Card Ladder Collector Showcase; @ninercardcollector / @levelupsubs
Introduction: Our first card collector feature will be on one of the long time staples of sports card Instagram. Bernie from @ninercardcollector is one of the founding fathers and cornerstones of sports card Instagram who will forever be a part of the hobby’s history. In his time on Instagram he has amassed over 10,000 followers by showcasing his 49ers collection. Growing up in California as a die hard 49ers fan and card collector, it was only right that he started a 49ers collection. It is not often you see a collection as in depth and jaw dropping as his 49ers collection. Although many of Instagrams newer users might know him for his PSA group submission (@levelupsubs) that started in October of 2020. Bernie was a revolutionary in the world of sports card Instagram by being one of the first Instagram live breakers. Breaking with Bullpen LA, Beast Breaks, and occasionally Master Breakers he has established himself as one of the great people in the hobby who many lookup to, view as a role model, and make sports card Instagram such a special place. Serving our country as a Marine, Bernie is one of the most captivating, interesting, and intelligent people on Instagram, who we were lucky enough to do an interview with for our first ever Card Ladder Collector Showcase.
At what age did you get into cards and or how long have you been collecting?
- I’d like to say I was introduced around 6 years old, but I didn’t really start collecting, or should I say taking care of them until 8 or so. I wasn’t part of the “Hey, let’s stick these on our bike to deflect off our spokes to make a motor sound” like my Dad’s generation, but at an early age I did have an infatuation with drawing on them for some reason.
How were you introduced?
- My earliest memories would be my Grandma bringing me packs from Target (She was a greeter). I think She actually started with packs from K-Mart, I remember they even had K-Mart logos on the packs come to think of it. My Dad was a big 49ers fan, so I remember specifically trying to find Roger Craig and Jerry Rice. This was a couple years before the Griffey Jr. craze and the introduction of Upper Deck, which became my go-to company because of the foil packs. I was really enamored with those.
How and where did you buy your first cards? (Target, Online, etc)
- Online was not available to me in the late 80’s early 90’s. My 1st experience with my own hobby box was 1990 Score Baseball. The hype around Bo Jackson “Bat on Shoulders” card convinced my Dad that it might be a good investment for him to grab me a box, so we could hit the iconic Bo. Yes we hit it, no I don’t know where it is. After a few years of retail scores from my Grandma, we discovered an actual Hobby Shop down the street from my Mom’s house. It was Michael’s Comics and Cards and I can still remember the smell of that place, it was a good smell and it just reminds me of the way a card shop should smell. I don’t think I’ve experienced that smell ever again, it had a distinct smell, you know what I mean? Like an antique shop mixed with a grandma’s house. That place had everything come to think of it, and I couldn’t wait to get my allowance and walk over there to get some packs and hang out most of the day on Saturdays. I remember $20 would get you quite a bit. Packs were about $1-$2, and I would pretty much load up on those and watch the adults that came in rip full boxes.
Do you collect any players and if so, why do you collect them?
- I still collect all the 49ers players, new and old. I have a closet full of 2 & 3 rows labeled for whatever group they fit in: Legends, HOF’ers, Rookies, and some boxes just for certain players from Roger Craig to Dante Pettis. My favorite player of all time in any sport is Steve Young, so I like to look specifically for him. But I’ve been on a 49ers rookie card quest each year since 2011, and I can’t kick that habit. I like to pick one rookie a year and really focus on him while occasionally grabbing any 49ers legend that catches my eye. I also have an extensive collection of LA Kings cards from my childhood as well. I still dabble in Hockey cards and pick up Gretzky, Robitaille, Palffy, and Deadmarsh if I run across any.
What is your favorite card in your collection?
- Steve Young Game Used 1/1 Shield Auto from Immaculate. I’m not sure if Panini had this pre-cut for a smaller windowed card or they took it from a damaged card but either way I love it. I am normally pretty picky about design / aesthetics but there’s a mystery about this one and its Game Used. I have all of Steve Young’s rookies, a couple Montana rookies and about 15 Rice rookies but right now I’d have to say this one is my favorite. Of course, my favorite rotates every couple years so I’ll keep you updated.
What is your grail/dream card and why?
The most recent dream card I was actually chasing in breaks was a Dual Signed, Dual Shield Booklet from 2019 Flawless Football that featured Steve Young and Jerry Rice. I was purchasing the 49ers in every break I could, and I had my close friend Dom who has a Card Shop & Hosts breaks keep an eye out for me. One day I was tagged in someone’s post from Facebook who actually hit it, and he was looking for the best offer. I was floored when I zoomed in on the back picture and it was not Game Used. I still had an attraction to the card but it deflated me that I spent so much money chasing “player worn” shields. The aesthetics are still there, but once you know it’s not game worn it doesn’t mean as much in my opinion for being such a high end card in a high end product. Other than that, I don’t really have 1 grail card, there are a lot out there that I’d love to have.
