It tells a story when you're able to make a resmash to something a jersey that was worn on July 12, 1985 when this guy hit the game winning shot and it really created the story. That's what I'm trying to bring is like the same nostalgia that some of these items bring to to mean memories. We want to preserve for others and that's what we're here for. We constant try to on every signature trying to create the most unique way of presenting it. Not just banging out a commodity that just gets sold out. If you're listening to hip hop you're actually listening to samples from like funk, soul, disco, time capsule into the past trying to put it off a collecting. Memories a big deal. Yeah, it's sort of capture that energy which is currently going missing. It's a special capability. Just don't mess that up. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing rails or calling bluffs. Take you inside the hobby. Here's your host, Ryan Alfer. What's up, Collector Nation. We appreciate you for listening and being with us today wherever whenever that day is. We know you got options. Thanks for choosing us. Collecting us because we love to collect. What is it about collecting? That's what this whole show's been about. Collector Nation as Americans, as human beings worldwide, we all like to collect something. But what's makes something collectible holding two of my favorite players in my hand as I'm talking Josh Allen Trevor Lawrence, beautiful cards. Is it scarcity? Is it nostalgia? Is it cultural relevance? Or is it the story behind them? But here's the thing. Not everything valuable started valuable and not everything rare becomes meaningful. So in this episode, we've pulled together conversations from across Collector Nation that explore that exact concept. However, day moments, cultural artifacts and even digital experiences turn into things people care about. They chase and ultimately preserve. We'll hear from DJ ski who breaks down how something is overlooked as confetti from the game of a championship becomes a physical piece of history. Dan Jameson with icons.com walks us through why jerseys aren't just a peril. Their identity legacy and emotional connection Alex brew from wax poetics takes us outside traditional sports and into hip hop memorabilia. John Robinson CEO of resolution photo matching explains why knowing the story behind an item can completely change its worth. And finally, Tariq CEO of trace, give us a look into the future with digital collectibles. Well ties all these conversations together is one truth. Collectibles aren't just objects their moments, their memory, their culture. So whether you're a lifelong collector or just starting to pay attention, this episode is about understanding the deeper layers behind why we collect and what makes something truly worth holding on to. Let's get at it. You know, we can't all go and be at these events and these things like either unattainable, monetarily logistics, whatever it might be. But you know, physically, but like putting them in the bottle, like stopping time in a way and making these collectibles and then knowing the authenticity is there and the trust is there. That's what collecting is about though. It's kind of like, look, attention is fleeting. Moments are fleeting. We're pulled in so many different ways, but having these things that bring back nostalgia, bring back reminders and being a moment that is sort of captured in time is really cool. You know that. I mean, like, look, I'll show you what's behind me. I have a 91 twins world series trophy paired with a picture of me and my mom at the, you know, during the 91 world series. The mother passed away. But like, so for me, like, yes, as a Minnesota sports fan, the last men's championship we won. There's the obvious on field. That's the smallest part. For me, that tugs on my memories as a kid, my memories of my mother, my memories of my father, right? Like everything else. And that's what this trophy when I see represents that moment in time. And yes, like, to me, it's priceless, right? Like, value in it. It's a gold trophy, but it's being there. And that's what I try to be. That's what I hope this represents. Like, it's confetti. It's a novelty product. Let's keep it real, right? Like, it's confetti. We put a lot of effort into collecting it, which is why, you know, it's still like a $60 product because we literally are on the field at the Super Bowl collecting it. We literally seal it up protective tape with trackers on it. It can't be opened up unless one of our representatives of the factory. We want to make sure that even the factory, they're not trying to get cute and add in more confetti or taking either things. Like, we want people to know what they're getting is real, right? And from the source, because it represents so much more again to a lot of people like, yes, on paper, Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl on February 9th in New Orleans. There's going to be some kid that is this is going to be sitting on his desk 20 years from now because he represents what he remembers watching it with his family. And that's far more important than the outcome of the game. This is just what encapsulates that. And that's what I'm trying to bring is like the same nostalgia that some of these items bring to it to me in memories. We want to preserve for others. And it just hasn't been just hasn't been available and hasn't been in a trusted source. Like, that's what we're here for. And that's where I say we really storytell through these and it's more than just the value of items. