It’s every collector’s dream to pull the biggest chase card from a newly released set. However, it does come with some baggage. Not the low-value base cards that pile up, forming miniature skyscrapers on your desk that you continuously fight the urge to throw in the trash. Instead, it’s the decision you have to make after your hands stop shaking. Do you hold it for eternity and hope it goes up in value over time? Do you sell it and buy a new car? Or do you trade it for something that was once unobtainable for your personal collection?
Luke Wilkins, a 30-year-old collector from the United Kingdom, pulled a one-of-one rookie patch autograph card of darts phenom Luke Littler. Littler, 17, won the World Darts Championship in 2025, putting him on a sporting greatness path similar to Pele and Serena Williams.
Topps produced an extremely-limited set, just 404 boxes, each with an encased autograph, and some lucky boxes included cards bearing relics from a match-worn jersey or even a game-used dart flight. The only wrinkle was it was unlicensed, after the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) partnered with Panini in 2024 to create the first-ever official darts collectibles, launching with a 60-player set in December.
The demand for darts trading cards is a late bloomer in the sports card boom since 2020; in the last 30 years, you could only find darts pros in Top Trumps. The Topps Littler release was highly-sought after, which for collectors means: add to cart, proceed to checkout, spinning wheel, refresh, out of stock, existential crisis. Boxes rocketed from the original $180 retail price to as high as $1,300 on the secondary market when Littler lifted the trophy.
Source link
