It’s no secret that the sports and trading card market has exploded in recent years.
Just this year, a 2026 Topps Chrome Ohtani Dual Gold Logoman card sold for $11 million while a 2025-26 Topps Chrome Update NBA Debut Patch Auto from Cooper Flagg fetched just over $8 million.
Though not every card that is pulled from a pack of Topps will command a seven- or eight-figure sale, there are occasionally special cards found within these packs that turn $30 into a game-changing investment. One of these special cards was pulled last month by two Jewett City brothers, effectively altering their lives.
Lucas, 23, and Trevor Martell, 18, purchased three $30 boxes of Topps NFL Bowman sports cards from Target on October 15, with each brother taking one box for themselves while making a deal to open the third box in the car. Inside that box was a one-of-one “Bejeweled Brady” Garbage Pail Kids Superfractor card.
Featuring a gold border and lettering, Lucas Martell knew something special was in the pack that he was opening before he saw what it was. “We kind of like lost it right then and there,” Lucas Martell said. “I knew it was a special card, but I didn’t realize how special it was until afterwards.”
The odds of pulling the card? Mathematical estimates put it at one in 10.5 million.
And the best part? It wasn’t the only expensive card in the pack.
“Right behind that card, there was a Drake Maye, it’s called the Etched in Glass, and that card’s worth like $200 itself,” Lucas Martell said.
What makes the card so special is the collaboration between Garbage Pail Kids and Topps. Since the card is the only one of its kind in existence, the resale value skyrockets. A similar one-of-one Garbage Pail Kids Superfractor of Flagg sold for $288,000, making it the most expensive Garbage Pail Kids card of all time, according to Topps.
Being that the card is of Brady adds more value, as cards of the seven-time Super Bowl champion have climbed as high as $3.1 million.
Lucas Martell said he recently got into collecting sports trading cards while his brother has been a longtime fan of cards. Part of getting into collecting typically involves visiting hobby shops, which the brothers did with the newly opened Treasure Chest of Mystic in Olde Mistick Village. The brothers quickly befriended shop owner Carmine Lorusso, who helped them through the process of bringing it to an upcoming auction from Fanatics.
The card will headline the Fanatics Collect Premier Auction beginning on Nov. 5. The auction will conclude on Nov. 14. Lucas Martell said there will be a watch party for the auction on Nov. 14 at the Treasure Chest of Mystic with Savannah Bananas’ Trystan Levesque making an appearance.
Lorusso and Clay Thomas of Fanatics Collect negotiated a payout agreement with Lucas Martell where he would receive 115% of the final winning bid, “representing the full sale price plus an additional 75% of the auction house’s 20% buyer’s premium,” according to a news release about the auction. Fanatics offered an advance of up to 50% of its minimum assessed card value with an underlying valuation of at least $150,000, “with the potential for considerably more at auction,” the release continues. The card was shipped to Los Angeles with $350,000 in insurance coverage. The card will be professionally graded by Beckett Grading Services and then placed in a vault “pending auction.”
The money from the sale will be life-altering for the brothers, as Lucas Martell said he has faced high medical bills without proper insurance from an ER visit. Additionally, his Jeep has broken down and needs work. Once those debts are paid off, and he’s able to help his grandmother, Lucas Martell said he and his brother have big plans.
“So me and him are trying to start up like our own, like. card business type of thing where we can enjoy the hobby and be able to trade and sell with people,” Lucas Martell said. “Just have like (have) our own name for it and, so since he was with me, he’s definitely going get a good cut out of the money because we’re pretty much in this together.”
This article originally published at Connecticut brothers pull 1-in-10.5-million Tom Brady card from $30 box.
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