Pope Cards all the rage

John Paul trading card sells for $8,100

Tue May 3, 1:58 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Of all the athlete trading cards on the U.S. market today, the most valuable is not that of baseball great Barry Bonds or basketball star Shaquille O'Neal but noted skier and outdoorsman Karol Wojtyla -- the late
Pope John Paul II.
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Beckett Media, whose pricing guides are the acknowledged arbiters of value for collectible trading cards, said on Tuesday a limited-edition Pope John Paul II from the 2005 World Treasures line of card maker Topps has sold for $8,100 (4,280 pounds).

The Topps series includes other historical figures like Czar Paul I and King Frederick the Great, though their cards are trading for around $3,000. All the cards in the series have etchings of the figures' autographs.

In comparison, Beckett said, regular cards depicting Barry Bonds, who is contending for baseball's all-time home run record, have never sold for more than $1,200.

The market for John Paul collectibles heated up dramatically after his early-April death. Thousands of people queued up last week in
Vatican City for the last run of euro coins bearing the late pontiff's image.