Recent Sports Card Boom
Has the recent boom made you more of an investor?
- No, but I did take advantage of the market by getting more cards graded and selling them upon return. But I’m not much of an “investor”, I’ve lost a lot more money than I’ll ever make with my 49ers collection since I’m a sucker for breaks.
How has it changed the way you collected? If at all
- The “Sports Card Boom” / “Bubble” has really stalled my 1990’s 49ers insert buying from COMC, I used to love to scroll over there for hours and hand pick a lot of the cards I grew up chasing, they were anywhere from .25 to $10, and when the hobby exploded during the pandemic those type of cards really took off. I’ll wait until they come back to earth before I get back on those beauties.
Thoughts on the grading phenomenon?
- Great for businesses that have been around during the slow times, the ones who were here when nobody wanted the “junk wax”. It really gave the collector a chance to rid themselves of base cards to the newcomer in hopes of grading it and getting that PSA 10 which could get the 10x their initial buy in. I personally took advantage of the opportunity to sell cards I’ve had sitting around for years that had little to no value for a decent haul. Do I think backing up PSA with a bunch of base cards was a good thing? Not necessarily, but there was actually a market for that stuff. And as long as the market is there, people will do what needs to be done to make a buck. I was lucky and I didnt get too greedy, I don’t currently have any cards sitting at PSA that fall under the category of “Junk Wax”.
Have you been to any of the big card shows in the last year:
What show was it?
- The Dallas Card Show which was in November, and now it’s referred to as the “1st Dallas Card Show” because it was really the first time people could get out from lockdown and visit a show that had a national appeal to it. I’ve been to a few smaller ones since then and I plan on attending the National. I personally feel that “national level” card shows every weekend is a bit much, but as long as people show up they will keep having them.
What are your thoughts on the show?
- The show was great, it was bigger than most but not as big as they have gotten recently. The hobby was thriving then and sales were through the roof. Pokemon was huge at the time so a lot of that was circling around as well. It’s always nice to see people in person that you’ve developed an online relationship with over the years.
How far did you travel?
- Los Angeles to Dallas and back.
Did you buy or sell more
- Sold every card I brought to sell, so that was nice. Lane (@ljkcards) and I made a big trade for his Charizard PSA 8 that I was eyeing for awhile and Ryan (@cardcollector2) bought most of everything I had after that. I prefer selling in lots when I can, especially to people who I’ve dealt with for a long time. I picked up a couple nice PC Items and a Steve Young Genesis from Mosaic that I was missing for my Genesis 49ers set. I was there mostly to promote Level Up Subs and our Design Business (@breakmats) to a wider audience.
What tips/advice would you give to those who haven’t been to a show before
- Don’t get caught up in the hype, avoid the player that everyone else is on. Have a list of the players / cards you are looking for and their current values. Cash is king in most sales and will allow you to get better pricing in most cases, and don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes.
Doing cards full time: Bernie, a man of many talents and professions became a group PSA submitter in October of 2020 turning his life long passion of cards into a business. Before getting into group subs, he was and still is a graphic designer supplying a plethora of Instagram’s users with their logos. As the owner of @breakmats, He and his Wife provide the hobby with a top of the line service for logos, business cards, break mats, box cutters, and other hobby business essentials. Anytime you are on Instagram scrolling through your feed and see someone with a professional logo, there is a good chance he made it.
What was the turning point that let you know that you could turn your hobby into a profession?
- I’ve always had a knack for making side money in this hobby and I was pretty good at coming up with fun & creative ways to make that money, I knew it was time to turn my “side hustle” into a legitimate business when enough people hit me up to inspect their cards for grading that I had to turn my living room into a shipping & receiving location. I always offered that service to close buddies when sending in cards to David (@dkcards7) but I really didn’t think about starting my own submission group until I noticed I was always referring people to someone else, why not get in now while the time is right. Some stars aligned in the summer of 2020 and I became a Preferred Dealer for PSA and I haven’t looked back since.
What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a group submitter?
