The auction of items from the collection of Stan Musial sold for $1.2 million according to Heritage Auctions. The auction, which ended Saturday after running for about a month, included thousands of pieces from Musial’s life and career.
Musial died in January at age 92. His family consigned many of the items from the estate of the Hall of Fame player and his late wife. Others were given away to friends, family and organizations near to Musial during his life, including the St. Louis Cardinals.
Musial stayed close to the team in the decades after his 1963 retirement and a 2011 Cardinals World Series ring given to him by the organization sold for $191,200. A four-page letter Ty Cobb wrote to him during the prime of his career brought $71,700 and an autographed Babe Ruth baseball Musial obtained from the iconic outfielder while in the minor leagues in 1941 sold for $53,775.
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Collectors Universe, Inc., parent company of PSA and PSA/DNA has been named by Forbes magazine as one of America’s Best Small Public Companies.
Forbes listed Collectors Universe as number 50 in its recent, elite compilation of 100 of America’s Best Small Public Companies. According to Forbes, “these companies are the best-performing public companies in the U.S. with sales under $1 billion.”
Since 1991, PSA experts have examined and certified more than 20 million trading cards, autographs and other entertainment and sports memorabilia with an estimated cumulative value of more than $1 billion. Collectors Universe is expected to reach the combined total of 50 million certified collectibles in early 2014.
Robert G. Deuster, Collectors Universe Chief Executive Officer, said the company was ranked by Forbes on return on equity, sales growth and earnings growth over the past year and the past five years.
“All of us at Collectors are proud of this recognition from Forbes, and it reinforces our belief we are offering the best service in the world for certifying and grading our customers’ collectibles. Every day our team members work very hard to give our customers a great experience and deliver the assurance of the grading integrity and security they seek for their coin and sports memorabilia,” said Deuster.
Collectors Universe has a market cap of $144 million. The company has 250 employees and recorded revenues of $49 million in fiscal 2013.