Record sales: 1952 Topps brick breaks $1 million as REA tops the week
An unopened case of 1952 Topps headlined a strong week for graded and unopened card sales, with Robert Edward Auctions and SCP Auctions both reporting seven-figure and six-figure results.
The week’s standout result came from Robert Edward Auctions, which reported that a 1952 Topps unopened “brick” sold for £833,000 ($1.1 Million) at its Summer Auction on 17 August 2026. SCP Auctions also reported a notable outcome, with a PSA 10 Michael Jordan rookie card selling for £273,000 ($360K) on 29 September 2026.
1952 Topps Unopened Brick, £833,000 ($1.1 Million)
Robert Edward Auctions (REA) reported that the brick of unopened 1952 Topps material sold for £833,000 ($1.1 Million), a figure the auction house says led its Summer Auction and helped make it a record-setting event. Unopened material from this release is prized by collectors because of the possibility it contains high-grade examples of cards from one of the most studied sets in the hobby, including the Mickey Mantle card associated with the 1952 Topps run. REA’s own reporting frames this as the top lot of the sale; no further detail on buyer, lot composition, or premium status was provided by the auction house.
The 1952 Topps set has long served as a benchmark for the wider vintage card market, and unopened product from this year is scarce. REA’s figure, as reported, stands as this week’s largest documented sale and gives the clearest single data point on where demand for pre-war-era unopened material currently sits, at least for this specific lot.
Michael Jordan PSA 10 Rookie Card, £273,000 ($360K)
SCP Auctions reported that a PSA-graded Gem Mint 10 Michael Jordan rookie card sold for £273,000 ($360K), a result published by the Auction Report on 29 September 2026. The Jordan rookie card remains one of the most consistently sought-after items in the basketball card category, and a PSA 10 example, the top grade on PSA’s standard scale, typically represents the most valuable surviving condition tier for the card. SCP’s reporting does not specify the buyer or whether the figure includes any additional costs.
This sale sits alongside the REA result as one of two clearly documented six-figure-or-higher transactions this week, giving collectors a second reference point, this time for graded modern-era basketball material rather than unopened vintage product.
Also sold
No further sales were documented by the seller this week beyond the two listed above.
What it tells us
Two sales, reported by two different auction houses, do not make a trend, but both results this week came from categories with long track records of strong demand: unopened 1952 Topps product and top-graded Michael Jordan rookie cards. REA’s figure for the unopened brick and SCP’s figure for the PSA 10 Jordan card both point to continued appetite at the very top of the market for items with clear scarcity and condition credentials, though the data here covers only these two reported transactions and should not be read as a broader market signal.
As ever, the specifics matter more than the headline totals. Neither auction house’s reporting, as supplied, confirms whether the published figures include buyer’s premium, and no detail on the identity of buyers or sellers was given in either case. Collectors watching these categories should treat this week’s figures as individual data points, one from a vintage unopened lot, one from a graded modern rookie card, rather than as evidence of a wider shift in pricing across either the 1952 Topps or Michael Jordan rookie card markets.
Sterling converted from the reported figures at £1 = $1.32 (ECB reference rate, 2026-10-02) and rounded. Figures are as reported by the selling house or grader.