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Granjer-click-granger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done. If you work in university maintenance, Granger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip-off. And Granger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need all in one place from HVAC and plumbing supplies to lighting and more and all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock. So your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-Granjer, visit Granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. How many jerseys of Nessies has icons sold over time? I am roughly. Roughly I'd say, let's try working out. I'm probably about about 50,000 in total over two decades. But I had an interesting show. So there's scarcity there because I mean there's about a billion people on the planet. You've done it for 20 years and only 50,000 out there. That's a rare thing. It really brought it home when unfortunately Pele died. And I'm speaking to people who have Pele contracts and I'm like, can I get something? And I'm like, yeah, okay, maybe we swap some for Leo. And I'm like, I think the ratio is probably about eight to one in terms of value. Now how can it be? Pele is the greatest player that ever lived one, three, world cups and so on. And I'm like, because you made him signed two million shirts, that's the difference. You worked him for so long for so much that actually there's no, there is scarcity, but there's not that much scarcity in the world of it. He signed so many things for decades and decades and decades. And I'm like, well, Leo's signs are a contracted small amount every year and supply and demand means the price goes up. But I prefer it that way. I'd rather kind of keep it controlled than mass. And also you can't make more money by just by doing more of it. It's like we see Leo three or four times a year. I can't see him 16 times a year and it's handed full off. It just doesn't work like that. So we concentrate on every signature trying to create the most unique or special or interesting way of presenting it, not just banging out commodity that just gets sold every time. That's an interesting point for our listeners and the strategies that go under that because that's what creates value and makes something collectible. You know, it's kind of like this fine line of memorabilia with collectibility because, you know, because something could be a memorabilia piece but not necessarily be scarce. But yeah, I think it's an interesting point. So we always try to learn from the best. And it's sort of up a deck of God Michael Jordan and up a deck double the price. And they, and I'm saying, that's a bit hard to say. Well, we sold the same amount. I'm like, okay, now that's like it's there's, I did economics at university. So I always, I was trolling this out. Have you ever heard of anything called a Veadbelund good for EDLAN? I have, I don't remember why, but I have some in the memory books from something. Yeah, it's basically, it's a, it's got an inverse demand curve. Yeah. More expensive it gets. The more demand goes up, the more you want it. If you've got a cut price Ferrari next to a super Ferrari, you're going to distrust the cut price Ferrari and you're going to want to buy the thing that is super expensive. And it works with super high end goods. So like Gucci handbags for 500 pounds, you'd be suspicious of Gucci handbags for 5,000. You're like, okay, and that feels right. And you've got to create that value with sort of scarcity marketing and, I know, the skill of what we do. Let's just set the table for the audience. Alex, I mean, what you're up to, wax politics, past, present, future. Sure. I'll give you the medium length story. So yes, Alex, I'm CEO and co-founder of wax politics. Right now, we are a music collectible's marketplace where we run auctions of incredible music memorabilia that comes direct from verified artists, producers, DJs and collectors. But what we really do is we kind of layer in this storytelling element around everything. So we right now, we sit at the intersection of the traditional media model with this marketplace model kind of layered into it. And we're kind of aiming for that sweet spot right in the middle, which is, you know, something that I think we think has been kind of underserved and missing in a lot of the collectible space, and particularly in the music collecting space. And yeah, and your point, you know, you raise quite rightly while we are a year and a half into this new part of this project, wax politics has actually been around for almost 25 years. It's our 25th birthday next year. Yeah, so we started in 2001, not by me, by the original founding team. And the reason why it started was, but in New York, everyone listening to hip-hop at the time, no one really kind of reporting on it credibly. And the guys were saying, hey, you know, this is a real art form, you know, and it deserves to be kind of reported on, you know, with the kind of respect that it deserves. So really is talking about hip-hop. And you've got this like incredible line from, if you're listening to hip-hop, you're actually listening to some Porsche, I'm like, funk, soul, disco, jazz, and it's already this like time capsule into the past, right? Kind of perfect for collecting. And it became super