Travis Kelce is a three-time Super Bowl champion, future hall of famer, and (still) the boyfriend of global superstar Taylor Swift. Since his first Pro Bowl appearance in 2015, Kelce has been one of the best players in the NFL and is becoming the ultimate football celebrity — signing a $100 million podcast deal with Amazon for his show “New Heights” with brother Jason and branching out into acting and game-show hosting.
Football card collectors and Swifties alike have been buying up cards of the Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end in recent years, but Kelce’s sluggish start to the 2024 NFL season could present an opportunity to buy his cards for a lower price compared to before the season started (depending on the set, year, and variation). So where’s the best place to start a Travis Kelce card collection? Here are our picks.
Top pick (full recommendations below)
2013 Score #431 Rookie Signatures
Travis Kelce’s 2013 Score #431 Rookie Signatures is my best value recommendation based on scarcity and price (currently about $250-$350). The card’s retro design celebrates the 25th anniversary of the iconic 1989 Score Football set. There is also a non-autographed version of this card that currently sells for about $30-$40 ungraded.
Things to know before buying
The value of sports cards can fluctuate for various reasons such as condition, print runs, or graded population. Other factors that can cause prices to go up or down include player performance, market trends, and health of the wider economy. The secondary sales market for individual cards of a given sport generally hits its lowest point during the offseason (in other words, you can usually find better prices in the offseason than during the season). My recommendations are not an attempt to promote specific investment behavior or trading advice, but to guide and inform readers about popular and unique cards that are celebrated by the sports card community.
When it comes to football, quarterback is by far the most valuable and in-demand position in the entire sport. This also holds true for football card collectors, who are willing to pay a premium for cards of the NFL’s best gunslingers rather than top skill position players like running back, wide receiver, or tight end. This philosophy in football collecting is crucial to keep in mind when researching and comparing card values or grading populations of QBs versus other position players.
Ultimately, the best cards to collect are always the ones you will personally enjoy most, regardless of whether they go up or down in value. The recommendations below should serve as a starting point for cards to consider, but a big part of the fun in collecting is the hunt for the cards you like.
“Raw” cards vs. Graded cards
Cards can come out of the pack (their “raw” state) with a wide variety of imperfections that can impact their value. Card grading is a process in which an expert of the field determines the condition of a card based on a number of factors (including corner sharpness, image centering, print imperfections, and more) and assigns a numerical grade, usually on a scale of 1-10 (with the latter being close to perfect) and sealed in a protective case. There are a number of grading companies, each with their own unique grading scales, but Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) is by far the largest and most prominent in the industry. Cards graded a “PSA 10” can carry a significant value multiplier compared to raw cards or those graded by other companies.
It’s fine (and often cheaper) to buy cards raw, but if you want to ensure authenticity and/or a minimum condition level, and you’re not experienced at determining card condition for yourself, you may want to buy a graded card instead — particularly if you’re buying online and only able to see the card in photographs.
Best low-end (~$1-$150) Travis Kelce cards
This is a category for collectors who are on a tighter budget or aren’t as concerned about the long-term monetary value of the cards they buy.
2013 Panini Prestige #293 rookie card
Travis Kelce’s 2013 Panini Prestige #293 is an ideal entry-level base rookie card that’s modestly priced in raw and graded copies. As I write this, Raw examples are selling on eBay for around $20 and PSA 10’s are fetching between $100-$150.
Prestige is viewed as one of Panini’s mid- to low-end football releases printed on traditional paper card stock. (In many cases, the value, condition sensitivity, and desirability of a card can depend on the quality and thickness of the card stock.)
If you’re looking to add a relatively inexpensive Panini Travis Kelce base rookie card to your collection, this is a great choice and a worthy alternative to his Topps rookie.
More expensive variations and parallels: Extra Points Blue, Extra Points Red, Extra Points Purple (/100), Extra Points Gold (/50), Extra Points Green (/25), Extra Points Black (/10), Printing Plates (1/1)
2013 Topps Chrome #118 rookie card
I consider Travis Kelce’s 2013 Topps Chrome #118 a budget-friendly rookie card that is in high demand. Raw versions are currently selling on eBay for around $40 with multiple transactions per day over the last 30 days.
