Bitcoin is hitting volatility at 50k. It might be time for some crypto hodlers to take profits or diversify into another hot asset class. As investors seek unmanipulated markets to park their funds, and as hobby collecting roars back to life during perma-lockdown, collectible cards (like sports and gaming cards) are seeing their biggest surge since the heyday of 1990. That's why I'm amassing a trove of high-end out-of-print Magic: the Gathering collectible cards - to trade it straight across for BTC or HIVE!
Even if you're not interested for yourself, please read on to find out how you can help me locate those who are! The blockchain will help the transaction come together, facilitate half of the trade, and provide an added layer of security. Not only will I get some crypto (which can be hard for unbanked people like me to do), but someone will get an incredible collection of valuable cards that is appreciating rapidly. AND the whole thing will help show others new ways transacting can be done using the blockchain. Win-win-win!
Just like cryptocurrencies, out-of-print collectible cards are finite and limited. With the supply of each fixed, prices are based on demand - which is rising fast! Many cards from out-of-print sets are doubling every month right now. You've heard that Wayne Gretzky's rookie cards are fetching over a million each? Well it's definitely not just hockey or baseball cards that are back in style! There are now several Magic cards that routinely go for TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars EACH! The entire Magic singles market has been slowly inflating for many years, and now it's really gaining momentum! I want to create a bridge between this market, and crypto - bypassing all fiat currency completely. Welcome to my ongoing Cards for Crypto post.
History
As "rancored_elf", I've dealt in Magic card singles for 20 years, with an outstanding reputation everywhere I transacted. From the trading forum on MTGNews/MTGSalvation long ago, to my sales website RancoredElf.com (2006-2017), and my longstanding 100% eBay feedback, I have a track record of happy customers.
As a player, then casual trader, then dealer, I ended up with a LOT of cards. When my son came along, we moved away from Vancouver, and the cards have been sitting in boxes. I've stopped all business, and I'm currently unbanked - I can't and won't use banks, financial institutions, or PayPal. I live on cash, but I want to incorporate cryptocurrencies into my situation. Suddenly, the cards I'm holding are shooting upward in price. Every time I check, they're up another 5%, 10%, 20%. NOW is the right time to get them sorted out, priced, and sent off to someone else. That person can diversify out of crypto a bit, and I can diversify out of cards a bit!
I have years of shipping experience, and will ensure the recipient of the cards gets them quickly and without hassles.
Details
- All cards are English, non-foil, and EX-NM condition unless otherwise noted.
- I will accept Bitcoin or HIVE for this trade.
- I do not accept fiat currency of any kind, and I do not accept PayPal.
- I can ship anywhere in Canada or the USA. Please contact me to ask if I'm able to ship to your country.
- Shipping is free, and includes tracking and insurance.
Condition
All cards in my possession are out-of-print, some for over 20 years. The majority have never been played. Care is always taken in storage, but time causes tiny changes in all things, including cardboard. All cards are in excellent or near mint condition (see grading scale below) unless otherwise marked - in which case, images are provided. They have been stored in a pet-free and smoke-free home. If you'd like more photos, please contact me.
Mint (M) - Flawless printing and condition, freshly pulled from a pack and stored perfectly.
Near mint (NM) - Unplayed (or carefully played in sleeves), no flaws, 1 or 2 minor scuffs.
Excellent (EX) - Very gently played, or unplayed with a few storage marks. No major flaws, could be played in clear sleeves.
Very good (VG) - Moderately played, scuffed edges, surface wear. Might have a small flaw.
Good (G) - Well played, may have major flaws like printing errors, wear, dirt, warping, crease, or pinhole. Playable in coloured sleeves.
Fine (F) - Very well played and/or major flaws.
Poor (P) - Damaged or defective, probably unplayable.
Card List
The USD prices listed are how much I would currently get on eBay as a "Buy it Now" listing. That grand total will be reduced by 20%, representing the savings I will get for bypassing eBay and PayPal. (Thanks, crypto!)
I will be editing this post regularly, to add more cards and adjust prices. Once a week or so, I will make a new post, which will obsolete the previous one.
I have about 40,000 cards to sort! I'm breaking down some old decks, full of powerful singles that are shooting up in price. I'm also going through my old personal collection, and my store inventory. Every day I pull out another grand or more in cards, to be listed and added! If this trove gets snapped up before I've sorted and added all the good stuff, I'll do a second one! It's a shame to see all my best cards go, but I feel this is the right move.
EVERY card in the trove (and its condition) will be listed, so you know exactly what you're trading for.
