After the National Sports Collectors Convention closed Thursday evening, the action shifted to a hotel ballroom where bidders spent over $3.1 million on over 90 high-end sports cards and sports memorabilia with Goldin Auctions.
As expected, the O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card PSA 10 established a new standard for hockey trading cards by selling for $465,000 — more than five times the previous record of $94,000. The card is the only one ever rated 10 by PSA and the “Canadian Gretzky rookie” is far more scarce in any grade than its Topps counterpart.
A signed Babe Ruth contract from his final season as a big league player sold for $360,000.
In all, five items sold for six-figure prices.
Other sales, including a 20% buyer’s premium, included:
Lot #20 – Topps #311 Mickey Mantle Rookie Card SGC 86 NM+ 7.5 ($180,000)
Lot #48 – Michel Jordan 1998 Chicago Bulls Playoff Jersey ($168,000)
Lot #12 – T206 Eddie Plank White Border PSA EX 5 ($102,000)
Lot #22 – 1955 Sandy Koufax #123 Topps Rookie Card SGC MINT 9 ($96,000)
Lot #42 – 1956 Stan Musial Game Worn Cardinals Jersey ($84,000)
Lot #21 – 1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays SGC 96 MINT 9 ($74,400)
Lot #15 – 1933 Goudey Baseball 24-Card Uncut Sheet ($66,000)
Lot #23 – 1955 Topps #164 Roberto Clemente Rookie Card PSA NM-MT ($62,400)
Lot #81 – 2011 NY Giants Super Bowl XLVI Player (Parker) Ring ($61,200)
Lot #37 – Babe Ruth’s Final “Farewell Letter” to Yankees owner Dan Topping ($60,000)
Lot #4 – 1947 Ted Williams Triple Crown Season Game Used Bat ($60,000)
“The National Sports Collector’s Convention is the biggest event in the sports memorabilia industry which makes our annual auction here truly special,” said Ken Goldin, Founder of Goldin Auctions. “With more than 200 people packing the room and hundreds more bidding via phone and online it was an electric atmosphere.”
A handful of items that did not sell in the live auction will remain open for bidding along with 1,500+ other lots of memorabilia in the corresponding catalog auction through August 13 online at www.GoldinAuctions.com.
You can check the current market for Gretzky rookie cards (Topps and OPC) on eBay here…as long as you’re not looking for a ’10’.
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