The Chrome (shiny and printed on thicker card stock) base rookie is a practical card to start with, but the Refractor or X-Fractor are reasonable alternatives for those who prefer a more dynamic aesthetic and shorter print parallel cards or more limited PSA graded copies. As I write this, PSA 10 sales of the base card are currently around $150.
As for the image used on the card, even Kelce himself isn’t a fan, which he expressed on an episode of his “New Heights” podcast earlier this year (Topps subsequently offered a tongue-in-cheek response). However, it’s still one of his most collected rookie cards because of the popularity of Topps and its flagship Chrome set.
More expensive variations and parallels of this card: Refractor, X-fractor, Orange, Blue Wave, Purple (/499), Military Camo (/499), Pink (/399), Black (/299), Prism (/260), Blue (/199), Sepia (/99), Gold (/50), Red (/25), SuperFractor (1/1), Printing Plates (1/1)
2013 Panini Prizm #292 Rookie Card
Prizm football cards are widely seen as one of the go-to chromium sets for rookies and rookie autograph cards in modern collecting, so I felt it was necessary to include Kelce’s 2013 Prizm #292 base rookie card on this list. But in 2013, the number of Prizm cards produced was much smaller than today, since Panini was only in its second year of making official NFL-licensed cards and the newly-released Prizm set. This was also long before the pandemic-era trading card boom.
According to PSA, there are less than 1,800 examples of this card authenticated by the company and less than 800 have received a Gem Mint 10 grade. Since the card’s grading population is relatively low by today’s standards, raw copies currently cost between $40-$60. (For comparison, there are around 18,000 PSA graded examples of Joe Burrow’s 2020 Prizm #307 and more than 7,500 PSA 10s.)
The set’s reputation among collectors and the limited PSA 10 copies of Kelce’s card make it my personal favorite base rookie card recommendation.
More expensive variations and parallels: Base Prizm, Camouflage, Red Pulsar, Blue, Blue Pulsar, Green, Light Blue, Orange Die-Cut (/50), Purple Cracked Ice (/40), Die-Cut Light Blue (/15), Gold (/10), Black Finite (1/1)
Best value (~$151-$499) Travis Kelce cards
This is a category for collectors looking to pay a bit more for cards that have some degree of scarcity and have a better chance at retaining or increasing in value long-term.
2013 Score #431 Rookie Signatures
The 2013 Score Football release included a Travis Kelce base rookie card and rookie autograph that paid tribute to the 1989 Score rookie card design. The 1989 set was extremely popular, as it included rookie cards of Hall of Famers like Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, and Derrick Thomas.
Looking at this card’s PSA graded population, there are nearly 60 examples authenticated by the company and less than 10 have received a Gem Mint 10 grade. The scarcity of Kelce’s Score Rookie Signatures card has resulted in only a few sales of the card per month — with raw and PSA 9 copies selling between $250-$350 on eBay.
The nostalgic aspects of this card’s design and the limited number of Kelce rookie autograph cards produced in 2013 make this my best value recommendation. If you really want to treat yourself, the set offers two rookie autograph variations I’d highly consider — especially the red “color-match” parallel that’s limited to only 49 copies.
(A “color match” is a refractor or parallel card that matches a player’s team colors. Color match parallels are generally priced at a premium compared to others.)
Best high-end (~$500+) Travis Kelce cards
This is a category for collectors looking to acquire the most desired Kelce cards on the market.
2013 Panini Select #242 Rookie Autograph
I want to begin the high-end portion of the article with a Kelce rookie autograph card from one of Panini’s most popular chromium sets in today’s hobby: Select Football.
Kelce’s base auto is limited to 499 copies and sells for over $500 in various grades. Overall, the set offers less than 750 Travis Kelce Rookie Autograph cards and PSA has graded only 80 copies of the base auto up to this point. Other, more expensive parallels include the Prizm Refractor, Gold, and the Black 1/1.
