A 1941 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio SGC 8 sold for $90,000 late Sunday night as Robert Edward Auctions closed out its May Encore Auction. The price is a record for the grade, blowing past the old record of $36,990 set in February of 2021.
The event also set a new record for the 1933 Goudey #181 Babe Ruth in the grade of EX+ 5.5 (PSA or SGC), selling for $34,800. while a #92 Lou Gehrig SGC NM 7 netted $36,000.
Other record prices included:
- 1912 T207 Brown Background Walter Johnson PSA GOOD+ 2.5 that sold for $7,800, shattering the previous record by a factor of ten.
- A 1954 Wilson Franks Ted Williams PSA GOOD 2 set a new record for the grade (PSA or SGC) selling for $6,900
- A 1967-1968 Topps Hockey #92 Bobby Orr SGC MINT 9 (highest graded example) set a new record for the SGC grade selling for $5,520
The May Auction tallied a total of $1.525 million across more than 4,000 items and generated more than 72,800 bids. It was also the highest tally of bidders in an REA Encore auction.
Complete results can be found here.
“Reviewing the activity in this auction as well as the prices realized, which were some of the highest we’ve ever seen in multiple areas of collecting, it demonstrates the strong appetite that exists in the hobby,” said Brian Dwyer, President of REA. “This auction had items that dated as far back as 1887 and as recent as 2019 and we saw heavy interest across the board, which is a tremendous barometer for the industry.”
REA’s next event is its June Encore Auction that runs June 8-18.
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Ken Griffey Jr.’s 199th career home run bat, signed and given to actor Charlie Sheen is among the 40 lots of autographs, game-used memorabilia and graded cards up for grabs in Lelands’ Spring Focus Auction.
Other items in the auction include:
- James Harrison’s 2004 first career sack and touchdown Steelers game-worn jersey
- A Babe Ruth single-signed baseball (PSA)
- A 1973 Topps Baseball 4th Series Unopened Wax Box (BBCE)
- A Pop 1 2003 UD Triple Dimensions Standout Signatures LeBron James PSA 10 Auto 10, and
- A 1951 Bowman Baseball #253 Mantle Rookie Card PSA PR1
Held quarterly, in between Lelands’ four Classic auctions, items in the Focus auction receive their own social media post, are included in an email blast, get featured on Lelands’ home page, and are displayed on the auction’s first page. This one runs through June 3.
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Business is alive and well in Buffalo where a perfect storm of the hobby’s resurgence has coincided with the resurgence of the Bills in the Josh Allen era.
New outlets have opened alongside long running shops, both of whom take advantage of both local interest and opportunities to sell to collectors anywhere online.
The Buffalo News visited with a few of them for some perspective on the state of the market.
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Longtime collector Steven Lucinski has opened Sports Card Market, an online shop for modern cards. Lucinski has over 20 years of ecommerce experience.
In addition to the website which offers the newest boxes, the St. Louis area based business offers live breaks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sports Card Market also has an eBay store.
The company had a presence at the Dallas Card Show over the weekend.
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