Welcome to Sports Memorabilia Insider for December 24, 2021. We use Moneyball tactics to discover undervalued, mispriced, and hidden gems in Fractional Investing.
Table of Contents
Sports Memorablia in 2021
We’re seeing this category continue to bounce right around break-even for the year. Down close to 20% in the summer, a series of buy-outs (Frank Robinson 500th Home-run Bat; Stephen Curry game worn sneakers; LeBron high school sneakers) helped the category recover most of their losses for the year.
Last Week
Fractional secondary markets
Sports memorabilia broke a two week losing streak by posting a positive gain of 1.3% last week.
As goes basketball memorabilia, so generally goes the overall index.
Basketball has the most assets in the index at 41 (baseball is in second place with 29 assets). So it was no surprise to see that basketball memorabilia had a positive week as the sub-category finished up 2.8%. The 1995-98 Chicago Bulls hardwood floor popped 60% in its first week of trading on Collectable (but a word of caution that the asset is thinly traded at present with the current bid at the IPO price of $5.00). A pair of offerings from two of the games all-time greats also helped as the Michael Jordan rookie jersey (29.1%) and Kobe Bryant 2003 game-worn Jordans (24.9%) increased on Collectable.
Auctions
Goldin and Heritage wrapped up their December card and memorabilia auctions last week. Heritage shone a spotlight on the emerging asset class of game tickets as they highlighted debut tickets from both LeBron James and Tom Brady. The LeBron ticket, graded a PSA 6, sold for $24,000 and falls in between recent sales of a PSA 7 ($40,800) and a PSA 5 ($9,000).
Lelands closed the auction on a 1930s Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Dual-Signed Baseball (PSA 5) at a final hammer price of $8,274. As noted in the last Insider issue, Collectable has a similar dual signed baseball from 1933 in better condition (PSA 7.5) at a $76,000 market cap. This sale, combined with a November sale of another Ruth/Gehrig 1934 dual auto baseball for $28,800, adjusts the inferred value of the Collectable ball to $35,000 (slight premium for eye appeal and Ruth’s signature on the sweet spot for the Collectable offering).
This Week and Next
Fractional Market IPOs
Collectable has the sole memorabilia IPO this week with a post-Christmas offering for a classic winter sport.
Bobby Orr 1971 Boston Bruins Photomatched Jersey
- Drop: 12/26/21 on Collectable
- Market Cap: $399,000
- Retained Equity: $0
- Inferred Value: $266,436
- Recommendation: Pass (valuation; this exact jersey sold at Classic Auctions in Feb for $209k; Orr hockey cards up approximately 30% since then)
Fractional Secondary Markets
Rally continues to roll out live trading with 20 new assets debuting this week that includes 4 sports memorabilia assets. Collectable also gives us some fresh meat.
Here’s our pick of the most interesting offerings (and please note that Market Cap data is correct as at 12/23):
‘16 Kobe Bryant Farewell Game Hardwood (Signed)
- Platform: Rally
- Market Cap: $400,000
- Inferred Value: $887,000 (updated inferred value; Rally bought this from Heritage in October 2020 for $631,200; if we apply the fractional platform auction discount and then take into account Kobe’s cards appreciation from October 2020 to today of 156%, it gets us to $887K, which is an $87K increase from the March 2021 IPO price)
Giannis Antetokounmpo ‘19 48-point Game Used and Signed Sneakers
- Platform: Collectable (trading began 12/21/2021)
- Market Cap: $25,000
- Inferred Value: $11,300 (updated inferred value; a pair of Giannis sneakers photo-matched to 11 games in 2018 sold in October for $24,000; the Collectable offering has only been photo-matched to one game from a year later)
‘96 Michael Jordan Game Worn Air Jordan 11s Concord
- Platform: Rally
- Market Cap: $48,000
- Inferred Value: $23,300 (updated inferred value; a pair of Jordan game used sneakers from 1998 traced to the NBA finals sold in August 2021 for $22,800; Jordan cards are up 2% over same time period)
‘59 Roberto Clemente “Momen” Game Used Bat
- Platform: Rally
- Market Cap: $36,100
- Inferred Value: $103,000 (updated inferred value; a Clemente bat from 1971-72 that includes Clemente’s signature sold in October 2021 for $118,080; Clemente’s baseball cards are up 91% from Rally’s purchase date in July 2020 to today)
‘14 Kobe Bryant Game-Worn Jersey (Signed)
- Platform: Rally
- Market Cap: $57,037
- Inferred Value: $20,000 (updated inferred value; a game-worn and autographed Kobe jersey from the 2009 finals sold in December for $14,351; the 2009 jersey is not photo-matched – the Rally offering is photo-matched to a December 2014 regular season game versus the Celtics)
Auctions
Not a lot of current auctions as most of the auction houses slow down for the holidays.
For those on a budget or looking for some late stocking stuffers, Sterling Sports has some vintage baseball memorabilia with low or no current bids, including this Bob Feller autograph postcard and a 1924 Senators World Series score card.
Goldin’s holiday auction kicked off on December 21. A game used jersey from Kobe Bryant and dual-signed sneakers from both Kobe and Jordan will be good comps for current fractional offerings.
