New Rabbit Hole Auctions targets niche market with affordable cards, oddball collectibles
For the average collector, bidding on iconic cards like a 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle or a ’52 Topps Willie Mays are out of their price range.
Most auction houses are tailored to high-end collectors who have disposable income and resources. But there’s a new player in town that is offering a different style of auction.
Vintage card collector Justin Hirsch recently launched Rabbit Hole Auctions, which consigns items that can be affordable for the everyday collector.
“I said, I’m going to curate something that feels personal to me and we can tell the story. And I want things that are like $100 to like $10,000,” said Hirsch, the company’s CEO. “I love Goldin and REA and Heritage. I’m a client of theirs. I buy some cool stuff, but I’m also not spending $84,000 on an item.
“There’s this really cool niche that is underserved, next level, with really cool, attainable player runs and oddball artifacts.”
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Rabbit Hole Auctions—rabbitholeauctions.com—will hold its first-ever auction, named The Inaugural, starting on Sept. 28. Hirsch plans to schedule two more auctions next year, and then two more in 2027.
It isn’t Hirsch’s goal to run as many auctions as he can. He is trying to drive home his company’s brand while not overdoing it.
“We’re going to stay very nichey and boutiquey,” Hirsch said.
RETRACING HIS ROOTS
Having been a card collector since 1982, Hirsch is well in tune with the market. His love for the hobby started as an 8-year-old when his dad brought him to an auction. Hirsch ended up winning two cards: a 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie, and a 1966 Topps Jim Palmer rookie. To this day, those are two of the most important cards in his collection.
“Those are the two I can’t replace,” said Hirsch, who lives just outside of Chicago.
In the early 2000s, Hirsch was traveling frequently all over the United States for work. He decided to start collecting T206 cards from every city he visited. Hirsch hit the vintage market hard, going after tobacco and candy cards from manufacturers Ramly, Breisch-Williams and Goudey.
For the last 15 years, Hirsch has worked at Jobplex, a recruiting company where he serves as CEO. Running his auction house is a fun side project. Hirsch is a hunter and curator, so starting Rabbit House Auctions was right up his alley.
“I have tons of interests. I have tremendous connections, a lot of capital,” Hirsch said. “Number one, I can probably start to prune my collection. Number two, I love auctions. And three, I love to window shop. But I love attainable vintage with cool stories and provenance, and I love artifacts.
“People think it’s really cool when they see a 1930s Goudey-era glove and a 1948 Babe Ruth coin they can use as a marker when playing poker. Some of the best stuff I have is under $100.”
VINTAGE CARDS, ODDBALLS
Hirsch has been busy prepping for his company’s first auction, which will go live on Sept. 28. He’s capping the number of items in the auction to 200.
“The 200 lots aren’t designed to drive the most revenue,” Hirsch said. “In order to be in our auction, it needs to be on brand. Everything is literally [graded] 1 to 4s.”
Hirsch figures about 90 percent of his auction will consist of vintage baseball cards and other memorabilia; the remaining 10 percent will be oddball items.
“We have a 1930s Disney napkin. We’re like, do we put it on now? It’s kind of cool for people who love Disney World,” Hirsch said. “We’ve got some old boxing cards. We love the ’33 Goudey Indian cards.
“We’re not doing a ton of football yet and we’re not doing a ton of basketball yet, because our audience for the most part is baseball and vintage baseball. That’s part of the evolution and scaling. We haven’t tried to get a lot of consignors for basketball or football yet, and the oddball items come out of the woodwork.”
Hirsch had a person reach out to him about auctioning off a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card. Hirsch respectfully declined to consign the card. He said Rabbit Hole Auctions isn’t ready yet for a card of that caliber.
Hirsch is even taking items from his personal collection to sell in the company’s first auction.
“Yes, we are in business to make money. But in the first auction, we’re in business to have a successful auction that’s well-liked and well-received and is actualized in our niche,” said Hirsch, who has received a great deal of support within the industry.
“I’m not competing with Love of the Game,” Hirsch said. “I’m not competing with God knows Heritage. But I’m getting deal flow from Heritage. ‘It’s not right for Heritage, talk to Justin. He’s doing something really cool.’”
One prime example of what Hirsch seeks for consignments for his auction is a 1952 Topps Mays in a PSA 2 grade. The card has some paper loss on the image of Mays’ face.
“We’re telling the story that it was likely stuck behind another card in the ’52 Topps set, because it’s got the gentle snow on his right eye,” Hirsch said. “Every item has a description. We’re trying to tell the story of each card.”
A unique item that will be up for auction is an 1867 copy of the first-ever weekly baseball magazine, “The Ball Players’ Chronicle.” A 1930s Goudey-era baseball glove is another one of Hirsch’s oddball items up for sale.
Hirsch purchased a lot of 1909-11 T206 cards and extracted all of the Hall of Famers. He’s auctioning off the remaining 300-plus cards as a single lot.
In his personal collection, Hirsch owns 10 T206 Sweet Caporal packs. He is putting up one of the packs for the first auction. The tobacco product includes a tax stamp from 1910 affixed to the pack.
“I’m a tax stamp snob,” Hirsch said. “It’s got to be from the era.”
Also on the auction block will be All-Star Game ballots from 1955 and ’56. Hirsch is batching together player runs of Mantle, Mays and Hank Aaron in three-card lots.
He is hoping his inaugural auction will provide plenty of data he can utilize for future auctions.
“Here’s what’s pretty cool, 70 percent of our current registered bidders signed up without even seeing the inventory. They love the concept,” Hirsch said. “We’ve added the other 30 percent post-sneak peek. We want to see what’s the activity of our registered bidders. Are they there to window shop? Are they there to be active and really bid? We really believe they’re going to be active and bid. But we don’t have data. We want the data. So, hence the goal is to have this as attainable and manageable.”
Hirsch is always happy to hear from potential consignors. But he emphasizes he looks for the right types of items for his auctions.
“If they want to maximize their dollar, go somewhere else,” Hirsch said. “I think we’re going to have a really successful auction. But I’m not promising the top end—we’re not setting records. We have cool stuff.”