In less chaotic times, the sale of a Honus Wagner card for a record-smashing price would have been the talk of the hobby for weeks.
In 2021, it got pushed to the background within a couple of days.
Still, the $6.6 million sale was a big deal that got a lot of attention.
Robert Edward Auctions, which sold the card, has been busy fielding media calls. President Brian Dwyer says the card was consigned by an east coast collector who thought–quite correctly–that the time was right to part with his treasure.
In a story about the sale published in The Athletic, Dwyer said he doesn’t believe the card will be back on the market anytime soon.
“Certainly, the highest-graded examples don’t come up very frequently. They tend to go into permanent collections.”
With thousands of its listings suddenly taken down by eBay in a stunning move earlier this week, PWCC Marketplace is in the process of pushing all of its consignments to its own online platform.
The company announced Thursday night that it would open its own “Fixed Price Marketplace” with users given the chance to sell items from the company’s vault on September 1.
They also say their next monthly auction will now take place in October. Collectors who submitted items for the September Monthly Auction will have their items moved there. The company has already held one auction on its own website this summer.
In the wake of eBay’s allegations of shill bidding, PWCC has volunteered to return cards to consignors who have submitted items if they choose. The company has also posted an FAQ page regarding the severed ties with eBay and its plans for the future.
An upcoming episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel will include a segment on the booming sports collectible market.
According to HBO, the report by Jon Frankel will discuss the rising interest and prices in sports cards since the beginning of 2020.
“Of course, this begs the question: Has the market become too hot and too overpriced, as it often does with the stock market and real estate industry, and will the bubble soon burst?,” the network’s promotional material states.
Real Sports will air Tuesday, August 24 at 11 PM Eastern time.
On December 27 of last season, the Los Angeles Lakers wore the same style jersey their players had donned 60 years earlier. The same night, LeBron James made a little history of his own. His 18-point effort against Minnesota marked the 1,260th time in his career that he’d scored at least ten points in a game, moving him into fourth place on the all-time list behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Dirk Nowitzi.
Now, the jerseys from that game are up for grabs at NBA Auctions, including one worn by James. Bidding for his blue #23 shirt was as $88,444 as of Thursday, with the auction not scheduled to close for two more weeks.
Also on the block is RJ Barrett’s first playoff jersey, worn in the New York Knicks’ first round loss to Atlanta on May 28.
The MeiGray Group will hold an auction next month with proceeds set to benefit first responders suffering from health complications suffered as a result of their rescue efforts at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Up for grabs will be jerseys worn in the 47th annual FDNY vs NYPD Hockey Game being played on Friday, September 9 at Madison Square Garden.
The first set, worn by FDNY players, will feature numbers inscribed with the names of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives 20 years ago during the 9/11 attacks. The inner collar references the increasing number of firefighters who have continued to pass away as a result of that day. Those jerseys will be sold via the Handbid app.
The second set, worn in warmups and similarly designed, will be auctioned following the Handbid auction.
The game between firefighters and police will be broadcast on national television.
Proceeds will benefit the Ray Pfeifer Foundation.