Portal
Last Chance - 105
Winds of Change - 50
2x Swamp (white tree) - 12
Portal 2
Norwood Priestess - 90
Razorclaw Bear - 55
Portal 3 Kingdoms
Council of Advisors - 10
Cunning Advisor - 25
Famine - 45
Red Cliffs Armada - 18
Shu Farmer - 10
Stolen Grain - 20
Taoist Hermit - 25
Trained Cheetah - 24
Warrior's Stand - 16
Wei Ambush Force - 10
Zodiac Rat - 26
Starter
Last Chance - 105
Arabian Nights
Army of Allah (dark mana symbol) - 40
Merchant Ship (VG) - 60
4x Flying Men - 22
4x Oasis (VG) - 30
Sindbad - 42
Sorceress Queen (G) - 160
2x Wyluli Wolf (light mana symbol) - 75
Unlimited
Basalt Monolith - 18
Verduran Enchantress - 65
Antiquities
Mightstone - 42
Su-Chi - 210
Legends
Life Matrix (Mint) - 180
Cathedral of Serra - 40
Bartel Runeaxe - 95
Ur-Drago - 50
Livonya Silone - 125
Pixie Queen - 95
Elder Spawn - 50
The Dark
Stone Calendar (VG) - 37
4th Edition
Mana Flare - 12
Winds of Change - 20
Ice Age
Altar of Bone - 18
4x Demonic Consultation - 22
Illusions of Grandeur - 20
2x Jester's Cap - 32
Morton Stromgald - 20
Necropotence - 35
4x Pox - 24
Underground River - 18
Homelands
Koskun Falls - 18
Alliances
Lake of the Dead - 150
Mirage
Catacomb Dragon - 26
MISPRINT Ravenous Vampire (top corners barely cut) - 35
(last picture shows a regular card over the miscut card)
Visions
Anvil of Bogardan - 130
3x Tithe - 70
5x Griffin Canyon - 18
Femeref Enchantress - 20
5th Edition
Pox - 18
Mana Flare - 12
Weatherlight
4x Peacekeeper - 50
Tempest
2x Aluren - 125
2x Corpse Dance (VG) - 34
Cursed Scroll - 30
4x Reanimate - 16
Static Orb - 20
Whim of Volrath - 45
Stronghold
Burgeoning - 25
Exodus
Ertai Wizard Adept - 65
Exalted Dragon - 25
2x Hatred - 62
Mind Over Matter - 120
Urza's Saga
3x Sneak Attack - 35
Time Spiral - 310
Yawgmoth's Will - 350
Urza's Legacy
Memory Jar - 95
4x Defense Grid - 16
Defense Grid (VG) - 12
2x Deranged Hermit - 43
(beautiful card marked down to VG because of the small indent on the text box)
6th Edition
Cursed Totem - 22
Doomsday - 15
City of Brass - 18
Final Fortune - 25
Urza's Destiny
3x Yavimaya Hollow - 125
Treachery - 125
Repercussion - 25
4x Academy Rector - 180
2x Rofellos Llanowar Emissary - 75
3x Carnival of Souls - 20
Urza's Incubator - 30
Mercadian Masques
Unmask - 13
Nemesis
Prophecy
Rhystic Study - 32
Invasion
7th Edition
2x Elvish Champion - 14
Oppression - 32
Static Orb - 18
City of Brass - 20
Adarkar Wastes - 10
Underground River - 10
Torment
Cabal Coffers - 70
Onslaught
2x Rotlung Reanimator - 11
Scourge
3x Pemmin's Aura - 9
Sliver Overlord - 30
Darksteel
Aether Vial - 47
Fifth Dawn
Vedalken Orrery - 40
4x Steelshaper's Gift - 25
Betrayers of Kamigawa
2x Mirror Gallery - 26
9th Edition
28x Fellwar Stone - 7
3x FOIL Storage Matrix - 35
Ravnica
18x Pariah's Shield - 17
2x Copy Enchantment - 12
Guildpact
27x Sword of the Paruns - 7
2x Stitch in Time - 9
Dissension
6x Rain of Gore - 13
Coldsnap
5x Lovisa Coldeyes - 10
Timespiral
7x Reiterate - 15
8x Kaervek the Merciless - 17
Planar Chaos
8x Imp's Mischief - 15
Future Sight
10th Edition
Lorwyn
7x Auntie's Hovel - 25
12x Elvish Harbinger - 9
Morningtide
32x Thornbite Staff - 10
4x Maralen of the Mornsong - 32
11x Knowledge Exploitation - 18
Shadowmoor
20x Inkfathom Infiltrator - 7
Eventide
5x Needle Specter - 6
Waves of Aggression - 11
16x Ward of Bones - 15
5x Necroskitter - 12
Helix Pinnacle - 10
15x Glamerdye - 6
M10
Twincast - 10
Grand Total: 10110 USD (this is what I would charge for the cards on eBay)
Minus - 20% (my savings on eBay/PayPal fees, passed along to you)
Equals = 8088 USD
At a rate of 50k USD per BTC, that would work out to:
0.162 BTC
(or)
34300 HIVE
If you are interested
- Please contact me with any questions. I can take additional photographs of any of the cards.
