Shill Bidding, Risky Investments and a Gold Toilet: The Week in Collecting!

No shill, Collectors, it’s been a tense week in The Hobby.

Social media has been ALIVE as just about everyone with an IG account has tossed in their opinion on what constitutes shill bidding, which prominent collectors they think are shill bidding, and what’s OK and not OK to do when you (or friends) have an item up for auction.

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If you haven’t been following, Darren Rovell and cllct have a good primer here.

The Hobby doesn’t seem to be moving beyond this saga as quickly as it normally does, with the Sports Cards Nonsense guys spending time on their pod this week getting into the details, and with prominent Hobby voice Nick Andrews predicting that more will come out that could seriously impact the high-end card space.

We’re betting it’ll blow over in another day or two. It seems like every month there’s a dust-up in the card world but few seem to have staying power.

Have a take? Come let us know over on Mantel.

Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood will make his solo cover debut on the 2025 Topps Chrome Update Series, out Dec. 10, a fitting honor for a lifelong collector turned big-league star. The set includes Wood’s MLB Debut Patch autograph, alongside debut patches for Dylan Crews, Roki Sasaki, and other hyped names The Hobby will be chasing. Wood reminisced about his childhood binder of cards and the thrill of joining the same hobby he grew up loving, citing Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout as dream cards. He hopes young fans now see him the way he once viewed his heroes.

Credit: Grey Flannel

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A wool Yankees jersey once pulled from a box at an East Harlem Boys & Girls Club in 1959 has been authenticated as Yogi Berra’s rookie uniform. The No. 35 jersey, Berra’s number before switching to his famed No. 8, was confirmed by Berra himself in 2009, who grew emotional upon seeing it. Now verified by PSA and Sports Investors Authentication as game-worn during Berra’s second MLB appearance on April 17, 1947, the jersey is up for auction at Grey Flannel, where bidding has already surpassed $200,000. And that’s why, folks, it always pays to keep an eye on the Lost & Found box.

The Sport Card & Memorabilia Expo in Toronto drew massive crowds and plenty of excitement, especially around The Mantel Hobby Awards, per Mantel employee and totally unbiased reporter, Shane Deol. The Expo itself is up for Best Collectible Show, and several nominees were on-site sharing their thoughts. Mintink’s John Amendola likened his store’s nomination for Best Hobby Shop to “the Jays,” saying it feels like the whole country is behind them. Influencer of the Year nominees Mary Gamble Gamble, Mojo Sports, and King of the Kards echoed the same spirit of community over competition. Voting runs through November 21 at TheHobbyAwards.com, with winners announced mid-December. Link to vote below.

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Takashi Murakami has become a fixture at the intersection of art, fashion, and sport, and his latest collaboration with Fanatics celebrates the Dodgers’ 2025 World Series title through floral-emblazoned tees and hoodies. It’s the latest in a decade-long run of sports crossovers that includes projects with the Lakers, Cubs, Naomi Osaka, Lewis Hamilton, and FaZe Clan. From the $483,000 Lionel Messi charity piece to sold-out MLB Tokyo Series merch, Murakami’s vibrant style has evolved into a collectible language of its own, bridging contemporary art with athletic culture.

Credit: Bonhams

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Three original Bob Ross paintings sold for more than $600,000 at Bonhams here in Los Angeles, launching a 30-piece auction series to support U.S. public broadcasters facing major funding cuts. “Winter’s Peace” fetched $318,000, “Home in the Valley” sold for $229,100, and “Cliffside” went for $114,800. The works were donated by Bob Ross Inc. to American Public Television, which will distribute proceeds to struggling stations. The canvases were painted live on The Joy of Painting, which, of course, aired on public television, making this sale both a philanthropic effort and a rare chance to own pieces from Ross’s televised legacy.

Credit: Sotheby’s

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Maurizio Cattelan’s infamous 18-karat gold toilet, America, is headed to Sotheby’s on November 18, with an opening bid tied to the day’s gold price, around $9.7M. The work, weighing 102 kilos, is being sold by Mets owner and billionaire collector Steve Cohen, who bought it in 2017 when gold averaged $1,257 per ounce. With gold prices now triple that, Cohen could see a major return on his investment, though we assume some of the value comes from the fact that it’s art, right? Not just a toilet that can be melted down into gold bars? Either way, the sale, held at Sotheby’s new Breuer Building HQ, comes after Cattelan’s banana sculpture Comedian fetched $6M in 2024, a sum apparently not tied to the current market price for bananas (which remains lower than gold’s).

Art investing platform Masterworks has grown into a billion-dollar player by letting investors buy $20 shares in blue-chip paintings from artists like Warhol and Picasso. With over 70,000 investors and 500 works, the firm pitches itself as democratizing art ownership, but critics say its marketing exaggerates returns and downplays risk. While Masterworks touts annualized gains as high as 789% on select sales, SEC filings show only about 25% of holdings are currently profitable after fees. Investors cite opaque valuations and limited liquidity, though the company argues its data-driven approach outperforms the broader art market long-term. We assume though that for many, the allure is a chance to own a piece of a priceless painting, vs. an assumption that a share of a Picasso is ‘as good as gold’ (toilets).

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