A $50 pack of basketball cards may help pay for a Laton boy’s college education.

Andrew Zonneveld, along with his father, Andy, found a one-of-a-kind basketball card, sent randomly when they ordered a special pack from Topps.

One industry expert says that card could be worth six figures and is on auction now.

“It’s like Willy Wonka’s chocolate candy bar with a golden ticket inside. And that’s kind of what it feels like,” father Andy said.

A Love of Card Collecting

Eight-year-old Andrew practices piano when the school bus returns him to his farm home on the country roads in south Fresno County. When he’s not practicing or playing flag football, he collects sports cards.

His father Andy helped get his son into the hobby. And their enthusiasm over commemorating the Olympics will soon pay off.

“I’m an amateur I guess you’d say. I’m not a breaker, like some people like to call these big guys. We’re just starting small,” Andy said.

The pair also enjoyed watching the recent Olympics, especially basketball.

The U.S. gold medal in basketball motivated the Zonnevelds to purchase a special pack of Topps Now cards, printed on demand to celebrate the recent victory. The trading card company took 680,000 orders. The Zonnevelds chose five of the same card, featuring Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.

The Zonnevelds received their cards, printed with a black background featuring the three hoops legends. They also received a valuable bonus — two packs came in the envelope instead of one.

Andrew weighed the two packs, one heavier than the other. When they pulled out the card, it was already inside an acrylic protective case.

“First I didn’t know. I’m like, oh, we just got a gold card. Then my dad  started looking at it, and he’s like, it’s a one-of-one,” said Andrew, a student at Hanford Christian School.

This special Topps card, instead of the black background, featured gold. It also had the notation “1/1” on a corner of the card.

“This is a one-of-one in gold that is the only one of its kind. The only card that is equally rare is a signed card. And there have been offers in excess of $500,000 to the person who gets the signed card. So the gold card is quite special,” card collecting expert Ken Goldin told GV Wire.

Goldin echoed fan sentiment, glad that a “regular” collector found the card, as opposed to a professional.

“A lot of people did want to see it go to an individual collector, not somebody who is a $10 million business selling cards for a living. They happen to have found it. So this card is going to change somebody’s life. And it is a great story,” Goldin said.

Topps publicized the rare find on its social media.

“DAD, IT’S A 1/1!!!!” 🤯❤️🥹

Andy and his son Andrew are from Fresno, CA, where Andy works as a dairy farmer.

Andrew has recently been trading cards with his friends at school, so when Andy heard about the Steph/LeBron/KD card on the radio, he decided to buy a 5-pack.

When… pic.twitter.com/ZhzaD8297g

— Topps (@Topps) September 7, 2024

Andrew knew he had to protect the card, not only from pets or thieves, but from his 5-year-old brother. The family stored the card in a closet.

Decision to Sell the Card

Goldin said collecting trading cards is much different from the “junk wax pack” era of the 1980s and 1990s. Demonstrating during a Zoom interview with GV Wire, Goldin opened a 1988 Topps baseball pack, revealing Hanford-born and former MVP Ken Caminiti.

“Oftentimes, (the cards were) less than the cardboard they were printed on. So the manufacturers really reinvented themselves by coming up with these limited edition cards that are much more collectible. And that’s really what people are hunting for,” Goldin said.

Modern special cards include snippets of a jersey, or patch.

“The one-of-ones have been extremely popular, highly sought after and very valuable. And the price of those cards really drives the product in the modern market,” Goldin said.

The Zonnevelds knew they received something special.

“We were trying to kind of estimate a value. We didn’t know. We knew it was a rare card,” Andy said.

Andy reached out to a card trading group on Facebook.

“The comments blew up from there and from there people were sharing it all over the Internet,” Andy said.

Andy said one card dealer from Atlanta offered to buy the card for $25,000. If someone was willing to pay that much, Andy figured, he might get more if he put the card up for auction.

Rick Mirigian, the Fresno boxing promoter, reached out to Andy on social media. He helped connect the family to Goldin, who has a series on Netflix, “The King of Collectibles.” Andy agreed to let Goldin Auctions sell the card.

Goldin said he could get the best price. He thinks it could go up to $100,000.

“The most nerve-wracking part of this, I think is the shipping,” Andy said.

Even UPS was taken aback about the value of the item. Andy bought insurance on the shipping.

“It helped me sleep at night,” he said.

Auction Through Sept. 28

Goldin put the card up for auction last Friday, lasting through Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. Pacific Time. As of Friday morning, the bid was up to $24,000.

“We’ve been clicking on it quite a bit,” Andy said.

Once bids reach $20,000, the minimum increase is $2,000. It goes up to $3,000 once the bids reach $30,000.

On top of the final price is a 22% “buyer’s premium,” and extra amount to go to the auction house.

Although the auction has a set end time, if there is a bid in the last 30 minutes, the auction extends for another 30 minutes.

Andy expects most of the bids to come in on the final day.

How to Spend the Money

Andy Zonneveld is a third-generation farmer — his grandfather, a Dutch immigrant, came to the area in the 1950s. The family home is located amid cows and crops.

“We’re not the type that are looking for fame or fortune. I guess we put our nose to the grindstone, and we work every day,” Andy said.

Son Andrew’s face lights up, talking about the recognition given by his classmates from news of the rare find.

Andy made the decision to sell the card, even if his wife Cheryl wanted to keep it.

“I think we might expand his collection here with some of the proceeds and put some of it away,” father Andy said.

He also plans to save the money to help with college education for Andrew, his younger brother, and older sister.

“They’re going to have to go to college one day too. So we’ll put some there and they have a college savings account. We’ll fund that a little bit more. And the rest, I don’t know. We don’t spend a lot of money. So we’ll see,” Andy said.

Andrew wouldn’t mind spending more on cards. He also has his eyes on a fancy dirt bike.

Andrew’s Favorite Card

Andrew’s favorite player is the 49ers George Kittle.

He proudly displayed his binder full of cards, but his favorite cardboard creation is a 1980s basketball card of a relatively obscure player — Pete Verhoeven.

Fresno State fans may remember the Hanford High School graduate during his playing days, or his six-season NBA career, 1981 through 1987.

Why Verhoeven?

His wife is one of Andrew’s teachers. Andrew hopes for the former player to sign his old card.