Auction Action by Altan Insights: September 29, 2021

This week on Auction Action, the Altan Insights team virtually visits Lelands to review the results of their Classic Auction. Note that all Lelands Auction prices include 20% buyers premium. 

Alternative Asset Comps

Asset: 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Rookie Ticket Tom Brady /100 (BGS 8)

Lelands: $857,695.20

Collectable (BGS 8.5): $2,150,000

Review: With a print run of 100, the Championship Ticket is considered the grail of Tom Brady rookie cards. The Lelands example carries the same subgrades as Collectable’s card for both centering and edges but has a lower grade for corners and surface. The card featured at Leland’s also received a 9 for the signature while Collectable’s earned a 10. Prices for these top-tier Brady rookies have skyrocketed over the last four years as the lore of TB12 and the overall card market continues to grow. In 2017, the highest public sale price for a BGS 8 championship ticket was $20,400- representing a 4,000% return in less than five years.

Asset: 2000 Playoff Contenders Football Rookie Ticket #144 Tom Brady Autograph (BGS 8.5)

Lelands: $60,043.20

Collectable (2x BGS 9.5): $198,000

Rally (BGS 9.5): $71.625

Review: The Lelands sale represented a strong result for BGS 8.5 graded Rookie Ticket as prices continue to show positive appreciation. In December 2020, BGS 8.5 Brady Rookie Ticket prices averaged $22,000 before climbing near $40,000 in April. While prices spiked momentarily in February, they have consistently settled above $50,000 over the last few months. Rally’s BGS 9.5 gained 6.41% in its last trading session while Collectable’s basket has climbed 120% since IPO. 

Asset: 2009 National Treasures #206 Stephen Curry (RPA) RPA /99 (BGS 9)

Lelands: $364,884

Collectable (BGS 9.5): $447,300

Rally (BGS 9.5): $525,000

Review: The Lelands Steph Curry entered the final day of the auction with a price of $139,298 but the BGS 9 graded RPA attracted a flurry of bids in the final hours to push the final price over $300,000. In total, 15 of the 38 total bids were placed in the final four hours of the auction and the price with buyer’s premium settled in line with past valuations. Goldin Auctions sold a BGS 9 example for $360,000 in March at the peak of the Spring card bull market and sales had dipped over the summer for Curry cards This auction result is a strong sign for modern basketball heading into the 2022 season. Collectable’s Curry has slipped -10% overall on their secondary market but the card has rebounded in recent days with a 3.4% gain over the last week. Rally’s card was funded by 1,449 investors and is expected to begin trading soon.

Asset: 1980-81 Topps Basketball Unopened Wax Box

Lelands: $32,497.20

Rally: $40,000

Rally (Offering Not Scheduled): $40,000

Review: Sales for sealed 1980 Topps wax peaked at $91,000 in February but recent results have since retraced under $40,000. The price realized at Lelands represents a slight recovery from some results in August that fell under $30,000 but still settled well under prices from the Spring. Rally’s box is currently priced at $40,000 although the IPO has not launched and the market cap is subject to change. The box derives much of its value from the Scoring Leaders card which features superstars Julius Erving, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. The stabilization of prices for the 1980 sealed wax is a positive sign for the valuation of the Scoring Leaders series which has IPO’d at both Rally and Collectable. 

Asset: 2009 Bowman Draft Picks Chrome Prospect X-Fractors Mike Trout Signed Rookie Card (BGS 9.5/Auto 10)

Lelands: $30,325.20

Rally: $56,000

Review: Sale prices for the Trout X-Fractor have tumbled in recent months, propelled by the star outfielder’s injury-plagued 2021 campaign. After reaching $21,830 (before buyer’s premium) on September 24th, Lelands Trout closed the event with a quiet evening, attracting just three bids on the final auction day. Prices have slipped overall for the specialty Trout card as valuations peaked above $55,000 in the Spring but have struggled to reach $40,000 throughout the Summer. Rally’s Trout traded flat in its first session and currently sits at a $56,000 market cap after the offering opened in March.

Fractional Wish List

The Lelands Classic featured a plethora of interesting and unique assets that have yet to be fractionalized. We explore some of the offerings that sold this weekend at Lelands that we believe would make strong additions to alternative asset lineups. 

