2023-24 Panini Phoenix Rookie Jersey Autographs Amen Thompson Orange CGC Auto10
Amen Thompson — A permanent record: this Museum Artifact ID stays with this piece for good, independent of which gallery it's currently displayed in.
What I Traded For Amen Thompson
A lesson in what a card is really worth, learned across a table at a card show.
I was at a card show and came across a 2023 Phoenix Amen Thompson Rookie Jersey Autograph, the yellow parallel, graded PSA 10 Gem Mint. Amen's one of my favorite players, and I wanted this card badly. But I didn't want to just pay cash for it.
I'd brought some of my higher-value cards with me to the show, so I offered a trade instead. I gave up a Leaf Steph Curry autograph card, along with a couple of other encapsulated cards from less famous players, and walked away with the Amen Thompson.
I didn't fully realize it at the time, but that trade taught me something I still think about. Cash isn't the only way to get a card you really want. Sometimes what you already have is worth more to the right person than what's in your wallet, and knowing how to put a few smaller pieces together to trade up for the one card you actually care about is its own kind of skill.
No cash changed hands.
Just cards, a deal, and a kid figuring out how the hobby really works.
