Washington Post article on recent Super Bowl Auction & Economy

[Dewey2007]

Interesting read...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/31/AR2009013101970.html?wprss=rss_sports%2Findex%2Fnf l

[chakes89]

"Then again, the jersey LaDainian Tomlinson wore in the Chargers' last playoff win went for $5,400 -- $5,000 more than Hunt figured -- in a large part because it might have been the last game Tomlinson played for San Diego, or perhaps at all. "

What genius thought an LT jersey would only go for $400?

Im not even a fan of LT but if I had the chance I would pay $400 in a heartbeat for one of his jerseys

[Eric]

That was an error in the part of the writer.
According to the Hunt Auction listing the estimate for that LT jersey was $3,000.00-$4,000.00

[chakes89]

I was wondering what was up with that

That makes more sense

[gingi79]

Being a collector I must say this article was definately not written by someone who knows about this hobby. Not to mention the fact he is trying to convince the reader that our hobby is "recession proof" by shading facts and then incorrectly describing how "high" some of the pieces sold for and detailing how only the super rich bought anything?!?

First of all, the auction had numerous DNS, a fact missing from the article. Furthermore he only mentions 4 pieces from the auction; Tomlinson's jersey, a Jim Brown Jersey, the first football used in last year's SB and a pilon from last years SB. I can't say I know "normal value of the last two but the first two item descriptions show how little he really knows.

Tomlinson's jersey sold for $5400 and he claims that Hunt felt this was tremendously high! Here is his quote: "[The Tomlinson jersey sold for] $5,000 more than Hunt figured -- in a large part because it might have been the last game Tomlinson played for San Diego, or perhaps at all."

Huh? How many people wouldn't pay $400 for a guaranteed authentic Tomlinson playoff game worn jersey? Hell I don't even like the Chargers but I would have no problem reselling it for huge profit. If Hunt really believed he would only get $400 for it, why did he list it?

Board member lund6771 had this to say bout that very shirt: "I also was bidding on both Tomlinson jerseys and there were only 2 bidders on both lots....me & one other guy....if either of us didn't bid, they would have sold for $4000 each...far less than previous years"

Board Member aeneas01 started a thread about Mastro's auction in December. In he detailed another collector's comment (scottanservitz) about a Jim Brown gamer: "Man oh man! That Brown jersey is my GRAIL! I fell just $69K short. What a joy just to see it. Nuff said! Scott"

The Brown jersey in the article sold for $17,000. True they aren;t the same but this one had no big questions around it nor was it being bogged down in MEARS drama. This price was CHEAP for what it was.

He also explains that the big bidders were uber-rich. For instance, the football mentioned earlier was purchased by Ted Williams Daughter. Another big purchase was made by a big time Real Estate Broker. Lastly he spoke with a Vice President of a Health Insurance company. These people are Milionaires. How can you explain how the average fan is still collecting by detailing how only rich people are buying? How can you claim something is recession proof by explaining how only people unaffected by a recession can buy them?

I agree with Dewey2007. This article in an interesting read that I will pass along to my 4th grade students. It will certainly help me to explain how important the difference between fact and opinion is. Also how a lack of reseach can make you look foolish as well as how things can be slanted to show anything with numbers by ignoring the "big picture."

[Eric]

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I am pretty sure that more than once game used Tomlinson jerseys have sold for more than 10K. If this is indeed his final game as a charger (or in football- less likely but a possibility) then you'd think the shirt might have some value, perhaps more than the $5400 it went for.

[CollectGU]

It's pretty obvious that the article was written by someone who did no research about game used collecting before he wrote the article. If he checked some prices, he would have seen some that were alarmingly low - aka the Jim Brown with nice wear for 16K?

Regards,
Dave

[sylbry]

This is a really stupid article. I wonder how many of those people said to be "in disbelief" just dropped a couple grand on Super Bowl tickets and another couple grand on hotel, food, and transportation.

Out of all of the money exchanging hands during Super Bowl weekend, the auction was just sliver.