Humble little places are still surrendering some great sports stuff every once in a while.
Just weeks before Heritage Auctions’ last deadline for consignments to its recently concluded auction, someone found a Cowboys jersey at at a thrift shop in Dallas’ Lakewood neighborhood. The shop recognized the number–74, for Hall of Fame defensive end Bob Lilly–and put a price tag on it: “$95 Firm.”
The shop either wasn’t familiar with prices or thought it was a replica but to the person who bought it, the white durene shirt made by Southland looked like the real deal. Team repairs had been made and the jersey even had a spot or two of blood from a particularly rough moment in a long ago game.
While no photo matches could be made, the jersey lined up with those used by the team in the latter half of the 1960s when the Cowboys jostled with Vince Lombardi’s Packers for NFL supremacy.
That no bargain price of 95 bucks turned out to be a wise investment when the jersey sold for $19,800 this past weekend. Even with the consignment fee, the person who found it netted a profit of about $16,000.