With the Brock Purdy Prizm Black Finite 1/1 rookie card currently at auction with Alt, our Director of Sales Justin Wickizer caught up with its owner, Steve Garman, to discuss the incredible story behind the card, his decision to get it graded, and his conviction in the MVP candidate.

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What’s the origin story of how you got the card?

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I live in Northern California, Niners territory. It was five in the morning, I had just gotten up early and I was on an app where packs of cards were selling for super cheap. And so these packs are normally going for $80, $90. And I was like, well, before work, I might as well put in a bid. I don't think I'll get it for that price. And lo and behold, I bought a pack of cards for $41. And it was the first pack they were selling that night.

So they had a brand new case of boxes. And so they opened up the case, said, hey, pick the box from the case. I said, I want the bottom right one - and then pick the pack from the case. So first pack, first box from a case, and then they opened the pack.

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At that point, we're going through the cards. And the first card that came out, I think, was a snakeskin Darren Waller. And so we were like, oh, awesome. Like, I got a great card.

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And then the cards started moving a little bit and they realized it was a black finite behind it.

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And then all hell broke loose.

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Brock Pretty right now is the hottest thing in the NFL. He's got the odds to potentially win the Super Bowl. He's playing at an all time level. Many people are calling him the next great one. I think it's important for the audience to know what time frame did you rip this card? Was this recently? Was it six months ago? 

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Yeah, so I ripped this card kind of right after the season had ended, right? After the 49ers had the crushing injury to Brock Purdy. And really, although he was a rookie that had finally kind of gotten his day in time, he wasn't the guy, right? I think people were thinking Kenny Pickett was the guy from that actual rookie class.

But when the card was pulled, it was right before his surgery for his injury. So it was April, and it was when people thought Trey Lance was gonna be the starter for the 49ers.

But I had seen all of the kind of the tape on him. I bought this card for $41. And I was really bought in on Brock Purdy, even at that time. It was that excitement for me as well. But it was way before any of these things happened.

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So you hit the card, gets mailed to you, comes to your home, and you hold it raw for 10 months. Am I understanding the process correctly?

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That is 100% correct. I held the car for 10 months after getting it back. And it sat raw in a safety deposit box that I had and probably looked at it twice until I sent it off to ALT.

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Yeah, it's amazing. I remember, again, you posted the image of it on Facebook and one of the groups that I'm a member of. And then we facilitated the grading of the card. We sent it to PSA. Got a PSA 10.

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It's just a story almost too good to be true and now we're bringing it to market right now for you.

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Tell me about you, Steve. Who are you? Who's Steve? What do you do for a living? How does this all, how are you processing all of this right now?

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Yeah, so my back story is that I grew up in Northern California, small college town Davis. Right in 49ers country. So 49ers have always been the football team. Go to family barbecues and everything that, people are watching the 49ers game. But went to Sacramento State for college. And then after that, went to Arizona for a graduate degree and then joined the Air Force. Spent some time in a bunch of different places, and I was in North Dakota for three years before I told the Air Force I had to come back to California because I wanted to be back home.

And so, came back home and then, about a year and a half after coming back home, I pulled the Brock Purdy One of One.

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So tell me about Steve the collector, how long have you been collecting for? What's your favorite card that you own?

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Yeah, so it's obviously the Brock Purdy one of one, I think would have to be my favorite.

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As a kid, I collected Pokemon cards and we're talking the first edition base set Pokemon cards. So I moved back from North Dakota, from the military sending me back here to California. I was helping my mom clean out our house, right? And as we're cleaning out one of my rooms, cause I hadn't been home in, what 12 years at that point... We're going through one of those and I found a bunch of first edition Pokemon cards.

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Now, none of them graded a PSA 10, but I found those cards and I was like, huh, I wonder how I can sell these things. And so I started getting on the breaking apps. And once I got on the breaking apps, I started buying Pokemon cards again, kind of revitalizing that kid aspects. But, I love sports, so that's kind of how I got into sports cards.

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I'd say I've been in the hobby since I was a kid, as probably a lot of us have been, but truly in the hobby, getting into sports cards has been the last two and a half years.

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Take me through, if you can, why you posted the image of the card on Facebook, why you held onto it for so long, and why you wanna sell it now.

