'No different' than gold: Kevin O'Leary just paid $13M for a Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan trading card — are collectibles the next big investment?

“This wasn’t about missing out. This was about pride, ego, and the drive to own something nobody else in the world could,” O’Leary wrote about the purchase on his Instagram [1]. “That’s what pushes collectibles. Cards, watches, art, into record-breaking territory.”

A sports card might not seem like the best $13 million investment to those outside the sports fandom, but O’Leary believes its rarity holds immense financial power — similar to gold and bitcoin.

‘No different than our bitcoin holdings’

Until a few years ago, O’Leary believed paying millions for “a piece of cardboard” was outrageous.

But after working with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, who bought Topps Trading Cards in 2022, O’Leary began looking into the hobby, he told CNBC’s Squawk Box [2]. He became fascinated with “piece uniques” — cards that a person can buy at a high price and turn into a significant profit.

“It’s no different than collectible watches, in some way,” O’Leary said. “It’s so rare that the prices continue to appreciate, and they seem to defy recessions. It’s going to be a part of an index that I’m going to continue to grow along with my partners.

“We look at it no different than our bitcoin holdings, our ethereum holdings, our gold holdings.”

The fund in question could be part of Secure Collectibles [3], a new venture by O’Leary, Allen and Warshaw.

In an Instagram post [4] discussing the $13 million purchase, Allen mentioned both forming a “collector advisory board” and Secure Collectibles by name. It’s unclear if the board would include the three men. Secure Collectibles offers lending, sourcing and private sales, according to their website.

While multimillion-dollar trading cards might not appeal to everyone, gold and bitcoin remain popular alternative investments worth considering.

If you’re interested in exploring crypto, consider getting started with Robinhood Crypto, where you can trade some of O’Leary’s personal favorites, including bitcoin and ethereum.

Robinhood offers some of the lowest average trading costs in the U.S., meaning you could get up to 1.9% more crypto compared to other platforms. You can also get started with just $1 to see if it’s the right asset for you.

If crypto is a little too high-risk for your taste, gold can be a solid alternative option. The yellow precious metal is on track to have a fantastic year after reaching a new high of about $3,700 per ounce in early September, according to Gold Price [5].

One option for investing is with Priority Gold, an industry leader in precious metals, offering physical delivery of both gold and silver.

If you’d like to convert an existing IRA into a gold IRA, Priority Gold offers 100% free rollover and free shipping, alongside free storage for up to five years. Qualifying purchases can also receive up to $10,000 in free silver. Silver has also had a solid year, jumping about 41% in value from $29 to around $41 per ounce, according to KITCO [6].

To see if Priority Gold might offer the best alternative asset option for you, download their free 2025 gold investor bundle to learn more.

Why this card?

Chris Ivy, Heritage's Director of Sports Auctions, released a statement [7] following the sale, noting, "I think that this incredible world record price reflects… [that] this is the finest modern basketball card in the world.”

The Heritage Auctions website [8] described it as “a dazzling showpiece with aesthetics worthy of the subject matter.” It sports two jersey patches — Bryant’s standard red, white and blue NBA logoman opposite a golden version from Jordan’s penultimate 1996-97 NBA Championship run. The patches are framed by Bryant and Jordan’s “blue felt-tip signatures” that are “as bold as the date of their application.”

O’Leary told Fox Business [9] that he believes in the power of sports card collecting because of its multi-generational appeal.

"The thing that’s amazing about the hobby is the relationship between a father or a mother and a daughter and a son, because if you look at collecting, everything you need to learn about entrepreneurship is baked into what happens when you start to collect cards," O’Leary said.

Are collectible cards becoming like fine art?

O’Leary also noted that building an index is “half art, half science," because, beyond the financial potential, collectables are rare and unique in the same way as the fine art market.

Each piece has an emotional connection for the buyer: “What’s the emotional connection with the card? For me, with that card, it’s that gold logoman. It’s unique,” he said.

While you might not be able to buy a one-of-one card like O’Leary, you can still tap into the benefits of an alternative art market without being part of the 1%.

Fine art investing provides a similar approach, and with Masterworks, you can crowdfund timeless works of art just as O’Leary split ownership of the Bryant-Jordan card with Allen and Warshaw.

Masterworks helps you quickly tap into this rare asset class. You can invest in fractional shares of artwork from beloved artists like Picasso and Banksy.

Masterworks takes care of finding, purchasing and storing the artwork for you, making it a simple hands-off process. And when they sell the painting, you earn a profit.

From 23 exits so far, Masterworks investors have realized representative annualized net returns like +17.6%, +17.8% and +21.5% among assets held for longer than a year.

See if you qualify for Masterworks today.

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