The Dutch auction for Panini America’s 2024 Rookie Royalty WNBA set ended Monday at the floor of $3,000 per box.
Boxes of Rookie Royalty, which contained just two cards, started at a ceiling of $30,000. The price for hobby boxes dropped every five minutes until the auction ended shortly after 2 p.m. ET.
Panini doesn’t publicly release how many boxes are sold at each price point during Dutch auctions.
First announced last week, 2024 Rookie Royalty WNBA is an ultra high-end product centered around stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Each box contains two total cards, including an autograph of either Clark or Reese and one Downtown or Kaboom insert.
Including Clark and Reese, Rookie Royalty features 12 total rookies from the 2024 season, with Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso and Rickea Jackson among the other notable players.
Similar to the popular Chronicles set, Rookie Royalty contains a variety of popular card brands from Panini America — these brands typically don’t have their own standalone release and are instead coupled together to create a mix.
Highlighting the debut release for Rookie Royalty are ultra high-end brands such as National Treasures, Flawless and Immaculate. Rookie Patch Autographs from those brands are expected to be among the most coveted WNBA cards to ever release.
The popular Downtown and Kaboom inserts also appear and are among the most sought-after inserts in the hobby.
Prior to release, collectors heavily speculated where the Dutch auction could end, with many expecting it to finish closer to the floor than the ceiling. For most collectors, Rookie Royalty’s value is linked to the 50-50 chance of landing a Clark autograph.
Though Reese is a popular player on the court, the delta between her and Clark in the trading card market is significant. The record paid for any Clark card to date is the $366,000 spent on a 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Signatures Gold Vinyl Prizm 1/1 at Goldin in March.
The high price for any Reese card at public auction is the $4,000 paid for her 2023 Bowman University Chrome Superfractor 1/1 on eBay in January.
Of the 12 players featured, only Clark, Reese, Brink and Jackson have had solo cards top $3,000 at public auction, making the product a high-risk, high-reward release at its retail price point.
Despite launching with a controversial price point, many WNBA collectors might consider Rookie Royalty a much-needed addition to the league. So far, the current release cycle has only featured the Prizm, Select and Origins brands.
Donruss WNBA is expected to release in July.
The addition of Rookie Royalty delivers a number of high-end autographs and memorabilia cards to a market that has largely been highlighted by super short-printed parallels.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.