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Old 02-14-2020, 07:39 PM
supplex55 supplex55 is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2017
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I know of no price guides for sumo cards, but for the more recent BBM issues (1997-date)--i would suspect the Hakuho debut card from the VERY tough 2004 BBM set would be a good candidate for that honor. Insert cards are another matter, and I have seen some autographed inserts go for over 200 US dollars. I know of only one collector who has completed the 2004 set--I am two cards away from the set of 99 (#14,64). Two other veteran collectors I know have about 2/3 of the set, but both are missing the two Hakuho debut cards (#65 and #88). For those unfamiliar with sumo, Hakuho has won (at the time of this writing) 43 tournaments in his career--by far the record in that category. He has also won the most matches and is generally regarded as the greatest sumo wrestler of all time. From my understanding, cards from 2004 through 2007 are particularly difficult to locate, as BBM sumo card production purportedly dropped significantly during this period--often referred to by advanced collectors as the "Black Hole" of sumo card collecting. A possible reason for the 2004-07 scarcity is a decline of Japanese interest in the sport following the retirement of the mega-popular Yokozuna Takanohana in 2003 (after he had two years of frequent kyujo in 2001-02). Also, beginning with the 2004 set, BBM reduced the set size to 99 cards, and discontinued insert cards--an obvious sign of less demand in their Sumo product during that time.
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Last edited by supplex55; 02-14-2020 at 08:10 PM.
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