- The Cards, the amount of cards I handle on a daily basis and the amount of “Grails” I get to see in person is amazing. I’ve also got to meet some pretty great people that you end up developing a relationship with outside of the hobby and there’s nothing like returning cards to people who achieved the grade they were looking for. The least favorite is trying to explain why the process is taking longer than expected, the backlog created a lot of angry customers, which was warranted, but being a middle man I could see both sides of the coin. Any business that takes on onslaught of work in such a short amount of time and during a pandemic where you cant be at full staff would be severely affected, I guarantee the suits at PSA were not taking it lightly and brushing it off as some people suggested they were, it was a lot of sleepless nights for some of them where they had to take a step back and figure out the logistics to get things on track again and were seeing that now. Not only are they back on track and pumping out submissions that were backlogged for so long, I imagine they have a much better system in place should it happen again.
Coolest or most unique item you have received through Level Up Subs?
- The most unique item is by far the Game of Thrones pop up book that was signed by Kobe and inscribed “What is dead may never die”. I see pretty cool things weekly so I can’t narrow it down to just one, to me some 90’s rare inserts are much cooler than a Zion Williamson 1/1 from Mosaic.
How has the PSA shutdown changed your outlook and have you expanded to other grading companies, why or why not.
- Well, in the weeks prior to PSA shutting down we received 3 times the amount of cards we would normally receive in a week due to the leak of the shutdown. So financially we should be fine with the 3 month suspension. I was really surprised at the amount of Walkthrough and Super Express level submissions we received since the shutdown, the high end cards are still coming through and the people who grade PC cards are just waiting patiently for the suspension to end. The “flipper” was the most affected in my opinion, maybe not by the actual shutdown but the backlog that led up to it, a lot of the cards being sent in on the mid tier service levels are time sensitive in most cases and even more so with the current state of the hobby.
As far as other grading companies? I personally only use PSA of course, and BGS, I’m old school in the way that I like the tried and true companies. We only offer PSA at Level Up Subs and we send anyone looking for BGS to David at DK Cards (@dkcards7). If it’s a product I don’t use personally, how can I sell it to someone else? Hey, I might just be an old crabby collector but that’s how I feel. There’s a new infatuation with getting your card slabbed, it seems a lot of people forgot the reason we ever graded cards in the first place. We graded cards to add value to the cards, not just short term value because people get caught up with honeymoon stages of anything new in this hobby, and of course the cards are protected for life as long as you don’t ship them USPS lol. Companies like PSA, BGS and even SGC were here when the hobby wasn’t doing very well and they’ll likely be here long after. HGA is a fairly new company that has caught the attention of people and it seems they are on the right path to succeed; CGC has been a force in comics & coins for years and it’s yet to be seen what the sports card market will do in the long run for them, their cases are as clear as glass if you’ve ever seen one in person. I see an ad for a new startup grading company every other day on Instagram; it is getting ridiculous, but I’d be happy to crack those out for you when PSA reopens the doors. There are plenty of group subbers who will gladly take on customers who want their cards graded by the other guys. I understand for most of those subbers it’s a business decision, more power to them.
What do you think is the biggest hurdle that the card market has in order to take the next step?
- Genuine growth, I think it’s best for the hobby to grow slowly and genuinely. When a hobby or anything for that matter gets trendy it usually has a quick spike that isn’t supported by common sense and it usually has a hard fall off, leaving many new participants with a bad taste in their mouth. We’re living in a social media driven world where a thread on reddit can change the lives of millions by investing in a stock because of a meme, and it works out for the people driving that ship and most people who jump on board uneducated will lose a lot of money. I feel this to be true with sports cards right now. It got hot so quick, it brought a ton of people in looking to make a quick buck but they won’t be here for the long run, which hurts anyone who purchased cards at an inflated price thinking it was going to stick. Everyone has to be a “Hustler” in today’s world, social media influencers push the “Hustle & Grind” narrative and show off their fancy lifestyles and now you have people bragging about their 60 boxes of hoops blasters they backdoored from Target because they know an employee. That post on instagram makes them feel powerful, they’ve been in our hobby for a year and they’ll carry a moniker of “King or God”, c’mon man, anyone can move product when its hot, lets see you move Score Football or Hoops back in 2016. So yea, back to my answer, the hobby does well at a slow and steady growth rate. We will see quite a few people stick around from the explosion which is a good thing, I imagine if a million people were introduced to something new at least 10,000 of them will fall in love with it and stick around.
What does the future hold for you and or the hobby?
- The hobby will always be here and so will I. As long as sports exist we will always have cards to collect. I can’t wait until Topps uses that Topps Project 2020 money to buy back into the NFL License when that comes up for bid, at least that’s what I hope happens. I don’t want Panini to go away by any means, but I do dream of a 3 way license between Panini, Topps and Upper Deck. That will be a joyous day for us all…..