Cards to Celebrate the 2024 Solar Eclipse
When big events happen, the cards of the people involved tend to spike in value. When a perfect game is thrown, a player starts launching deep home runs, or a quarterback wins the Super Bowl, you’re selling and not buying. So, for the April 8 solar eclipse, we figured it was time to start investing in space-themed cards before millions of people scramble to purchase lunar rookies.
This is your ultimate guide to collecting the eclipse.
The most spot-on of the cards made celebrating the Moon is Allen & Ginter’s 2018 “Total Solar Eclipse” card, marking the last time (August 21, 2017) Americans could see the celestial event (which was the first time in nearly 100 years).
In 1957, Topps released a line of “Topps Space” cards — No. 51 in the set featured “an eclipse of the Earth” and explained, on the back, that when a solar eclipse occurs, “people on Earth will see stars in the daytime as they become plunged in night like darkness.” It is beautifully poetic and still a bargain for about $7. Our Topps Ripped lunar card experts all expect that price to go up to $7.50 and maybe even $7.75 as our 2024 plunge into darkness approaches.
Allen & Ginter has pretty much cornered the market on planetary-themed cards in modern days. In 2013, they produced a “One Little Corner” insert that featured (among other bodies) Haumea (a dwarf planet around Neptune), Ceres, Saturn, and… Moon (as opposed to “The Moon” ):
True eclipse enthusiasts will also want to run out and purchase “Sun.”…
…and “Earth”…
…and just to feel complete, you might as well pick up the “Faked Moon Landing” card while you’re out shopping. Total price? About $5. For now.
In 2018, Allen & Ginter produced an insert set of “Magnificent Moons,” including Ganymede, Io, and, again… “Moon.”
If you want to tread off the literal path (and go outside Allen & Ginter), you have a few animated options. Garbage Pail Kids Series 7 has a very literal card in “June Moon” (which is coupled with “Haley Comet,” but that feels less relevant):
And the discerning/creative investor may also want to take a shot at Eerie Eric/Berserk Kirk from Series 3, which features the Moon in the background but still shows off its amazing lycanthropic power.
And just to put a cherry on top of the GPK collection, in 2015 — celebrating GPK’s 30th anniversary — a Michael Jackson “moonwalk” spoof was produced (“Moonwalkin’ Michael”) that features a cameo of our old pal, Moon:
This coming celestial occurrence will be a massive event — 2017’s eclipse was believed to be the most viewed in human history. But before you go buy your special glasses—or, perhaps, fashion them from some old junk wax cards?—run over to your favorite local card shop and buy up all the moon-related cards you can (we’ll pump the brakes on Warren Moon cards, as we anticipate over-done jokes and memes) before the masses turn their attention to the collectible side of The Eclipse.