- The USD grand total will be converted at the current market rate to your preference of token (BTC or HIVE).
- Using email, we will arrange and conduct transfer of the crypto.
- I will email you confirmation of the order, and update this post to take the cards off the market.
- You will provide your shipping address.
- I will send email confirmation of shipping within 1 business day.
I will ship the cards via Canada Post "Xpresspost". Shipping from here in BC takes about 3-6 business days, depending on your location.
Contact Me
Send me an email (drutter at protonmail dot com) or comment below. I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Help me "advertise"
I'm excited about this, and I think people will see it as the valuable service it is. It's powerful to be able to convert between various forms of stored value, including vintage collectible cards, and cryptocurrency! This post is another potential draw to the Hive blockchain, and value added to the community.
If you comment to let me know you've re-Hived this post to help me get the word out, you'll get a 100% upvote from me. And if this post results in me finding a buyer, you will share in a bounty of 50 HIVE and 20 LEO! (For example, when the trade goes through, if 5 people shared the most recent post, each will get 10 HIVE and 4 LEO. If only 1 person helped me get that post seen, they get the whole bounty. And so on.)
This is a big opportunity for me, and for someone else. Thank you Hive and LeoFinance for helping us find each other!
DRutter
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I think some people in the cannabis underground (free or "black" market) use cryptos to store and transfer value. They also use gold, silver, cash, and various other instruments. Perhaps they'd even use collectibles, such as out of print cards?
The more ways for everyday people to convert between cryptos and other forms of savings, the better! This is an example of decentralized grassroots economics.
I’m going to put my 1980,s and 1990’s Hockey cards for sale in the new Canada Community here on Hive.
https://hive.blog/trending/hive-154369
That's a good idea.
I hear the 80s hockey cards are far easier to get rid of than the 90s ones. I have some of each, but haven't even looked at them yet because I've got 20 large boxes of Magic cards in the way. I have a few good rookies, like Patrick Roy, that should be worth something now.
I have a few boxes of 1990s cards still in their plastic wrapping ... will see how much those are going for ...
I have a bunch of these ... Eric Libdros cards when he was supposed to be the next Gretzky ...
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1990-Score-Canadian-Eric-Lindros-Flyers-440-Rookie-ISA-10-52757890-HOF-2016-/324196634625?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=706-89093-2056-0&mkcid=2&itemid=324196634625&targetid=885167349563&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9000673&campaignid=9561945114&mkgroupid=98506995979&rlsatarget=pla-885167349563&abcId=1063836&merchantid=117557513&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj9iBBhCJARIsAE9qRtCWi_ZA8D1ZKgMBqWEFLf7-QSZohsuzxFRfMqDpbj134OzBr8cBtVYaAjBsEALw_wcB&pageci=a41b6dad-e013-434e-8365-ab56098311df
Hahah yeah, good old 1990! Who else was up and coming at the time? I seem to remember a Russian invasion back at the time. Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure, for example.
@rawbe how are the prices and conditions in your opinion. @drutter is from BC btw so close to us.
Added tonight:
Mind Over Matter - 120
2x Hatred - 62
Ertai Wizard Adept - 65
Catacomb Dragon - 26
4x Peacekeeper - 50
Yawgmoth's Will - 350
3x Sneak Attack - 35
Time Spiral - 310
A cool 1300 USD, which is 1040 after the 20% discount.
8088 is the current total. (main post updated)
I agree, cash is flowing to hard assets.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
The ultimate finite asset is land. Notice how many billionaires have been buying land - for instance, Bill Gates is now one of the largest farmland owners in the world. He's not the only "digital" guy gone physical. It will continue to happen.
Land is definitely on the rise, too. My wife and I (not that we have a hope of affording it at the moment) keep looking at prices of lots in remote areas of BC. They are about twice what they were a year ago.
You can get 40 aces of forest on beautiful Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia for $9,000 Cdn. Or one 1990 Hockey card.
I'd take the forest! I don't know much about clearing land, but I'd be willing to learn. I just need enough room for a few big gardens, orchard, and modest cabin. I'll just print out a near-perfect version of the hockey card once I'm set up :P