an eTopps card. Collectors can log onto eTopps.com and purchase the special Wade card for just $7.50. Only 1,499 copies of the card are available and will only be on sale until tomorrow (6/29).

eTopps is the future of collecting in my mind. For one reason or another it hasn't caught on, but hopefully it will. If you are a card collector I urge you to take your collection to the next level with eTopps. Snagging this Wade card for only $7.50 would be a good start. [read release]

I recently stumbled upon an interview with Troy Kinunen. Kinunen runs his authentication business, Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services, online at www.mearsonline.com. The part that sticks out is when he's asked about fraud: "In the past, fraud was the biggest reason the hobby experienced slow growth. Now, with available information and third-party authentication, collectors can more easily determine if their item is real. Fraud has been drastically reduced."

Exactly. In my crusade to make people aware of the problems with autograph authentication, one of the things I preach is that it has been drastically reduced over the past ten years, something the major authentication companies would never admit. Kudos to Kinunen. From now on I'm referring business to him. [read article]