What was your best sports memorabilia sale?

BaltimoreYankee

Back in 1989, the Oakland A's were doing great and I decided to roll the dice and purchased a team autographed ball. I think I paid around $100 for it.

In 2001, I put the ball for sale on eBay and it sold for $400. The buyer had some concerns about the legitimacy of the ball and returned it to me. I consigned it to MastroNet and it sold for $1,026. (This isn't all on memory - I used to keep pretty good records of my sports purchases and sales and happened to come across my file today).

gameusedhoop

Bought and ORLANDO MAGIC Warm-Up jacket worn by REGGIE LEWIS, for $400. Yes, team and player are correct! He wore it at the 91-92 All Star Game in Orlando. He didn't bring his Celtics Warm-Ups so the Magic supplied him some. It came from the Magic (team auction), with an 8x10 picture of Reggie with Barkley and Pippen both wearing their w-Ups and you could see the top of the All-Star logos under the unbuttoned top of their jackets. Sold it for $1500 very quickly, this was before Reggie's passing.

Hofpostcardcollector

Back either just before or just after I was born, my father got four baseball signed...two by Hank Aaron and two by Mickey Mantle...

The cost? $20 for 4 balls. Autos were free! I still have a Mick ball and the two Aarons but I sold the other Mick ball for about $450. Used some of that money to get a Mantle postcard from a reputable dealer.

stevebay

Went to a garage sale, and bought a Charlie Brown Bobblehead (which was a free giveaway at a Giants game) for $20. In the same garage sale, I also bought 4 small plush snoopys for $1, and listed both of them together on eBay with keywords Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the title. That same week, the Giants gave away the Snoopy Bobblehead, and everybody wanted the Charlie Brown, so mine fetched $343! Timing was everything, as the bobblehead doubled the previous high sale up to that point. Used the profits to buy a Johnny Bench PSA 8 Rookie for ~$225, and still have some chump change left.

earlycalguy

went to Cal's first game in 81'. ticket was about $8. recently sold the stub for $1200

itzagoner

partnered up with my best bud on a signed B&W 8 x 10 photo of Ruth, Gehrig & Christy Walsh.....vs. what we paid and subsequently auctioned the item for, we each pocketed a little extra change.

but, the memory lingers as strong as any i've ever had. it's been well over 20 years.

if i knew then what i know now, i woulda coulda shoulda bought him out straight up for that piece. it was amazing.

sideordertodd

Put an add in a local newspaper buying sports cards and memorabillia. Got a call from a guy who said he had a 1936 Yankees team signed baseball with Gehrig on the sweet spot. I met him and asked him what do you want for it. $200.00 he said. I thought it has to be a fake but it looked good to me...

I took the chance and sent it out to an auction house the next day. It ended up selling for $3950.00.

johnckhall

Sold my entire BB card collection in "93 before the market turned. I mostly had '80's rookies and lots of new stuff at the time (sets, cards, inserts, etc.). I also had lots of Shaq cards too at the height of that frenzy. One collector paid about 2/3 book for it, obviously ungraded. Took the $4500 and made a down payment on a nice new truck. I was 24 at the time and probably made a pretty wise choice. My son has gotten me back into this crazy hobby and we've recouped all of the cards I once had, but now in graded condition (9-10) this time . . . well, minus the Shaq's :-).

jmmiller777

Most recent...2005 or 2006 when I pulled that gold Jeter card with Bush and Mantle in it. That I was doing well by pricing it high at $260. Sold it in about ten minutes. I don't sell much as I am a collector (hoarder). Also had quite a few Duncan Sprite bobble heads, sold those for a x10 profit.

hookem

1990, it was a before my junior year in high school. My dad was spending that summer in the local correctional facility. Went to Corpus Christi and sold a bunch of my cards to a local shop for $300. Proudly gave my mom the cash and kept the lights on, etc.

milbroco

Most regretful sale was a 1940 Playball # 1 Joe DiMaggio in nrmt condition. This was sold right at the begining of the grading business. I sold it for $1,050.00........about a $975.00 gain. I should have kept this one.

Also sold a 1987 Fleer Barry Bonds PSA 10 rookie..............for $450.00 on ebay. From a pack I opened in 1987.

Sold Michael Jordan rookies - 2 PSA 8 @ $800.00 EACH, SGC 92 for $1,000.00 and a PSA 9 for $1,200.00. All were from packs I opened in 1986.

Oh the good old days........................

Bob

hammered

Not my most profitable, but definitely my most interesting.
Bought a 1977 Topps set a few years ago and the seller used 1982 Topps baseball commons as filler protective cards at each end of the set.
The fillers were all mint and I sent a few to PSA for the heck of it. One got a PSA 10 and it was like a pop 2 at the time. I sold it for $90.

addicted2ebay

Not memorabilia but last summer some seller listed a 1994 sp Alex Rodriguez PSA 10 for $1,900 so I hit the BIN and paid asap. Ended up getting over 3k for it.

indiananationals

i think i have everyone beat i bought a signed check of alex pompez on ebay for $360 i then contacted the seller to see what else he had he went on to inform me he had mr pompez souting folder along with 5 signed letters i agreed to buy them for $800 i then contacted major auctoin houses and decide on heritage i sold the check for $10,000 and the letters for almost another $20,000 so i turned my $1,160 investment into almost

$30,000
it is still the most unbelievable story to me my wife doubted me the whole time til it sold

TheTalkingWalnut

The local Mom and Pop Army/Navy store finallly went under about 5 years ago. I stopped by and saw a box of college football programs from the 50s-70s. I knew they wouldn't be for sale, but I axed anyway.

25 cents apiece said the guy.

I bought $37 bucks worth and have sold them for anywhere from $10 to $50 apiece.

The funny thing is that the only reason I was interested was b/c I thought my Dad would have been in some of them. Turns out he only played JV. D'oh!!!