Mahomes 2017 Optic Black /25 PSA 10 Sells for $25K

2017 Donruss Optic Black Mahomes /25 in PSA 10 Sells for $25,010 at Goldin

The ultra-modern football market added another data point on December 27, 2025, when Goldin recorded a $25,010 sale for a 2017 Panini Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Black #177 Patrick Mahomes II, serial numbered 09/25 and graded PSA GEM MT 10.

For collectors tracking key Mahomes rookies and low-serial parallels, this is a meaningful but measured result. Let’s break down what this card is, why it matters, and how this sale fits into the broader Mahomes and Donruss Optic market.

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Card Snapshot

• Player: Patrick Mahomes II (Kansas City Chiefs)
• Year: 2017
• Set: Panini Donruss Optic
• Subset: Rated Rookie
• Card number: #177
• Parallel: Black (serial numbered to 25 copies)
• Serial: 09/25
• Rookie status: True rookie card (from Mahomes’ 2017 NFL rookie year)
• Grading company: PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator)
• Grade: PSA GEM MT 10 (Gem Mint)

This is not an autographed or patch card. The premium here comes from three things working together:

1. It’s a core “Rated Rookie” from Optic – Panini’s chromium version of Donruss and a go-to rookie line for many collectors.
2. It’s the Black parallel, limited to just 25 copies.
3. It earned a PSA 10 grade, which is the top standard Gem Mint designation PSA gives.

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Why the 2017 Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Matters

Within Mahomes’ wide rookie catalog, a few brands tend to be focal points:

• Prizm
• Optic (especially Rated Rookies)
• Select
• National Treasures and other high-end products

Donruss Optic Rated Rookie is important because it sits in the “flagship chromium” lane—highly recognizable, widely collected, and produced in enough volume that it supports a strong ecosystem of base, parallels, and graded copies. For collectors who like Prizm but want a slightly different visual style, Optic is often next in line.

The 2017 Donruss Optic Mahomes Rated Rookie is one of his most recognizable rookie images: the Chiefs red, ball cocked to throw, and the Rated Rookie logo—a staple that stretches back to Donruss baseball and football of the 1980s.

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Understanding the Black /25 Parallel

Panini structures Optic with a rainbow of parallels, each with its own print run and visual style. While exact print runs vary by year, the Black parallel in 2017 Optic for Mahomes’ Rated Rookie is numbered to 25, making it a legitimate short print.

Key traits of this card:

• Serial numbered: The 09/25 stamp on the back (and in auction listings) means this is the 9th copy out of just 25 produced.
• Non-auto, non-relic: All of the value is in the scarcity, brand, player, and condition.
• Color hierarchy: While specific collectors may rank colors differently, any low-serial color parallel of Mahomes’ Rated Rookie is considered important. The /25 tier typically sits above mass parallels but below true 1-of-1 or ultra-short print showpieces.

In the broader rainbow, this card occupies a “high-end but not unreachable” tier—much rarer than base or /199-type parallels, but more attainable (and more frequently transacted) than his one-of-ones.

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Condition and PSA 10 Scarcity

PSA’s GEM MT 10 grade indicates a card with virtually no visible wear: sharp corners, strong centering, clean edges, and a defect-free surface under normal viewing.

In ultra-modern chromium issues like 2017 Optic, many cards can look sharp at first glance, but small factory surface lines, print defects, or centering issues can hold them out of a 10. When the entire print run is only 25 copies, the population (or “pop report”—PSA’s count of how many copies exist in each grade) for PSA 10s tends to be small.

While exact population numbers can shift as more cards are submitted, the general pattern for a /25 Mahomes parallel is:

• Very few total graded copies
• Even fewer PSA 10s

The market tends to pay a noticeable premium for the best-condition examples when supply is this thin.

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Price Context: $25,010 at Goldin on December 27, 2025

This card sold at Goldin on December 27, 2025, for $25,010.

Key context points:

• Auction House: Goldin
• Sale Date (UTC): 2025-12-27
• Final Price: $25,010

To understand how this result fits into the market, it’s useful to compare it to:

1. Other 2017 Optic Mahomes parallels
2. Other Mahomes rookie cards in similar tiers
3. Broader Mahomes rookie trends in late 2024 and 2025

Because this is a /25 Black PSA 10, exact matches (often called “comps,” short for comparables—other recent sales of the same card) are inherently limited. A handful of relevant patterns typically show up in public sales:

• Lower grades (PSA 9, BGS 9) or raw (ungraded) copies of similar low-serial Mahomes Optic parallels tend to command a clear discount to PSA 10s.
• Higher-tier Mahomes rookies—like National Treasures RPA (rookie patch auto) or Contenders Optic autos—sit well above this card in the price hierarchy, often multiplying this range.
• More common Mahomes Optic rookies (base or higher-serial parallels) trade significantly below this level, which is expected given their larger populations and more frequent availability.

