Research hubs
Four markets, kept apart on purpose. Each hub reads the catalog directly, so what you see is what we actually hold — including where we hold a claim rather than a confirmed fact.
- The Ohtani rookie ecosystemThe 2017–18 US market: what counts as a rookie card, why the photo variations are their own market, and what our catalog can and cannot verify.The rookie era is not one card but several separate markets, and a photo variation is a different card from the base it shares a number with — pooling their prices is the most expensive mistake in this era.
- Japanese-era cards (NPB)Where Ohtani collecting began: the Japanese issues, their numbering conventions, and why US resale evidence must be labelled as such.Japanese-issue prices and US resale prices are two different markets, and any number shown against a Japanese card has to say which one it came from.
- Ohtani autographs, by how they were signedFive separate autograph markets, why third-party authentication is not certification, and what the catalog can verify about each.A third-party-authenticated in-person signature is a genuine signature on a different asset — it never prices a pack-issued certified autograph, and this app refuses to let it.
- Milestone and Topps Now issuesCards that commemorate an event: how their demand actually behaves, and why a low print run is not by itself a reason to own one.A milestone card's demand tracks the moment it prints, not its print run — a small run on a moment nobody revisits stays small and cheap.
The catalog behind these hubs holds 59 identities in total. Browse all of them on the card index, or read the method behind the numbers in the guides.