Two Connecticut brothers spent $30 on a box of football cards and found a one-of-a-kind Tom Brady collectible with odds estimated at one in 10.5 million; the card is headed to auction with a minimum valuation of $150,000

Lucas, 23, and Trevor Martell, 18, bought three $30 boxes of Topps NFL Bowman cards from a Target store on October 15. Each brother took one for himself. They agreed to open the third together in the car.Once they got into the car, they opened the third box and saw something they never expected. The card was a one-of-one Garbage Pail Kids SuperFractor featuring Tom Brady, with a gold border and gold lettering! Lucas could tell it was special before he read the name. “We kind of, like, lost it right then and there,” Lucas told the New Haven Register.

One in 10.5 million chance

What are the chances of pulling this card? Well, let’s just say they’re one in 10.5 million, and most people will never open a pack that holds anything close to it. The card is so rare because it is the only copy that exists. It comes from a collaboration between Garbage Pail Kids and Topps, and a similar one-of-one Garbage Pail Kids SuperFractor of Cooper Flagg sold for $288,000, which Topps says is the most expensive Garbage Pail Kids card ever sold. Brady’s name adds further value to the card. Brady cards have sold for millions, and recent Brady SuperFractors have reached the mid-six figures at Fanatics auctions.That’s not all they found. “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 told the outlet.

A recent hobby that brought the fortune

Lucas only recently took up the hobby of collecting sports cards. Trevor has been collecting for much longer. The brothers started visiting shops to learn more about the hobby, and that led them to Treasure Chest of Mystic in Olde Mistick Village, a new store. The owner, Carmine Lorusso, became a friend of the brothers. He walked them through the process of getting the card into an auction run by Fanatics Collect.The card is heading for Fanatics Collect’s Premier Auction, which opens on November 5 and closes on November 14. Under the agreement, Lucas will receive 115% of the final winning bid! The company describes that figure as the full sale price plus 75% of the auction house’s 20% buyer’s premium. Fanatics also offered an advance of up to half the card’s minimum estimated value. That value rests on an underlying valuation of at least $150,000, and the company says the final price could be much higher. The card has been insured for $350,000 during shipping to Los Angeles and will be graded by Beckett Grading Services before being placed in a vault to await the sale.For the brothers, the money will change their lives in practical ways. Lucas has large medical bills following an emergency room visit, as he did not have proper insurance. His Jeep also needs repairs. After those debts are paid, he wants to help his grandmother.After that, the brothers have bigger plans. They want to start their own trading card business, where they can enjoy the hobby and buy and sell cards with other collectors. Lucas said Trevor would get a fair share of the money, as the two of them are in it together. “Just have, like, our own name for it and, so since he was with me, he’s definitely going to get a good cut out of the money because we’re pretty much in this together.“