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Yeah, no, absolutely. So kind of the reason why I'm selling it now, right? A lot of reasons is one, it's value. It's gone up a lot. I frankly wish I didn't have to. I held onto it for a long time because I believe in Brock Purdy. I believe in the card. I think it's such an amazing conversation piece. The reason I posted it was one, I think I needed to force myself to maybe put it into the market, frankly.

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And I've just held on to it, because I love it, but also it gives me an opportunity. I proposed to my girlfriend about two and a half months ago and weddings are expensive. So that is definitely one of the aspects of it.

It also allows for me to kind of gain more in the card field, right? It allows for me to diversify out, get a couple of rookie cards that aren't specifically the Black Finite One of One itself.

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What was the first emotion that you had when you saw the Brock Purdy get pulled, do you remember what that felt like?

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Yeah. So when the Bock Purdy was first pulled, I think the first reaction was frankly shock. Right? Just given I knew who he was, obviously a 49ers fan already, already believing in the player, but pure shock. And then being like, is that really the One of One? Then you turn it around and shows the One of One, you know - you don't see a Black Finite very often, period, let alone a rookie QB.

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And then it was excitement.

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There's a fun story about my fiancee, and I had sent her the link to the actual break happening and the card getting pulled. All I sent was "oh my gosh, can you believe this got pulled?" And you know, she sends back kind of like an eye roll thing like "oh cool, that's awesome...", and then I was like "yeah, it's amazing card, don't you think this is such a cool card?". She's like, "yeah Steve It's that's so cool..." And then I said, "well guess what? That's mine."

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And then her reaction was almost the same as mine of - are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Maybe a couple of explatives and bad words were said at the same time, but, it was really awesome.

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And there's a different feeling you get also when you put the card in your hand, right? So the guys were amazing and they shipped it out to me overnight. I pulled it at five in the morning and I had it at 11 o'clock in the morning the next day. And then when you have it in your hands, you know, it's more of an awe. Your hands are shaking a little bit. You don't really know what to say, but definitely shock and excitement all at the same time.

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So what was her response when you told her that you got a PSA 10 on?

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She was like, that's amazing. You probably should have gotten it graded sooner.

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I think some of my aspect of not getting graded, because it does look great, right? It looks like a great card, but you never know, right? You never know what the card is. Getting a PSA 10, that's really tough, That means it's a perfect card. And so you never know. And I feel like that was that box check that I would need to do to be like, okay, it's time.

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Maybe I'll ask you one more question if you don't mind, Steve, just briefly on this. And you don't have to, one thing I like about you, I know you just speak authentically through everything, but can you tell, just share with us, myself and Nathan and the team, why did you choose Alt to sell the card for you?

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I chose Alt, honestly, based upon feeling.

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I know that sounds kind of weird, but I've been hesitant to sell it for so long. And then I had a phone call with Nathan and then I had a phone call with you (Justin). And I got off that phone call and I called my fiancee and I said, I think I'm gonna sell the card. And she's said, "this is the first time you felt good about doing something".

I know you guys definitely are doing everything you can for it and with it being such a big card, you kind of expect that, right? You at least take all the efforts you can possibly do, but you guys believe in it. I believe in it. And it felt right. Your commitment to it, the fact that you guys are doing all these different things, what we're doing right now.

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And when you sell a card, you're focused on that one big card, if that's the primary in your auction and I think that's kind of what brought it all together for me.

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I have one more question, who in an ideal world, who's the type of person that buys this card? Where does this card go from here?

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So if I got to choose who would buy the card, it would be, one, somebody who loves it as much or more than I do. I think that's important to me. And honestly, somebody who gets that opportunity to hold it for a long time, gets the opportunity to hold the Black Finite One of One, the premier rookie card, for Brock Purdy while he has this amazing career.

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I've got the joy of holding it while he came back from his injury. And I got the joy of holding it as he kind of worked his way to becoming, you know, one of the top elite QBs in the NFL. I'd love for somebody to be able to have that card and understand how it feels and what it means through the rest of his career.

So here may be the most important question. Do the 49ers win the Super Bowl?

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100% yes, they do. Yeah.

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The Brock Purdy Black Prizm Finite 1/1 closes in Alt Liquid Auctions on Thursday, January 18th with extended bidding beginning at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. Bid now on this historic card before it's gone!
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