Interested in investing in sports tickets but have no clue know where to star? Buy iconic tickets from iconic games that highlight iconic players. The 1951 MLB season is probably most famous for Bobby Thomson’s ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ but it also introduced the world to a 19-year-old rookie from Spavinaw, Oklahoma named Mickey Mantle. The 1951 season was a roller coaster for Mantle and while the year historically marked the beginning of one of baseball’s greatest careers, it also nearly marked the end. Mantle struggled early for the Bronx Bombers and was sent back to the minor leagues during his rookie year. After failing to find success during his initial minor league stint, Mantle called home to tell his father he was considering leaving the game entirely. Mantle’s father famously told his son “I thought I raised a man. I see I raised a coward instead. You can come back to Oklahoma and work the mines with me.” The tough love would be enough to get Mantle back on track as he closed the 1951 season with 13 home runs and 65 RBI’s in just 96 professional games. Lelands sold a PSA 3 graded ticket from Mantle’s first game as a Yankee and the stub became just the second ticket ever publicly sold for over $100,000. 

Asset: 2017 New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Championship Player Ring

Lelands: $92,145.60

No Super Bowl cemented the legacy and aura of Tom Brady quite like Super Bowl LI. The ring sold by Lelands was a size 13 totaling over 15 carats of white gold and marquise-cut diamonds. This iconic ring features the Patriots logo against five diamond-filled Lombardi trophies. Engravings in the ring include "Unequivocally the Sweetest" and "Greatest Comeback Ever”, further emphasizing the aura around the game this ring memorializes. To date, there have been no Super Bowl rings offered fractionally and one that is tied to one of the greatest sports moments would be an impressive introduction for the asset.

Asset: Wayne Gretzky Signed Tegata Hand Impression Limited Edition Display

Lelands: $5,144.40

This item combines culture, greatness, and rarity and would stand out as a fractional marketplace as a one-of-a-kind IPO. Tegata displays were initially used as a tribute for Japanese Sumo wrestlers but examples of these unique assets with the handprints and signatures of legendary athletes have started appearing at auctions. This Gretzky display is one of 99 examples and the final price settled well below a Michael Jordan Tegata which sold for $15,000 at a previous Leland’s event. 

Asset: 1945 Babe Ruth Signed Bank Check (PSA)

Lelands: $5,380.80

There has yet to be a signed check on an alternative asset platform but the market for these historic artifacts has continued to develop over the last year. Unlike a signed sports card or piece of memorabilia, signed checks such as this gem auctioned by Lelands feature the writer’s penmanship in multiple places. The date, dollar amount, receiver, and signature were all penned by the Bambino himself.

Asset: Steve Prefontaine's Bib from 1970 NCAA Cross Country Championship with Handwritten Provenance

Lelands: $26,734.80

Rally has offered a prototype of the original Moon Shoe designed by Bill Bowerman but there has yet to be an IPO that highlights one of the greatest distance runners Bowerman ever coached. Steve Prefontaine set the running world ablaze in the 1960s and 70s with his aggressive front-running style that helped propel him to NCAA titles and a 4th place finish in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Prefontaine passed tragically in an auto accident while training for the 1976 Olympics but his legacy and impact on both the athletic sneaker and the running world is difficult to overstate. Prefontaine was one of the first athletes ever sponsored by Nike when he agreed to wear their shoes in 1972 and many of the original prototypes Bowerman experimented with were tested by Prefontaine during his time running for the University of Oregon.

Asset: Bear Bryant Personally Worn Houndstooth Hat

Lelands: $11,395.20

Could it be time for a fractional hat? The Houndstooth hat donned by the legendary Bear Bryant is arguably the most iconic piece of sports memorabilia to ever sit atop one’s head. Bryant helped establish Alabama into a college football dynasty throughout the 1960s and 70s as he guided the Crimson Tide to 6 titles and retired with a record of 323-85-17. Bryant and his Houndstooth hat were synonymous with winning and his coaching career spanned over four decades, Bryant led other established universities including Kentucky and Texas A&M but found the most success building an Alabama program that was experiencing a 20-year title drought before the Bear came along.

Images Courtesy of Lelands Auctions

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