From Game-Worn to Artist-Smoked?

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Welcome to Alts & Ends, your lively guide to collectible market happenings. In this edition, we examine Snoop Dogg barking up a new tree in music memorabilia and the makings of a major second quarter in sports memorabilia.

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The Next Episode

Is a Snoop Dogg-smoked blunt the cannabis equivalent of a Babe Ruth-used baseball bat?

We may need to wait a few decades to find out if it can live up to that lofty analogy, but the journey begins next month. Hang on. Let’s take a step back and out of the smoke clouds for a second.

What’s happening? Snoop Dogg has partnered with The Realest to bring a variety of Snoop memorabilia directly from his own collection to the auction block, with the first lots closing this weekend.

Why does it matter? The modern music memorabilia market suffers from low supply and weak authentication. Most top-tier music memorabilia comes to market through estate sales or charity auctions, while memorabilia from other sources relies predominantly on some form of provenance or LOA-based authenticity. Single-owner sales with direct involvement and promotion from a living artist are a rarity.

What’s changed? Whether due to a lack of awareness or an underestimation of the opportunity, artists have long ignored the potential of their own personal inventory of memorabilia. The rise of collectible markets and the prevalence of headline-making sales makes it much harder to ignore. Even the most passive artist would take notice if they saw a guitar of theirs sell for six-figures or a lyric sheet for five, all while participating in none of the proceeds.

What’s different about the Snoop event? Items come directly from Snoop Dogg, with his ownership verified via witness-based authentication and items uniquely identified on an ongoing basis through holographic technology. Direct provenance is a staple of the legacy market, and it strengthens the credibility for the initial sale. But afterwards, that direct provenance becomes murkier when backed only by a paper LOA at most in future sales. In that regard, Snoop’s choice to utilize a more rigorous standard of authentication bolsters the credibility of these items both now and in the future.

His promotion of the event to 87 million Instagram followers is also a break from the norm. So many items are marketed with direct artist provenance, but without the artist acknowledging the item or auction’s existence, it’s difficult to drive fan engagement.

Is he really auctioning a smoked blunt? Yes, and it’s been authenticated as artist-used. That means a TruEST authenticator witnessed him smoking it. See for yourself. It’s up to 47 bids with weeks remaining.

The first phase of items in the fittingly named event, “Tha Shiznit,” closes this Sunday. But will it signal The Next Episode in music memorabilia?

Bonus tracks: Go deeper on the existing Snoop market, the market dynamics of single-owner sales, and the contents of Tha Shiznit. What are the most expensive Snoop items ever sold? How much value does direct Snoop provenance and the associated authentication add to the value of a sealed Funko Pop?

Seven-Figure Sports

What do Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan have in common?

This spring, they’ve all been part of a noteworthy surge in million-dollar sales.

In 1Q24, there were just three seven-figure sales across the sports card and memorabilia market.

For a point of reference, there were thirteen million-dollar sales in 1Q22 and seven in 1Q23.

With the Goldin 100 set to deliver at least two seven-figure sales when it closes this week, we’ll be at five, six if you include the Andy Warhol painting of Jack Nicklaus that sold at Golden Age for $1.1 million in April.

We’ll stick with five for now though and keep any Warhol sales in the art column.

Nevertheless, it’s an increase. It will represent the first quarter-over-quarter increase since 3Q22 and 4Q22. The first sale came on April 10th when Sotheby’s sold the jersey worn by the late, great Kobe Bryant in Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals. The hammer and premium totaled $1.75 million which fell below the $2.5 million high estimate but still secured a million-dollar result.

Then, earlier this month, Heritage sold two vintage baseball uniforms for seven figures. The top sale, which came by way of a 1920 Walter Johnson jersey, stands as the only multi-million-dollar result through the quarter so far. Heritage also sold a 1955 Sandy Koufax jersey for $1.8 million, which more than doubled the previous top price paid for Koufax threads. The same jersey was previously sold at Leland’s for $667,189 in 2017, representing a rate of appreciation of 170% or 40% annualized. The previous record had been held by a different Koufax jersey, one from the 1956 season, which sold for $750,000 at Heritage in 2020.

Goldin has not recorded a million-dollar sale in one of its auctions through the first five months of 2024, but that will change this week with the closing of their Goldin 100. Two items featured in the auction have already reached the million-dollar mark, with 14 other collectibles set to sell for at least $100K.

