Upper Deck Sports Marketing Manager Chris Carlin said that the trading card company “saw a little blip in the sales” of Heat F LeBron James collectibles after he earned the '11-12 MVP award, but winning the NBA championship “saw the floodgates really, really come open.” Carlin noted the main items selling are a “framed photo with a cut signature of LeBron that was a lower price point,” and there has been “great movement on some of the really higher end items.” Carlin said James collectibles are “selling at a real comparable range” to Lakers G Kobe Bryant, but Basketball HOFer Michael Jordan is “still selling a lot higher.” James has an exclusive marketing deal with Upper Deck for his collectibles. ESPN’s Michele Steele asked about specifics in terms of James merchandise sales, “When you say orders are up, what are we talking about? Up 50%? Are they double?” Carlin: “No, it’s way higher than that. There’s really a wait-and-see mentality with collectors with regards to his signed collectibles, because everyone knew that LeBron is great. But if you’re going to make a decision to spend a few hundred dollars to put a signed item of LeBron on your wall, you want to make sure that he’s won the championship. .... After that has happened, then people have really been moving on it.” Carlin said after James’ playoff performance this season, “we’re seeing him perform at the highest level” and he is “doing and saying all the right things which makes (him) more likeable and more desirable to be collected” (“Mint Condition,” ESPN.com, 7/2).
