Sports Illustrated Blog #112 on our way to #200 – First 6-Figure Sale. Hobby Moves Another Step Forward.
Welcome to my Sports Illustrated/TIME magazine blog – Your collector’s guide to the latest hobby updates and insight into what’s trending now. The news is all over the internet, X, Instagram, Facebook,…a graded 84 SI Jordan, CGC 9.8, closed this week at $126,000, the highest public auction sale to date. Although the entire hobby is ecstatic over these results (there were others of note), there is more to this event than just the auction price. Yes, the auction price advances graded mag prices to a higher plateau but let’s take a deeper look at what this means. For years, collectors have been clamoring for someone to public auction one of their monster issues but the problem has been – collectors rarely sell. The CGC 9.8, SI, 84 Jordan represents the first top tier issue with a top tier athlete and grade to hit public auction for 6+ years or since our hobby’s humble beginnings. This auction also was the litmus test for just how far graded mags have come since blog #1, 6+ years ago. The biggest question mark keeping a lid over the graded mag hobby all these years has been the lack of or perceived lack of comparables. Card guys don’t know what to make of a buy or sell without today’s comparable prices. Now we have a foundation. Every single future sale can be traced back to this Jordan auction. No more speculation. No more buyer/seller “pie in the sky” valuations. This Jordan can now be the source for determining the fairness of all future transactions. My estimate for the auction was $145,000, so I was a bit high but there’s room for more. In my opinion, we should consider the 84 Jordan CGC 9.8, although a monster, not the monster of all monsters. There is still more room for higher prices in today’s market. In my opinion, believe or don’t, the following list of monster issues/grades ranked from 1-13 will determine the ultimate future valuation pecking order – top to bottom. 1. 56 Mantle CGC 9.8 2. 63 Clay CGC 9.8 3. 83 Jordan CGC 9.8 4. 84 Jordan CGC 9.8 (A Star is Born) 5. 81 Gretzky CGC 9.8 6. 77 Bird CGC 9.8 7. These would be ranked in the top thirteen but there is no issue graded high enough yet (must be CGC 9.8 or higher) – 59 Unitas, 60 Brown 65 Namath, 68 Rose, 67 Clemente, 60 Nicklaus, 51 BASEBALL Mantle. There you have it. Everything we all wanted in comparables. BTW, I’m quite certain that this Jordan and many other high grades were acquired by means available to us all so keep the faith. I sincerely hope you have or will acquire one of these monsters. Best of luck. I hope you are enjoying the reads on the history of SI, SPORT, and BASEBALL magazines as well as an insight into relevant magazine collecting. Great collecting to you in our second century of blogs and best fortunes with Sports Illustrated/SPORT/BASEBALL magazines. For a complete review of previous blogs, please visit www.sportsillustrated98.com |