Heading into the final days of the auction, the top lot is a 2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Logoman signed by Michael Jordan with a PSA/DNA 10 auto grade. The card has already registered more than one dozen bids above $1 million with the current price plus premium sitting at $1.8 million. At its current price, the Upper Deck MJ would be the most expensive 21st-century sports card sold by Goldin since October 2022. The card is also poised to become the first card from the 2000s to sell at auction for at least $1 million since a 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Tom Brady rookie sold for $1.2 million at Goldin in June 2023.

If big sales bring out the grails, maybe the increase in high-end activity is responsible for what’s the come later this year at Heritage. With nearly three months until its Summer Platinum Night is scheduled to close, Heritage has already listed six different sports collectibles with estimates of at least $1 million. The event will be led by the iconic Babe Ruth “Called Shot” jersey, which has been given a $30 million estimate. In addition to the historic Ruth jersey, there is also a 1938 Lou Gehrig jersey that carries an estimate of $7 million, a 1951 Jackie Robinson jersey/pants combo that has a $6 million estimate, and a 1911 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson game-used bat that could sell for at least $3 million.

Will 2Q24 be an outlier on the chart or is it a sign of things to come?

Based on the consignments already rolling in for auctions in Q3, we’ll take the latter.

Results Round-Up

• Prince’s concert-played piano did not sell at RR Auction, but a rare abstract painting by Bob Dylan did fetch $196,156. An original recording of an early Jimi Hendrix concert also sold for $51,644.

• The NBA Auctions Playoff Contenders event at Sotheby’s brought some big results. Most notably, a LeBron James jersey from the In-Season Tournament Semifinal sold for $120,000. That result contributed to an aggregate hammer price for the event that was nearly $100,000 higher than the aggregate low estimate. Still, most lots are falling short of estimates as collectors try to make sense of entry-level assets from less notable players, insignificant moments, or both. Here’s the breakdown of hammer price (before fees) performance versus low estimates.

  • Below: 53%

  • Within: 36%

  • Above: 11%

  Those figures are an improvement from earlier auction events, as estimates rationalize.

• On eBay, a pair of the infamous “Pigeon Dunks” sold for $45,600. This Nike collaboration with Staple Design caused sneaker pandemonium in New York City in 2005, becoming a foundational piece of sneakerhead lore. The pair auctioned yesterday was one of 30 numbered pairs for the Reed Space store, making it an even greater rarity than an already incredibly rare sneaker.

• The Heritage Video Games Signature Auction grossed $2.14 million in total sales, the highest total since April 2023’s $2.18 million. Still, there were reminders that the market is in a different spot than it was a few years ago.

  • A copy of Super Smash Bros, Wata-graded a 9.8 A++, sold for $93,750 after selling for $240,000 in August 2022.

  • Legend of Zelda (Rev-A, Round SOQ, Wata 9.6 A+) sold for $45,000. A like-graded copy of the same variant sold for $384,000 in August 2022.

This Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 has seen the passing of many seconds, minutes, hours, and days since its 1953 production. And each of those passing seconds seems to have brought appreciation.

This particular watch, one of just three known to have the “Eurasia” dial, last sold at Antiquorum in Geneva in 2002 for the USD equivalent of approximately $1.1 million. On Sunday, it sold in Hong Kong for 65,475,000 HKD, or the USD equivalent of $8.4 million. Over 22 years, it increased in value by 662%, or approximately 10% annually, both gross of buyer’s premium.

Its travels on the auction block are fitting for a World Time watch. Who knows what another two decades of ticking will bring, but each tick must’ve sounded an awful lot like “ka-ching” to the previous owner.

Also on the slate:

• Closing 5/29 - Hunt May Internet Auction

• Closing 5/30 - Propstore Collectible Posters Live Auction

• Closing 5/31 - Heritage Star Wars Signature Auction

• Closing 6/1 - Christie’s The Epic Cellar

• Closing 6/1 - RM Sotheby’s Dare to Dream Collection

• Closing 6/3 - RM Sotheby’s Dare to Dream Collection Online

• Closing 6/3 - Heritage Watches & Fine Timepieces Signature Auction

• Closing 6/4 - Hunt The Personal Collection of Christy Mathewson Auction

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