The first part of the Goldin 100 auction will enter extended bidding this weekend, featuring 50 lots ranging from the highest-graded Playboy #1 magazine to Kobe Bryant's "Achilles" jersey.
Also coming to the block is Heritage's Star Wars Signature Auction, led by a rocket-firing Boba Fett prototype.
We dig into it all in our weekly auction preview, with analysis from Will Stern and Darren Rovell.
Kobe Bryant "Achilles" jersey
The “Achilles game” jersey is one of the most significant pieces of Kobe Bryant memorabilia from his career.
Tied to the game in which Bryant famously tore his Achilles but still went to the line and hit two free throws after the injury, the jersey personifies “Mamba Mentality." The consigner sent the item to MeiGray to be photo-matched in December 2023.
The record for any Bryant jersey belongs to the “jersey pop” uniform from the 2007-08 MVP season, which sold for $5.8 million in 2023.
Stern: As of the time of writing, bidding has yet to exceed the $1.22 million mark set earlier in the month, when Goldin accepted its first irrevocable bid, taking the lot from $435,000 to $1.22 million. If the auction house fails to attract another bidder, it would be a tough look for the future of the jersey.
Rovell: The Kobe Achilles game is the ultimate Mamba game. But is it the ultimate game? The question is, is that good enough to make it a multi-million dollar jersey? It might be. But we have to recognize that this jersey is in a class of its own. Yes, it’s a moment. But the moment isn’t all joy, and that makes it different from most jerseys that hit the market.
1953 Playboy #1 (CGC 9.6)
This is the single-highest graded copy of the inaugural Playboy magazine at CGC 9.6. There is no record of any comparable public sales, with the top price paid for the issue coming in May 2016 for a CGC 9.4 copy.
The starting bid is more than double the record ($183,000 with buyer’s premium). That’s also higher than the current record for a CGC-graded magazine, which belongs to a CGC 9.8 copy of Michael Jordan’s “A Star is Born” Sports Illustrated ($126,000).
Stern: That starting bid is aggressive. No doubt it’s a top-tier magazine, factoring in the combination of Marilyn Monroe and the Playboy brand, but it’s tough to set expectations so high when there is simply no precedent as far as price goes. This is a rare variant, which was produced in quantities numbering less than 500, however, I don’t think that’s enough to make the difference.
Rovell: When I saw the opening price, I said, “That’s not going to get a single bid.” In the last five years, the volume of this issue at auction has been way more than I would have thought — as is the total graded by CGC. In a nascent market, it’s always hard to take the risk to buy the best of the best and that has to happen in a real auction, not some reserve like this where the consignor is unrealistic.
1986 NES Deluxe Set VGA 85(Credit: Goldin)
Back in November 2023, Heritage sold a comparable sealed NES for $120,000, establishing a record high for any sealed, previously commercially available console.
This represents what appears to be just the second time a comparable example will appear at public auction, with very few sealed and authenticated examples known to exist.
Stern: When the $120,000 example sold last year, it acted as somewhat of a lone bright spot in a video game market that was very much licking its wounds. It also came during a time in which other sealed consoles, specifically Gameboys, had seen a precipitous drop in price.
Given the rarity and iconic nature of this piece, any significant drop off from the prior comp would be a disappointment, not to mention the fact Goldin has still yet to fully prove itself ready to stand toe-to-toe with Heritage in the video-game market.
Rovell: I get the idea of wanting the very first — it’s a collectors thing and often a scarcity thing. But as a child of the original Nintendo generation, you must realize that a lot of us didn’t have this first version. In the United States, less than 40 percent of sales contained R.O.B., which was quickly phased out after receiving lackluster reviews. That matters because nostalgia plays such an important role.
What most of us got was the "Duck Hunt"/"Super Mario Bros." combo pack, not the robot and the game that came with it, Gyromite. I played thousands of hours of Nintendo and I didn’t play once with the robot or Gyromite. But I love consoles. Love them sealed and like the play, which is why I bought the ‘88 version a day after I saw this one displayed at the Goldin 100 promo event.