influential across artists, DJs, producers, collectors, and branched out from hip-hop to all genres. And yeah, fast forward to about four or five years ago, just fork over to it myself and Dave, my co-founder. We took it over. We were both fans of the magazine, both big record collectors. And we're like, look, there is, there's something really important here, you know, it's a beautiful brand, it's got a great community around it of collectors that we think you know, have kind of been maybe like underserved in the space historically. And yeah, we took it over, we didn't know exactly what we're going to do with it at the time, if I'm being completely honest, but there's something there's something really important to do here in the music space. Yeah, and then how we kind of got to this point, kind of two things quite so and diffidously happening at the same time. You know, we were looking at, we have a journal that people collect, we have an audience of collectors who are now in their, you know, in a phase of their life where they are actually investing more in their collecting. And you know, we're actually like, hey, we're actually not in the publishing space or in the collecting space. And then at that same time, Sotheby's were doing their hip-hop auction and they reached out to us and they were like, hey, we'd like to be part of it and have the full run of wax critics in there. We're like, amazing, like a huge huge honor to ask to be part of that. But it kind of made us step back and we're like, you know, no shade on Sotheby's, love Sotheby's, but like, why are Sotheby's doing hip-hop and what Sotheby's know about hip-hop and what Sotheby's know about music and that's where we come from. We know this stuff and you know, we've been part of that culture for about point 22 years or 23 years and it's like, let's go and do this. You know, there's something really important to be done here connecting that, you said at the start, very correctly, culture, commerce, collecting and kind of joining all those dots. So yeah, so we've been running at that for the past year and a half. We've done items artists with everyone from Mariah Carey, which is how we originally got in contact and rolling stones, beasties boys, booty collins, Louis Vega, Arthur Baker. And yes, it's been a really, really exciting part of the journey. As a society, we collect things and, you know, it's just something that's in the foundation of our culture and we put obviously the celebrity and anyone's name and its likeness that's famous for whatever reason, good, better, and different or entertainment or sports or whatever it might be. We put value in that and and this kind of validation and service gives it that much more credibility in the collectibles in the collectors, you know, mine and then someone buying it. Yeah. Before you begin your road trip, ask yourself, do you really need five full suitcases? With the 2026 Kia Sportage X Pro's class leading cargo space, you'll have room for what you need. Find out more at your local Kia dealer today. Keep the adventure going. Kia, movement that inspires. Call 800-333-34K for details. Always drive safely and obey all traffic laws. Compare to the second-row legroom and cargo space behind second-row seats in the subcompact SUV class according to Kia's segmentation as of October 2025. Hey, Sal. Hank, what's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carbana and it was so easy, too easy. Think something's up? Shoot, tell me. They got thousands of options. Found a great car, a great price, and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carbana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed. Buy your car today on Carbana. Delivery fees may apply. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's where the hobby is at its best. It's at its core of just finding cool stuff and then coming up with an idea for like, okay, I want to collect this team from this year because that was the year that I was a kid and I was on that ride with them. Any different thing you can think of to put a collection together, I think that's what the hobby is all about. Unfortunately, there's times where there's things that go on in the hobby that aren't what you want to see in terms of people putting the money first and putting the ethics second, which drives us nuts. But like you say at its core, it's that that's what's great about the hobby. You know, finding those fun, unique collections and just going down a rabbit hole. But yeah, absolutely. We want to do everything we can to add to that. So that's what I love about the hobby. I think your search is becoming more and more timely. It's like just because of reality, of AI and all these are the things of what's real, what's not. And when you have something physical that has this sentimental and real value, these services, I feel like, become more and more valuable. Yeah, it tells a story. When you're able to make a resmash to something, it can go from a bat that was used in 2010 or a jersey that was worn in 1985 to a jersey that was worn on July 12, 1985, when this guy hit a home run or this guy hit the game winning shot. And it really creates that much more of a story to tell you know, you learn the story of the piece. So yeah, it adds another level to the collectible. Yeah, and that's what I love to, you know, start to sort of widen down where we started a bit like with the imagery or video or like something that kind of goes along with it to tell that story for how you display it and you know, bringing to life not only the piece, but the entire game or framing it in a lot of way. It can help you kind of build out that whole story of what happened during game worn, right? Yeah, exactly. You know, it tells the story and then you know, on the investment side, it adds a huge amount of value. You know, we're oftentimes seeing pieces go for you know, four times what they sold for without a res match when we're able to make that res match. But the reason it adds so much value financially is because it does tell that story and makes the piece that much cooler. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. Friction removal. So 100%. I don't make it easy. Like I think, I mean, not that 10 fans for whatever sport, tennis cricket basketball football, I think hearing our conversation and hearing the not just theory, but the practice of what you're doing. It's like, sign me up. That sounds cool. But how easy can you make it and how, you know, can you do a retina, I scan and I'm in, you know, what I mean, I don't know, but we're not going there yet. But you know what I'm saying? I think that's what it is. It's like, how do you, I flip on the game. How do I not fumble around with a log in and my password that I can't find and an app that doesn't want to load and I'm trying to do this. But I don't know. I just want to watch the game. I'm like, it's how do you move friction or keep like that's that's the key. Probably something like this. Yeah. Well, I mean, certainly it is. And you know, there is a, there is a, the biggest friction is confusion, by the way, right? So like even if, even if it's like, you know, you know, biometric log in and, you know, it's super easy from a sort of an app perspective, which people are used to do, like used to have in like three, four apps open, jury, sporting event and whatever. It's still a new behavior, right? To be like, app player collector match and likes it. So that the most important thing is to, is to think about like, you know, just through this journey, the basics of user experience design and what messages matter more at what moments. Some of them, you're more like, like digital savvy audience will probably also be asking like, is this NFTs? Do I need to connect to wallet? Do I need to do all of that? And I'm like, no, you don't, right? Like, this is, yes, they're provably scarce assets. And we are, you know, your, your fan identity is something that we do have on a blockchain because it's got to be verifiable for any time down the line that you want to share that identity with somebody and remaining control of your data. Yeah. But we don't have, this is not a crypto thing. It's not like a, you know, that the friction in those experiences is really high. This is not a financialised behavior. This isn't the idea isn't like, turn up at this event, collect these things and then flip them, right? This is, this is about primarily proof that I give a fuck about this thing, right? So like, if I give a fuck, I just keep doing it because we want to know who those people are that actually do give a fuck. That's the whole point. The 800 punches that happen in a boxing match or make those tradable, right? Make that like, as an engaged fan, I get, I get sort of some privileged access to things that may have more culture meaning or more value. And like, of course, I want the marketplace for those things. But that marketplace is there for those people who are like bona fide fans, right? And the reason we do that is because that's the signal that we are trying to celebrate and create. It's that, that obsession that the sports team wants to know about, right? Like who, who are these, who are the people that actually really, we owe our cultural capital to? And how do I not just by giving a little, also get a lot more back from that fan? But that's also who sponsors want to know as well. Like, who am I really in front of, right? Who's, if by association with this sports team or this sports league, you know, which, which fans and what can I learn about them and can I even acquire them into my own ecosystem as a brand? You know, who, who are they? And that's where the identity signal of like I genuinely give a shit about this thing is, is, is the base, the basic, the basic premise of it. Terrick, it's really interesting. And I think I love this topic and the innovation and the, the fidgetal digital, digital, is that made up word? I don't know if that's to make that up at the least. Someone's probably said that before, you know, nature of this. It's, it's really cool. And, and I think, I think you've got all the opportunity in the world. You just got to connect all the dots, baby. You know, I'm just there. I mean, I like it. And we, we, we, we definitely are. And, you know, there's, there's a special source in here about like, you know, as you say, just like memories, a big deal, you know, being able to sort of capture that energy, which is currently going missing. It's a special capability. And you can use that in a variety of ways, but you've got to stay true to the obsession. That's, that's how we, that's how we roll with it. You know, just don't mess that bit up, right? Authentic to the spool, authentic to the fan experience and everything works out from there. Thanks for tuning into the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at RyanAlford. Now get out there and collect yours.
