Upper Deck basketball card of LeBron James worth a small fortune!

A Christmas gift from 16 years ago is about to turn into a seven-figure windfall for one sports memorabilia auction consignor.

“Chris” pulled the LeBron James 1/1 Rookie Logoman card from 2003-04 Upper Deck SP Game Used Basketball on Christmas morning 2004. Not long after, he took it to a local card show where someone offered him $1,700 for it. He turned it down and stuck the card away, all but forgetting about it. Good thing, too.

His brother-in-law alerted him to the recent boom in sports card prices and Chris got in touch with Goldin Auctions, where the newly graded PSA 7 card is expected to fetch at least $250,000.

“It’s kind of been a mad scramble since this all happened,” he told The Action Network for this story.

(Article courtesy of Sports Collectors Daily)

LeBron James Autographed Items You MUST Have in Your Collection

LeBron James has won his 4th overall title with the Los Angeles Lakers after winning 2 with the Miami Heat and 1 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He is a VERY expensive autograph right now. If looking to add him to your collection expect to spend some serious money.

Before buying your 1st LeBron James autograph we need to talk about authentication.

ALWAYS ALWAYS buy LeBron James Upper Deck Authenticated (UDA) autographs.  They have been his long time exclusive memorabilia provider.  Don’t waste your time with anything else.  LeBron does not sign for free in person.  If you are not getting your autograph from UDA you are probably not getting an authentic autograph. 

With LeBron the key is finding limited edition items.  Those tend to hold and increase their value the quickest.  Any of these items below can be found in some limited edition capacity.

Where should you buy these items?  Might be best to bite the bullet and buy from UDA.  However, you can find better deals sometimes on auction houses or LeBron James collector Facebook groups.  That’s probably where I would start.  Cheapest option and you get to talk directly to the seller.

Now what to buy?  My personal suggestions would be:

Signed jersey (Lakers, Heat or Cavaliers)

NBA signed basketball

NBA basketball dual signed by Dwyane Wade and LeBron James

Large 16×20 inch signed colour photograph

 

(Parts of this blog taken from Power Sports memorabilia)

 

EXPERTS say there are three categories of sports memorabilia

(1)  The first and usually most valuable is something directly linked to a player or sports event. It could be a Test cricket ball or a ball from a grand final.  There’s players’ clothing, like a jersey or a blazer, or a baggy green worn by a Test cricketer.  These personal artifacts are the most realistic examples of sports memorabilia.

(2)  The second is your memento from an event. It could be a ticket or a program from an event or a photo you took. It’s important to you, but mostly it doesn’t have any commercial value. It could be a trophy your father won at golf, a swim cap from a triathlon or a medal from a fun run.

David Poole f Sports Online said people attributed meaning to these pieces.  “It’s a memento of a great experience to them,” he said. “It could be a program from a football game or a ticket to a cricket Test. “They remember that day. It meant a lot to them. So the ticket or program is memorabilia to them, but nobody else.”

(3)  The third is manufactured memorabilia, like framed autographed photos, miniature cricket bats or jerseys. These are the most common form of memorabilia we see today. Many of these are mass produced in large numbers.  Sports Historian Tom Thompson says “The least interesting are large signed editions. However, an edition of 100 or less usually holds its value”.

(Excerpts from Sunshine Coast Daily)

Pop memorabilia gets boost from coronavirus lockdown, says auctioneer

LONDON (Reuters) – Pop memorabilia including Paul McCartney’s scribbled notes for “Hey Jude” and Doris Day’s piano have enjoyed a sharp rise in online interest, possibly because so many people are cooped up at home under coronavirus lockdown, a leading auctioneer said.

Darren Julien, founder of U.S.-based Julien’s Auctions, said activity including bidder registrations, bids and catalogue orders was ten times the normal level ahead of two auctions due to take place in April.

Some of that demand was coming from Italy and Spain, he said.

“When Italy shut down early last week, we’ve noticed a spike of Italians registering to bid and buying catalogues,” Julien told Reuters in London on Monday.

“People are looking for a reason to be happy and excited and get out of the routine of being locked up in their homes.”

Tens of millions of Europeans are in lockdown, as governments try to stop the spread of the coronavirus which has killed more than 6,500 people worldwide.

Julien added that pop memorabilia might be seen by some as an attractive alternative investment while stocks, oil and other markets tumble.

FILE PHOTO: A sheet of paper with partial “Hey Jude” lyrics, written by Paul McCartney for a recording session in 1968, is displayed in a Julien’s Auctions warehouse in Torrence, California, U.S. March 5, 2020. REUTERS/Jane Ross/File Photo

“We noticed when the stock market crashed in 2008, we had a record years in 2008 and 2009, and that was because people with wealth were looking for ways to diversify,” he said.

Among the items for sale next month are McCartney’s notes for a 1968 recording of “Hey Jude”, valued at 180,000 pounds ($220,000), and a baseball signed by all four members of the Beatles.

In a separate sale, bidders can also buy Day’s four Golden Globe awards, her piano and a collection of gowns.

