baseball memorabilia

Honus Wagner Card Earns Thousands For Nuns' Good Works

Last month we learned that a rare Honus Wagner baseball card was up for sale. The Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame put the card up for sale. The card is part of the T206 series, produced between 1909 and 1911. The T206 Honus Wagner, was made by the American Tobacco Company in 1909. Part of the mythology surrounding this legendary collectible is that Honus Wagner himself didn't want his image to be used to sell tobacco and stopped production of his card.

The card that the Roman Catholic nuns were auctioning off through Heritage Auctions was in poor condition and only expected to bring in between $150,000 and $200,000. The card sold for $262,900. Antiques Trader reports that the winning bidder is a card shop owner who was touched by the story and bought the card even though the total price was probably more than the damaged card was worth. Heritage Auctions also donated its standard 15 percent seller's commission to the cause, as well. Money earned will benefit the nuns' ministries in 35 countries around the world.

The nuns came into possession of the card because the brother of a nun who died in 1999 left all his possessions to the order when he died earlier this year. The man's lawyer told the nuns that he had a Honus Wagner card in a safe-deposit box. Inside the box they found the card along with a note that said: "Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century!" The man had owned the card since 1936. In February 2007, a 'near mint-mint' Honus Wagner sold for $2.8 million.

The Heritage Auctions' Signature Sports Collectibles Auction on November 4 and 5 also included the sale of a New York Yankees home jersey worn by Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig during his first MVP season. It sold for $717,000, the highest price ever paid at auction for New York Yankees pinstripes.

Tags: baseball collectibles, baseball memorabilia, Honus Wagner, Lou Gehrig, new york, New York Yankees, sports memorabilia

Comprehensive Baseball Collection Seeks New Owner

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Sports

Baseball is still America's pastime and baseball memorabilia remains popular but one collector has amassed what has to be one of the most incredible collections gathered by a single person. The Jason Savas Baseball & Football Memorabilia Collection is practically a museum on its own. The collection took over 45 years to put together and includes thousands of objects dating from the 1860s to the present. The most expensive items have been auctioned already. These included tobacco tins and cigar boxes that fetched $10,000 to $20,000 each. There is still much more to choose, lighters, cigarette packs, replica gloves, swizzle sticks, baseballs, key chains, bobbleheads and photographs that depict generations of players and tell the history of the sport.

A special section of over 500 items tells the story of the effect of Babe Ruth on the nation. It's one thing to know that Ruth had a great impact on the game but quite another to stare at shelves stuffed with full-cheeked depictions of the legendary Yankee. Too big for shelves, there are 37 coin-operated sports-themed penny arcade games and gum ball dispensers that harken back to a more innocent time. A muto-scope offers a staccato look at the long-ago players in motion.

"Unlike my baseball card collection which was neatly organized and tucked away in shoe boxes in the closet, I was able to display my stadium concessions on shelves," says Savas. "What started as a hobby evolved into a passion over the next 45 years. Over the subsequent years, the sports memorabilia hobby has seen an immense increase in interest in displayable collectible items. Collectors all across the country have found that these display type items can be enjoyed on a full-time basis as they decorate their basements, offices, and dens."

The total value of the collection is $600,000. The owner is paying a 10% commission to whoever finds a buyer. To arrange a viewing in New York City email theamazingcollection@yahoo.com. Check out images from the collection here or view more YouTube videos here.

Tags: baseball, baseball memorabilia, collectible, collectibles, collecting, collection, Collections, football memorabilia, memorabilia, sports collectibles

A-Rod's $100,000 Baseball

by Deb West (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Sports

On February 4, 2010 an on-line auction was concluded for the baseball Alex Rodriguez hit to secure his 500th career home run. A-Rod was the youngest player to do so and only one of a total of 22 players to ever attain the distinction of hitting that many homers. The ball in question brought in $103,579.00. The only other Yankees to achieve the goal are two of the greatest, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.

The auction was conducted by SCP Auctions who stock their auctions with quality baseball memorabilia and cards. They are also responsible for the successful sale of Barry Bonds record breaking 756th home run ball for $752,467 in September of 2007. The company has over the years partnered with Sotheby's to sell some of the most important items in baseball history including the bat Babe Ruth used to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium ($1.265 million) and the original contract for the sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1919, as well as private collections of other sports superstars such as Ernie Banks, Honus Wagner, Casey Stengel and Pee Wee Reese.

The fan, supposedly a New York area college student, who originally caught the ball on August 4, 2007 had kept the ball in good shape and you could even see where A-Rod's bat connected with the ball. Also, MLB had in expectation of the important at bat pre-marked the ball "A 107" and then after the home run placed a hologram with a serial number on the ball. This insured that the anonymous Internet buyer is assured that they are receiving the real deal. There was some discussion by the New York Daily News that the ball was sold for much less than it might have garnered due to steroid use by baseball players. It also could just be the economy, still not a bad take for a fan just out for a day at the game.

Tags: A-Rod, alex rodriguez, AlexRodriguez, auction, baseball, baseball memorabilia, BaseballMemorabilia, home run ball, HomeRunBall, memorabilia, New York Yankees, NewYorkYankees, sports memorabilia, SportsMemorabilia

Buyer Up! Yankees Auction Off Stadium Memorabilia

by Paul Rogers (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Sports

Let's get this straight. First the New York Yankees build a taxpayer-supported new stadium which, after cost overruns, comes to a whopping $1.5 billion. Then they charge $2,500 a game for the best seats in the house (a price they cut in half when the tickets embarrassingly weren't selling). And now they've begun auctioning off artifacts of the old stadium at exorbitant prices to earn back the $11.5 million the team paid the city to be able to dismantle the publicly owned ballpark.

Now that we've got all that squared away, here's a sampling of the items that went on offer this week from Yankees' partner Steiner Sports. A pair of seats (pictured), made of royal blue plastic and dating from the old stadium's renovation in the mid-1970s, begins at $1,499. A 2x2-foot chunk of freeze-dried sod starts at $280. A square of outfield turf ten times that size costs $10,000 and up. Getting sticker shock? Compared with the original price of top-of-line season tickets this year--$202,500--it's a veritable bargain.

Tags: baseball memorabilia, BaseballMemorabilia, new york yankees, NewYorkYankees, Steiner Sports, SteinerSports, Yankee Stadium, YankeeStadium

Joe DiMaggio Relics Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

It seems that the some legendary celebrities left behind a never-ending trove of things to auction off. There will be a new auction of Joe DiMaggio memorabilia jolted the auction on May 19 and 20 that includes World Series rings, his 1947 MVP award and a signed photo of Marilyn Monroe. Hunt Auctions will hold the auction at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square and some of the profits will go to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Florida. No presale estimate has been listed yet.

[via The Mercury News]

Source

Tags: auction, baseball memorabilia, diMaggio