Because there are only 25 copies and just a fraction of those are PSA 10s, the market doesn’t see this specific parallel and grade combination often. So rather than a tight, predictable price band, the card tends to trade in a relatively wide but consistently high range.

This $25,010 result is consistent with how the market often treats:

• A key Mahomes rookie parallel
• From a highly respected chromium set
• In top grade, with real serial-number scarcity

It does not represent a record-breaking event in the Mahomes market broadly, but it does reinforce that high-end, low-serial Mahomes rookies continue to command strong interest.

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Mahomes’ Ongoing Relevance

Patrick Mahomes is firmly in the “modern franchise cornerstone” category. By late 2024 and into 2025, his resume included multiple Super Bowl appearances, MVP-level seasons, and consistent playoff runs. That profile matters for collectors because:

• Longevity and hardware (MVPs, rings, records) often underpin the long-term demand for a player’s rookies.
• Quarterbacks, especially in today’s passing-heavy era, tend to drive the highest prices in modern football.

As new seasons and potential milestones accumulate, market sentiment around Mahomes’ key rookies—like his 2017 Optic Rated Rookie parallels—can shift up or down. But the card’s structural traits (short print, flagship-style set, strong grade) do not change.

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How This Sale Fits into the Mahomes Rookie Ecosystem

Within Mahomes’ rookie lineup, you can roughly group cards into tiers:

1. Ultra-premium: National Treasures RPA, Flawless shields, Contenders Championship Ticket autos, true 1-of-1s.
2. High-end, low-serial parallels: Prizm Gold/Black patterns, Optic Gold/Black parallels, Select low-serial color, premium color-matches, etc.
3. Core chromium and paper rookies: Prizm Silver, Optic Rated Rookie hollow and common color, Select field levels, etc.
4. Mass rookies: standard Donruss, Score, and other high-print brands.

This 2017 Optic Rated Rookie Black /25 PSA 10 sits near the top of tier 2:

• It’s not an autograph or patch, so it doesn’t cross into the ultra-premium tier.
• But it is a very low-serial parallel of one of his core rookies, in a top grade.

Collectors who chase this level of card are often focused on:

• Assembling color runs or rainbows of key players.
• Targeting a small number of elite non-auto parallels instead of spreading across many brands.
• Balancing liquidity (cards that actually trade) with scarcity (cards that do not surface often but have a clear audience when they do).

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What This Sale Means for Collectors and Small Sellers

For active hobbyists and small sellers, a sale like this offers a few practical takeaways:

1. Serial numbering and brand matter.

   • A low serial number, especially in a mainstream chromium product like Optic, can separate a card from the noise.

2. Top grades amplify scarcity.

   • On a card limited to 25 copies, the PSA 10 population is naturally small. That extra layer of scarcity is part of what the market is paying for.

3. Non-auto, non-patch cards can still be premium.

   • This sale reinforces that a clean, short-print, visually strong parallel from a respected rookie-year set can hold its own next to some autographs.

4. Comps in thin markets require nuance.

   • For cards with small print runs, you may not find frequent perfect comparables. In those cases, looking at adjacent parallels, grades, and related products helps build a reasonable context.

For newer collectors, this Goldin result can serve as a reminder that Mahomes’ rookie market is layered. You can collect the same player and year across a wide spectrum of entry points—from raw base cards up to ultra-short print PSA 10s like this Black /25.

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Final Thoughts

The $25,010 Goldin sale of the 2017 Panini Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Black #177 Patrick Mahomes II, numbered 09/25 and graded PSA GEM MT 10, is another steady marker for high-end Mahomes rookies.

It underscores:

• The continued importance of 2017 Optic Rated Rookie as a core Mahomes card.
• The premium associated with low-serial color parallels in PSA 10.
• The ongoing collector confidence in Mahomes as a central figure in the modern football card landscape.

For collectors and small sellers, watching sales like this helps calibrate expectations: not as a promise of future results, but as a data point in an evolving market.

If you’re tracking Mahomes, 2017 Optic, or the broader ultra-modern QB market, this sale is worth logging in your personal price history—another example of how scarcity, brand, and condition interact at the high end of the hobby.