Messi rookie card sets new record with $1.5 million sale

The 2004–05 Panini Mega Cracks card, graded Gem-Mint 10 by Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), surpassed the $1.33 million record previously held by a 1958 Alifabolaget Pele card sold in 2022. Just days earlier, another copy of Messi’s card sold privately for $1.1 million. According to PSA data, only 20 examples of this card have achieved the highest grade.

Fanatics Collect launched its private sales network earlier this year, designed for transactions of $10,000 and above. The service generated approximately $8 million across 30–40 deals in its first full month in August. “There’s just a much broader network of both items and customers for us to work from,” Fanatics Collect vice president Kevin Lenane told cllct. “It’s a pretty powerful tool, which is why we’re able to get to $8 million in our first earnest month.”

Sean Hayden, senior account executive at Fanatics Collect, emphasized that the company’s approach integrates storage, sales, and buyer data to offer collectors more options. “We’re utilizing it in a different way than we had in the past,” he noted.

For many collectors, private sales provide an alternative to public auctions. “At the end of the day, it’s about getting people the cards that they want,” Lenane added. “We want to provide collectors with multiple ways to get the things they’re looking for, and this is just another way to do it.”

With Messi’s latest record-setting sale, Fanatics Collect has positioned itself as a central player in the booming sports collectibles market.

Earlier, Kazinform News Agency reported on the global phenomenon surrounding one of the world’s most talked-about collectible toys — Labubu, created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung and brought to international prominence by the Chinese toy company Pop Mart.