India, May 22 -- Imagine you and your friend go to a stationery shop one day. You both see a packet of Topps Trading Cards and decide to buy 10 packs. Each pack comes with 5 cards each. You pull out a 2019-20 Topps Chrome Bundesliga Red Refractors Erling Haaland Rookie Card (numbered out of 10). One of the same cards got sold in an auction for $170,400. You and your friend have hit the jackpot.

Nostalgia and Rituals

Both Panini and Topps have deep cultural roots. Topps built a massive following by packaging its baseball cards with bubble gum in the 1950s. Panini revolutionised the international sports world by turning major tournaments (like the FIFA World Cup) into a cultural ritual, making the swapping of duplicate stickers on school ...