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The most anticipated rookie sports card of the year has officially found its stage.
Fanatics Collect announced that the coveted 2025-26 Topps Cooper Flagg 1-of-1 Rookie Debut Patch Autograph is heading to the auction block as the crown jewel of its September Premier Auction, running from Sept. 10–24. In an unprecedented alignment of modern basketball grails, the event will also feature the 1-of-1 Rookie Debut Patches for fellow top prospects Dylan Harper and Kon Knueppel, marking the first time the top three top rookie debut patches of a single draft class will share a single auction stage.
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While the event promises to set market records, the story of how Fanatics Collect secured the consignment is almost as exciting.
The Late-Night Pull and the Unplugged Landline
The saga began shortly before midnight on a Monday evening when the Flagg Debut Patch was pulled live on stream at Rhody Breakers, a local card shop in Rhode Island. Within minutes, the hobby internet erupted, prompting Kevin Lenane, Vice President of Marketplace at Fanatics Collect, to place an immediate call to the shop around 11:00 p.m.
“On scratch redemptions, we don’t have any visibility in it, we usually find out whenever everyone else does,” Lenane recalled. He managed to reach the shop owner, who told him the collector wished to remain anonymous for the time being but offered to pass along a message the following day.
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As private six- and seven-figure bounties began multiplying across social media, Lenane attempted to call back to advance discussions, only to find the shop’s landline busy or taken off the hook by the overwhelmed staff. Realizing that digital messages and emails would quickly be buried in an avalanche of noise, Lenane decided to do it the old-fashioned way.
The Kon Knueppel Debut Patch Auto.
Ferries, Red-Eyes, and Landline Negotiations
At 6:00 a.m. the following morning, Lenane boarded a ferry from Port Jefferson, Long Island across the Long Island Sound to Connecticut, taking an Uber straight to the Rhode Island card shop to arrive around 9:00 a.m. before doors opened. Simultaneously, Fanatics Collect team…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cooper-flagg-1-1-rookie-140043456.html
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Publish date : 2026-08-28 14:00:00
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