Reporting by Sarah Mills, writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Mike Collett-White

How much are Olympic Gold Medals worth?

In reality Olympic Gold medals are likely worth about $600 according to Nasdaq due to the fact that the gold medal is actually made of mostly silver.  However, the real value is measured by who has won it.  Let us look at some previous Olympian Gold Medal winners who have sold their medals.

Wladimir Klitschko, Ukraine, Boxing 1996

Klitschko auctioned his medal for The Klitschko Brothers Foundation for one million dollars.  The bidder was a mysterious benefactor who immediately returned the medal to the man who earned it.

Mark Wells, USA, Ice Hockey 1980

Wells sold his medal to a private collector who in turn sold it through an auction house for $310,700 in 2010.

Michael Diamond, Australia, Trap Shooting 2000

The medal that Diamond won for trap shooting at the 2000 Sydney Games was bought for $72,000 by fencer Richard Oldcorn who competed for Great Britain at four Olympics but never won his own gold.

Otylia Jedrzejczak, Poland, Swimming, 2004

Her medal from the 200m butterfly went for more than $80,000 and benefited a Polish charity that helps kids with leukaemia. 

Anthony Ervin, USA, Swimming 2000

Despite his success, Ervin retired from the sport in 2003 at the age of 22, saying that he “needed to kind of figure out my own life”.  He put his gold medal on eBay in 2004, donating the $17,101 it earned to victims of the Indian Ocean. 

So are Gold Medals easy to come by? Definitely not but they do appear from time to time so don’t give up if you’re keen to own one.

What is memorabilia and what do you have?

Memorabilia is best described as objects kept or collected because of their association with memorable people or events. These items are generally collected by fans or supporters that find sentimental and/or monetary value in the items.

The items can have a connection with historical events, culture, entertainment, sports, music or movies. Usually they stir a fond recollection, a worthy experience or remembrance and often these items have great value.

So what tops the list in terms of most valuable? Let’s look at some previous sales:

In 2016 the iconic dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to President John F. Kennedy sold for a record $4.8 Million.

In 2012 baseball great Babe Ruth’s Yankee jersey sold for more than $4.4 Million at auction.

Here in Australia, Sir Donald Bradman’s baggy green cap from his final tour to England in 1948, sold for $425.000 in 2003.

So this begs the question, what do you have? Let us know! info@amaonline.com.au

 

Is a third party authentication useful?


Absolutely yes. If you have an item of memorabilia personally signed with the intention of the item having value to anyone other than you, you have to be able to prove that it was signed by the actual person whose name is on the item of memorabilia. In other words, you need to prove it is not a forgery.

An impartial, credible, third-party witness can mean all the difference between an autographed item of memorabilia having value and being worthless.

See authentication for more info.

What is Provenance?

What is Provenance?

Most people start with the idea that an autograph is authentic and only look further if they are suspicious. This is backwards. You should begin with the premise that an autograph is not authentic and make it prove itself.  In assessing this proof, it’s important to disregard representations of sellers and ignore the sales pitches. Only autographs that can prove themselves outside the seller claims should you be comfortable acquiring.

As for provenance: Look at the first six letters; they spell ‘PROVEN’. Provenance means just that – proving where the autograph came from. In fact, this is very often the most important factor in authenticating an autograph. Knowing that a letter came from a reliable collection or dealer, and that it has an identifiable history, can be crucial to establishing a level of comfort.

What do I need to know about the COA?

The most frequent question potential memorabilia customers ask is, “Does it come with a certificate of authenticity (COA)”? The simple answer is, of course, “yes” and that’s good enough most of the time for collectors. However, people are asking the wrong question.

Potential customers are rightly concerned about buying a fake autographs. They believe that receiving a certificate of authenticity is their best defence. Unfortunately, the countless fraudsters selling fake autographs are aware of this common misconception and make sure their COA looks nice to go along with the fake autograph they’re selling. Any criminal who knowingly sells fake autographs is not going to be deterred by having to include a COA.

In the USA state of California back in the 1990’s a law was passed called the Civil Code Section 1739.7 and the law’s intentions were good, but of course the COA was the main point of emphasis. Unfortunately, the law has had little or no effect on reducing the number of fake autographs on the market.

eBay initially tried to attack the problem in the same manner, by requiring autograph sellers to state who issued the COA in their item descriptions. This also failed to do much of anything, and to eBay’s credit, their current autograph policy now states that COAs are “only as valuable as the reputation of the issuing party”.  That’s the main point right there. Potential customers should not be asking whether or not the autographed item comes with a COA.  They can ask but a fraudulent autograph dealer will almost always answer “YES”.

Potential customers should be asking about the background, business practices, experience, history and reputation of the seller.

(portions of article taken from autographsforsaledotcom)

Muhammad Ali signatures – Be sure you have the Real McCoy

Muhammad Ali has signed 1000’s of items through his lifetime. Be sure you get what you’ve paid for when purchasing memorabilia. If you’re looking for a third party examination of your Ali collectable, visit the Australian Memorabilia Association at www.amaonline.com.au