1999 Pokémon 1st edition complete PSA 10 set
This complete set of PSA 10-graded 1st Edition Pokemon cards from the 1999 release represents the pinnacle of mainstream TCG collecting. Though rarer cards like the Illustrator or various trophy cards might be more valuable individually, the sheer difficulty of rounding up more than 100 of these 25-year-old cards in perfect condition is as tough as it gets.
At the moment, only 11 full sets graded PSA 10 appear in the PSA set registry, including this one. The last comparable sale came in March 2021 for $650,000 on eBay.
Stern: I fully understand the arguments in favor of earlier Japanese cards, hyper-limited production promotional cards, etc. However, given that these cards hail from the most impactful set in American cultural memory when it comes to Pokemon, I tend to favor a flawless set like this — especially given its rarity and infrequency of sales.
If someone has wanted to add a complete PSA 10 set to their collection for years, the last opportunity they had to do so via public auction was now more than three years ago. I see this ending in a dogfight.
Bob Ross oil painting
This Bob Ross painting is dated to 1986, three years into his run as the beloved host of “The Joy of Painting.” Due to Ross’ popularity and cultural impact, especially among a generation of children now reaching middle age, his works have become quite collectible.
Stern: Unlike most scarcity-driven markets, Ross’ is quite the opposite on the surface, as it’s estimated he created over a thousand paintings during the run of his show and 30,000 total.
Much of the market pressure stems from restricted supply created by Bob Ross Inc., which owns nearly all 1,000 of the on-air paintings and rarely if ever offers them for sale. (Goldin’s is not an on-air example).
Michael Jordan 2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Logoman Patch card (#1/1)
The first public sale of the 2003 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Michael Jordan "Logoman" card will take place this weekend, already stretching into the $1.8 million range as of Thursday morning.
The card had never been seen publicly until 2022, when PSA received the coveted Jordan card along with a one-of-one Kobe Bryant card from the same owner. PSA assigned the card a grade of Authentic and an autograph grade of 10.
Currently, the record price paid for a Michael Jordan card belongs to the 1997-98 Upper Deck Game Jerseys Autograph card, which sold for $2.7 million in a private sale brokered by Goldin in 2021.
Stern: With few exceptions, post-career cards get a double thumbs down from me. However, this is Michael Jordan, a man of whom I’ve heard tremendous things, as well as a card from an iconic set, which was not available during his playing career.
While I don’t necessarily agree with the one-of-one designation allowing it to swiftly skip the line and bypass far cooler ‘90s inserts and parallels, such as PMGs, in price. Still, I have to admit, Jordan’s inclusion in the set — the year of LeBron’s rookie season — is an extremely cool changing of the guards moment.
Carlos Alcaraz 2022 U.S. Open final wristband
Tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz overcame Casper Ruud to secure his first U.S. Open and third Slam at the age of 20 in 2022. This wristband was worn for the entire final match.
The Tennis Auction has placed a starting bid of $1,000 on the lot, which it has failed to reach as of Thursday morning.
Stern: Alcaraz is the most collectible name in tennis right now. For $1,000, a wristband might be pretty steep, though the market is so nascent, it strikes me as the kind of bet a die-hard collector would be willing to make.
Rovell: Wristbands are very tough because they are almost impossible to photo-match. That was the case with the ultimate wristband — a wristband Michael Jordan wore for the flu game. It relied on the story of the ballboy, who did, in fact, get his shoes that night. That wristband passed at Sotheby’s and then sold for an astounding $28,800 at Heritage.
Goldin sold this exact Alcaraz wristband from his first Slam win, and it went for $1,200 on one bid. I look at the picture of him winning, and the wristband is clean, and then I look at how dirty this one is. So, it’s photo-match or bust for me here.
1979 Kenner Rocket-firing Boba Fett prototype (AFA 60)
We covered the story behind the rocket-firing Boba Fett in a story last week.
As we wrote at the time: “The 1979 rocket-firing Boba Fett prototype is to action figures what the T206 Wagner is to baseball cards or Super Mario Bros. for NES is to video-game collecting. Simply put, it's the pinnacle of any high-end collection.”
The current record for any rocket-firing Fett (or any Kenner toy) belongs to a June 2022 sale of a higher graded copy of a different variant at $236,000. All variations included, it’s believed less than 100 of these rare prototypes exist.
