When you think about investing, it’s almost always in the traditional sense being linked to financial markets. Even when you look at something like Bitcoin, there is some relation with it being a stored asset value of sorts. The last thing you’d do is probably look at a hobby item and expect it to have grown exponentially in value. However, that’s exactly where we are in 2025.
If you’ve stepped out of the house recently, you’d definitely come across things like Pokemon cards and Labubus. It’s just cardboard and figurines but you’d be surprised at what they are worth these days. Welcome to the world of collectibles.
Call it a sense of nostalgia. Call it being the generation of kids with adult money. The demand for these things has been staggering. And not just limited to the two above, I’m also talking about the likes of baseball cards, basketball cards, Bearbrick toys, and other collectible figures.
In the past, people pay big money for rare and excellent art pieces – they still do. But in this current day and age, the interest in owning something special and unique has grown greatly and vastly. And that has seen an immense rise in hobby collectors, in turn bumping up the value of collectibles.
Now, all of this is already much known. However, what is happening in the world of collectibles this year is something that is jumping out of the page.
The demand and market has been absolutely hot in the last few months and it’s tough to find any answers or reasons even if you’ve been in the hobby long enough. These periods of sudden interest tend to come and go, such as what we saw during the Covid pandemic – which brought people back to engage with nostalgia and past hobbies.
So, why the sudden pique in interest this year then? That’s the real tough part to figure out. And I’m not talking about small money here, but investable money across all backgrounds and nationalities.
This is just an example of one of the more popular cards in the trading card hobby these days. Across the whole hobby, there have been explosions in prices and record sales after record sales for over four to five months now. Outside of this, you’d also see plenty of baseball cards, basketball cards, and even some Pokemon cards fetching up to six figures easily.
This Michael Jordan card sold for much more back during the Covid pandemic when nostalgia hit, before plunging in the last few years. But now, it is slowly back on the rise again.
As for the two Labubus pictured above, they were part of an auction last month in Beijing and the mint green one fetched a price of $150,325 while the brown one fetched a price of $114,086. With the case of Labubus, it is going even more viral than it was before just at the right time as collectibles are on the rise. Or perhaps it is the one helping to cause the massive spike in interest in collectibles as well.
But hey, let’s just take a step back here. It’s cool and all to see people spending money on things that might or might not make sense to other people. However, the main question for those who are interested would be is this all just another fad? Think back to Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s and then Beanie Babies and Furbies in the 1990s. Are these similar?
With regards to Pokemon, perhaps there is a subtle difference. They are after all the largest media franchise in the world and has only grown more popular by the year since the franchise began in 1996. Like any hobby, there will ebbs and flows in interest but for something to run as strong as it has in 30 years and to be so deeply embedded into pop culture, it is quite unprecedented.
That’s one side of the argument at least. Then, there’s a whole multitude of reasons of why people are spending money on this. From just enjoying the hobby to people trying to make a quick buck off it, you’d meet tons of different “collectors” these days.
However, how do collectibles fare as an investable asset class? It’s easy to say that it does well especially during a market boom like the one we’re seeing this year. And we’re talking about gains that can range from 50% to 400% here. But I would argue that it is circumstantial at best, even if this might just mark the beginning of a potential new genre in investing.
Among each subset of collectibles, there are always going to be items that stand out more than others. And all of that is defined by an intricate web of demand, scarcity, exclusivity, likeness, history, and eye appeal among other things.
When the market is booming, just about everything and anything seems good. Sound familiar? It’s just like stocks, no? But when you’re looking for long-term investing and searching for value instead of a gamble, it’s still always best to do your research and get in on the know before spending thousands or hundreds of thousands in cash on something you’re not familiar with.
And this is coming from someone who has been collecting Pokemon cards for the longest of time now. I would be extremely happy if collectibles start to get some recognition as an investible asset class. However, I’m not sure if the wider audience is ready for that yet.
It’s not as nuanced and sophisticated as traditional investing but it certainly does appeal to some at least. In broader terms, there is a long, long way to go for something like this to even turn into something like Bitcoin or even NFTs. And we all know how the latter went.
All that being said, it’s best to remember the number one rule of collecting: Always only collect what you love
