Like most people, my attic is filled with all kinds of worthless knick-knacks, tchotchkes, and trinkets from my decades on Earth…
I have a stable of old guitars, crates of old records, notebooks from college, and t-shirts from high school that (despite my wife’s pleas) I simply can’t bring myself to throw away. It wouldn’t be unfair to call me a “functional” hoarder…
However, none of that stuff is worth much of anything outside of my own nostalgia. And so it still sits, collecting dust. But there is one important exception: my massive baseball card collection.
Now — until last week — I hadn’t really looked at my baseball cards in over a decade. It simply didn’t occur to me. I never really collected them to make a fortune, I was just in love with America’s pastime, and truly enjoyed the thrill of the chase and the shrewd maneuvers it took to hose my friends on trades.
And hose them I did…
Many of those same friends sold off their baseball cards years ago. But I grew up hearing horror stories from my father’s and grandfather’s generations, tales of men selling off priceless Joe DiMaggios, Ty Cobbs, and Ted Williamses for pennies on the dollar.
I can’t count the times I was warned never to sell my cards because, “Sonny, one day they’ll make you rich!”
Well, that day may have finally arrived.
Even if you have no interest in baseball cards or collectibles, stick with me. There is a way that you too can reap a fortune off of the collectibles market without even owning a card of your own…
Last week I happened to come across an article on baseball auctions online and — to my surprise — one of my prized childhood cards had just sold for over $35,000!
If there was ever a reason to dust off the old collection, this was it. As soon as I got home that day, I jaunted up into the attic, dug through a couple of boxes and emerged victorious.
I found this card:
This is the same 1980 Rickey Henderson card that had sold for more money than most of the cars I’ve owned were worth. I was ecstatic. However, I tempered my expectations…
The problem is that cards are rated and valued based on a number of variables: condition, scarcity, and printing flaws to name a few. My card could be worth anywhere from $50 to $35,000. The only way for me to even speculate about how much my card was worth was to call in the experts and have it professionally graded.
That’s where your profit opportunity comes in…
There is only one publicly traded company that grades cards like these — and it is one of the single best under-the-radar dividend stocks I’ve ever seen.
Collectors Universe Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT) provides third-party authentication, grading, and related services for rare and high-value collectibles consisting of coins, trading cards, sports memorabilia, and autographs.
It is the largest and most trusted third-party grading and authentication company in the world. Cards and collectibles graded by the company are worth considerably more than those that are not — and for good reason. As the grading standard of the industry, it is the preferred choice of collectors, dealers, and auction houses worldwide.
It currently grades about 140,000 sports cards a month, one of which was the holy grail of baseball cards: the famous T206 Honus Wagner card.
That sucker sold for $2.8 million!
You’ll notice the PSA logo on the top of the card. That stands for Professional Sports Authenticator, Collector’s Universe’s card grading arm. PSA has processed more than 20 million cards and collectibles for a value totaling more than a billion dollars.
With stakes that high, you can see why this company has quietly become a multimillion-dollar business.
Here’s why you should start a position in Collectors Universe Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT), stash it in your attic, and reap the generous dividend for years to come…
For one, the company has gone nowhere but up since I recommended it to my Crow’s Nest readers in 2013. Counting the dividend, we’re currently up 127%.
I’m bullish about Collectors Universe not only as a short-term dividend beast, but also as a long-term growth stock. And not because I’m waxing nostalgic about baseball cards…
It also deals in a much more lucrative business: rare coins.
Since 1986, PCGS has graded over 30 million coins with a cumulative declared value of over $29 billion. It almost singlehandedly started the coin grading phenomenon and revolutionized the rare coin industry.
It has recently expanded into China, where — as founder David Hall told me personally — “the only thing real in China are the counterfeiters.” It’s a huge untapped market and will allow Collector’s Universe to exponentially grow the business. I’d advise you get in before it really gets a stranglehold on that massive market.
But the main thing I stress is the dividend. It currently pays out a meaty 6.3%…
I dare you to find other companies that are this solid, paying out even half of that.
I’m off to ship my Rickey Henderson card — along with a few other hidden gems — to Collectors Universe Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT) to see how much my childhood obsession paid off.
