Booth spaces for the 2019 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago sold out before the end of the 2018 show. Organizers say it’s the earliest sellout in NSCC history.
While the majority of the space is sold to returnees, a booth lottery held on Saturday usually didn’t fill and dealers could buy table space even a few months after the previous year’s show. Not the case now.
The 2019 National will take place July 31-August 4 at the Stephens Convention Center. The 2020 event is scheduled for Atlantic City, NJ.
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Hunt Auctions took in a major consignment at the National: a baseball signed by Joe Jackson in 1938. The ball also includes the signatures of Rudy York, Tommy Bridges, Eldon Auker and Don Ross who were members of the Detroit Tigers at the time.
Jackson’s name is alone on one of the side panels, a portion of the ink lost to time (as is the case on the other three signatures) but better seen under magnification and special lighting used by PSA/DNA, which authenticated the ball.
It’ll be part of the company’s annual auction at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory this fall.
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A 1927 Lou Gehrig signed Yankees payroll check sold for $36,547 at Steiner Auctions early Sunday morning. A signed, dated Ty Cobb baseball from 1940 netted $27,456.
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He spent time at the autograph pavilion but basketball legend Oscar Robertson stopped by the Lelands booth at the National on Saturday.
The auction company is offering numerous items from his life and career including his 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks NBA Championship ring, game-worn jerseys, awards and other memorabilia.
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Collectable gave away $500 to spend with an auction house during the National. The app is a one stop shop of sorts for bidding in current auctions right from your phone. CEO Dave Yoken was there, introducing the new historical price guide tool the company just added.
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Heritage Auctions has added Chris Cavalier as a consignment director for its west coast office in San Francisco. Cavalier had been working in a similar capacity for Goldin Auctions. He has been active in the industry for many years and in 2005, started Game Used Universe, a website which quickly became the largest and most significant Internet community of collectors and dealers of game-used sports memorabilia.
“I started GameUsedUniverse to help educate collectors,” Cavalier said. “I thought it would be beneficial to the collecting community, given the large amount of suspect and fraudulent game-used memorabilia that was circulating in the hobby at the time.”
“Chris will be a tremendous addition for us,” said Chris Ivy, Sports Auctions Director at Heritage. “He is a knowledgeable professional with a proven track record who will be an immediate asset.”
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