I debated adding Kelce’s Prizm rookie autograph to our list since both are similarly priced, but I ultimately chose this one because it shows Kelce in his Chiefs gameday uniform as opposed to his practice jersey.
2013 Panini National Treasures #334 Rookie Signature Materials
If money was no object and I had to pick one Travis Kelce card to spoil myself with, it’s without a doubt his 2013 Panini National Treasures Rookie Signature Materials #334. The National Treasures brand is one of the most coveted premium sets produced by Panini and includes some of the best rookie patch autograph cards in the entire hobby.
Cards featuring a rookie’s autograph and pieces of game-used or player-worn memorabilia have become a staple of modern collecting and a main attraction for high-end collectors. Depending on the player, set, and parallel, the popularity of rookie patch autograph cards (or “RPA” for short) has translated into multi-million-dollar sales. In 2021, Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes’ National Treasures RPA 1/1 sold for a staggering $4.3 million.
Kelce’s silver parallel RPA from National Treasures is limited to 99 copies and is the most common in comparison to the other variations. In 2022, Kelce’s National Treasures Rookie Patch 1/1 Autograph, which includes the NFL shield from his jersey, sold for over $20,000.
Value aside, I consider this the ultimate chase card for Travis Kelce collectors based on the high-end quality of National Treasures RPA cards and its low print run.
More expensive variations and parallels: Gold (/49), Black (/25), Platinum (/5), Laundry Tag (1/1) Nike Swoosh (/2), Printing Plates (1/1)
One other cool Travis Kelce Card
2017 Panini Donruss Elite #6 Travis/Jason Kelce Family Ties #6 insert
As someone who also has a sibling that’s similar in age, I had to feature one of my favorite cards that includes both Kelce brothers. The Family Ties #6 insert from 2017 Donruss Elite marks the first official NFL trading card with Travis and Jason together. Despite the Eagles drafting Jason in 2011, he didn’t receive his first NFL licensed card until 2017. So the fact that the collecting community considers this a Jason Kelce rookie card makes it even more desirable.
Including the base version, this card is offered in seven parallels that vary in print run and value. The base version is limited to 299 copies, but there’s a less expensive green parallel that’s not serial-numbered.
What also fascinates me about this card is that it wasn’t necessarily desired upon release, but it’s grabbed the attention of fans over time. In 2022, raw copies of the Green Parallel sold on eBay for as low as $5, but the card will now cost you around $100 to own.
More expensive variations and parallels: Base (/299), Green, Red (/99), Purple (/49), Orange (/25), Blue (/5), Gold (1/1)
Getting the best price
Prices for a certain trading card can vary wildly and fluctuate quickly, making it important to check recent sales of a given card to make sure you’re buying at a fair value. You can check recent sales of an item on eBay by selecting the “sold items” filter on search results. You can also run a search on 130point.com, which is a free site that provides sales data from a number of top online marketplaces. There are also several apps that provide more in-depth sales data, often charging subscription fees for full access.
To account for outliers and scams, it’s important to consider multiple previous sales, not just the single most recent. It’s also important to note the recency of those sales and any real-world factors that could affect changes in value.
Why you should trust us
As a second-generation collector, Tyler Holzhammer started collecting cards and attending the National Sports Collectors Convention at 10 years old. He’s evolved his passion as a collector into a career, previously providing sports card content and market analysis for companies like Sports Card Investor and Goldin Auctions. Tyler’s sports card collection is centered around players from his favorite teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the St. Louis Cardinals.
How we recommended
We utilize marketplace research databases that provide sports card analysis and sales information, such as eBay’s Terapeak product research tool and CardLadder. We recommended this list of cards by analyzing the values, sales volume, set popularity, and grading population of several different Travis Kelce rookie cards.
The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.
Required Reading:
(Top photo: David Eulitt/Getty Images; all card images: eBay)