Stern: The example offered at Heritage, one of the two production paint scheme Fetts, has the added intrigue of provenance tying it to the legendary Kern's Collection, which was once home to no less than nine different rocket-firing Boba Fetts.
It’s also one of just five hand-painted L-Slots. Comps are an impossibility here. But if we’re to belive this variant is even more desirable than the “common” rocket-firing Fetts, this should set a record, despite the fact the market for these rarities has cooled significantly. Its scarcity should act as a price shield.
1978 Kenner Vinyl Cape Jawa 12 Back-A (AFA 85)
A comparable example of this early production variant of the Jawa action figure sold at Hake’s for $36,603.60 in March 2024. As of Thursday morning, the toy sits at just over $9,000 with buyer’s premium.
Stern: Hake’s has proven itself the leader in "Star Wars" toys, typically tasked with the bulk of the high-end material and performing quite well for its consignors over the past few years. Can Heritage flex its muscles here and dispel the notion that specialty auctions are the best way to achieve top results in niche markets?
An early unforced error on the part of Heritage might be its failure to include the detail that the toy appears to feature an “unpunched card,” meaning it was never hung in retail stores. Unpunched toys from this era are typically rarer and often command a premium, as was the case at Hake’s earlier this year.
1977 Topps Star Wars C-3PO error card (PSA 10)
This is one of the most infamous error cards in history, and we wrote the full backstory Wednesday. So, if you’re looking at this card and think you’re mind has gone to the gutter, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Since 2014, there have been just six public comparable sales of PSA 10 examples (population: 5), most recently in May 2020 for $4,999. Bidding has reached $7,500 (with buyer’s premium) as of Thursday morning.
Stern: Look, is it juvenile to think this is the greatest card ever produced? Maybe. Is it wrong? Also, maybe. Regardless, if we can’t enjoy a good ol’ droid [appendage] than what are we even doing here.
On a more serious note (not that there are less serious notes), it is quite astounding considering the fame of the card and the value of its contemporaries in the set that we haven’t seen a sale of a PSA 10 in more than four years. I think this clears $20,000.
Rovell: I’m sorry, but I love Golden Rod. And, of course, someone is going to want to have the best of the best. It’s a card creature’s habit!
1982 "Star Wars: A New Hope" VHS tape (CGC 9.2 A)
"Star Wars" has long been the leader in collectible VHS, holding the record for any graded and sealed tape due to a $114,000 sale in October 2022 of another first commercial release variant (Beckett A-).
This tape, dated 1982 — the first year viewers were able to watch the first "Star Wars" film from their living rooms — is arguably the most coveted. According to Heritage, less than 10 factory sealed examples from this variant are believed to exist. The auction house also provides excellent context partially responsible for the rarity, which is that at the time of release, only around 4 percent of U.S. households owned a VCR.
Stern: I relegated VHS to the heap of flash-in-the-pan collectibles such as Metaverse NFTs and Beanie Babies long ago. After all, 13 of the 15 top sales all time occurred in 2022. That’s factoring in the growth of grading services and more frequent opportunities for VHS-specific auctions — neither of which seemed to have righted the ship.
That being said, I’m not a hater. Sealed stuff is always cool in my mind. But at $7,187.50 with buyer’s premium as of Thursday morning, we might be witnessing a potential death knell.
Rovell: I bought a lot of VHS — probably $25,000 worth. I thought it would be the next big thing with it being mini movie posters on the back of outdated technology.
The problem, is there is a lot more sealed stuff than I could have ever imagined. Example: I bought two sets of first-edition, sealed copies of "Rocky" I, II and III. I paid as if there were maybe 20 copies of each. There are way more than 100.
There’s another factor here that is worth mentioning. Two of the biggest movers in the market are now gone. Kohl Hitt, who started grading service VHSDNA, made the move over to Beckett and no longer works in the VHS space. Then came the tragic death of Mikey Halperin, the 27-year-old son of Heritage co-founder James Halperin. Mikey was not only talking big about VHS, but he was buying big. With these two guys gone, and a small market to begin with, I don’t see VHS recovering anytime soon.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.