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B1SON
06-01-2007, 03:06 AM
Wondering what people can tell me about the scarcity of "game balls" presented to players. I recently picked up a ball that has painted on the front "Game Ball Presented to Steve Nelson" October 19th, 1975 and lists the Patriots score and the Colts score. There is some cracking, but still pretty nice. I heard this happens as the balls lose some air over the years (its 31 years old). Can anyone tell me how many of these are floating around and give me an approximate value. I will not sell it because it is a part of my North Dakota State U collection, but just curious about value since I only paid $80 shipped for it.

Thanks,

Joe

DrJ
06-02-2007, 08:34 AM
I used to own about a dozen from various players. I paid between $50 and $125 and sold them in about the same price range. Hope that gives you some indication of the value. Look on Ebay, you can usually find a few.

David
06-02-2007, 12:53 PM
Game balls like yours are scarce from all years, but Pre-1980 ones are a lot rarer than modern ones. I'm sure yours is worth more than you paid.

You'll see game used team trophy balls from turn of the 20th century games, ala U of Chicago Versus U of Illinois.

kjjavic
06-02-2007, 01:17 PM
I have a large Eagles game ball collection, and in my opinion they are fairly hard to come across. I think at the most, there are 3 game balls given out per game. Typically an Offensive player of the game, Defensive Player of the Game, and Special Teams player of the game. At least this is what Dick Vermeil and some other Eagles coaches did. I guess it is possible for other teams to have only given out 1 ball per game.

In general I would say a game ball shows up on ebay once every 1-2 months.

I think value varies by team. You would have a hard time finding an Eagles ball for less than 150 for a common player, but other teams (like the Lions) would be a fair amt cheaper.

I think your ball is worth a lot more than you paid. I would say in the $200 area.

aeneas01
06-03-2007, 03:29 AM
imho i think "autographed game balls" are extremely easy to forge and, as such, the value of true originals suffer. yet having said that, there will always be (imo) someone new to the hobby that will pay top price for such an item not knowing (or not caring) that there are scammers out there....

Eric
06-03-2007, 08:16 AM
But he's talking about the painted team balls. No one's going to take the time to forge them. Here are some from my collection

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2674.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2673.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2671.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Natrone%20Means/HPIM2672.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2676.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2677.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2675.jpg

Eric

kjjavic
06-03-2007, 10:41 AM
Beautiful trophy balls Eric, I especially like the blue painted winslow ball.

Here is photo of my game ball display

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n193/kjjavic/DSCF1576-2.jpg

mvandor
06-03-2007, 11:18 AM
But he's talking about the painted team balls. No one's going to take the time to forge them. Here are some from my collection

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2674.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2673.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Kellen%20Winslow/HPIM2671.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Natrone%20Means/HPIM2672.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2676.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2677.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s194/ecky3/Game%20Used%20Collection/Football/Ronnie%20Harmon/HPIM2675.jpg

Eric
Geez, what'd you do burg Winslow's house? Or was he so hard up for cash he started dumping his personal memorabilia?

Eric
06-03-2007, 11:33 AM
Winslow used to have a store called something like Wear 2 Win. Guy I bought it from had some nice pieces from there...

Eric

B1SON
06-03-2007, 02:22 PM
Thanks Eric. You are 100% correct about what I was talking about. My Steve Nelson has about as much cracking as your Natron Means, but like I said I am not ever selling it anyway. Thanks for the help guys. :)

mvandor
06-04-2007, 10:32 AM
Winslow used to have a store called something like win2wear. Guy I bought it from had some nice pieces from there...

Eric
Because of the cracking issue, these aren't something I'd choose to collect personally, but they're very interesting pieces. Kinda sad something so personal as these would be sold off by the players, you'd think they'd want to hold onto them.

B1SON
06-04-2007, 03:58 PM
Funny you say that, because, I asked Steve about that. He said, he spent 14 years in the NFL and maybe averaged 4 game balls a year. Thats 56 game balls. He said he gave his away to sick kids that he visited in the hospitals in New England, which by the way backs up the story that the guy who sold it to me said that he bought it at a yard sale out there and the lady who sold it to him said it was given to her son when he was young and sick in a hospital. The guy paid her $60 for it and has no experience in the hobby but assumed he found something on value at a reasonable cost. He then listed it on Ebay by himself with no pictures, no "Patriots" even in the title and a 0 feedback. I was the only one who bid on it so the reserve was never met. We agreed to $80 shipped and both were happy. My one problem is that I think the non painted leather part soaked up some gasoline along the way somewhere. Any suggestions for "airing it out"????? :)

kjjavic
06-04-2007, 10:15 PM
Obviously some balls are sold off by their respective players for cash, but others reach the market for other reasons.

One of my game balls was given by the player to a local sportscaster, and I then received it via a trade.

3 of by game balls as wells a cool team award were purchased from a seller who found them in a storage unit auction. If you don't know what they are, it is where the contents of a storage unit are auctioned off in one lot when payments are past due. This is obviously a sad way for these to enter the market.