It wasn’t until the go-go years of the 1980s, when the first baby boomers were reaching middle age, that large amounts of money poured into the sports memorabilia market, especially for baseball-related items, which make up about 70 percent of the vintage market. The value of trading cards for the most famous players including Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron jumped. PhotoSo in time, insurers started writing policies that covered sports memorabilia and authenticators began to verify the legitimacy of cards and other items. “There’s only so much you can put in real estate and Wall Street,” said Mr. Ivy, whose company handles about $60 million in auction sales annually. “I see it like art, something we grow up with and at the end of the day, evokes passion in us,” Mr. Ivy said.

Source: New York Times October 27, 2017 09:00 UTC