A variety of pop-culture items including the best "Harry Potter" card ever produced, a signed Marylin Monroe photo and an early Nirvana promotional cassette lead this week's auction recap.
Analysis of final bids provided by cllct’s Will Stern and Darren Rovell.
1987 NES Nintendo Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (Wata 9.4 A++)
Price: $85,400
Goldin sold this early production copy of one of the biggest titles in all of video-game collecting for $85,400. In November 2023, Goldin sold the only other example at this grade and variant for $115,900.
Stern: It’s difficult to blame a result like this on the auction house. Whereas at a lower price, I might be inclined to say Heritage would have done better. With a grail like this, it seems silly to act like serious buyers would be unaware regardless of the auction house.
So, this is a sign of weakness in the video-game market — which I would have thought had been doing better since November 2023 prior to seeing this result.
Rovell: I know you love video games, Will, but I’m not sure this market is big enough. I just don’t know what force pushes this back up.
2004 Artbox "Harry Potter" multi-signed card (PSA 8)
Price: $40,260
This is now the second-highest price ever paid for a Harry Potter card, with the record set for another one of the five PSA-graded copies in 2022 at almost $50,000.
Stern: Definitely a great number here for the best Harry Potter card out there. Here’s what’s really interesting: Another copy was bought raw on eBay last month for almost $25,000 and graded PSA A. It’s now in PWCC’s Premiere Auction.
I wonder if these two copies facing off against one another — when it has been two years since its last public auction appearance — will impact the price. So far, it seems like the answer is no.
1979 "Halloween" VHS Tape (VGA 85+)
Price: $18,300
Stern: Considering a seemingly rarer example of the same grade only sold for a bit more in October 2022 ($22,500) — during what was the run-up of VHS collecting — this seems like a solid price.
Especially if you consider the sharp decline for many other titles in that same time frame, many of which took an absolute bath, this can be spun as a legitimate win.
Rovell: Good price. Just not sure the VHS market holds on for another year.
Nirvana “Nevermind” promotional copy cassette tape (Rewind 9.8)
Price: $12,200
Stern: Awesome piece here. I’m a sucker for anything that says “Not for resale” and this is an awesome, rare example from the pre-"Nevermind" days.
Regardless of the rarity of sealed copies, there were only 300 total produced as advance copies by DGC sent to critics before the album’s release. Rarity, significance, relevance, all the boxes are checked on this one.
Signed Marilyn Monroe photo
Price: Did not meet reserve
Stern: There was a ton of Marilyn Monroe stuff up this weekend, and this auction was preceded by a few big lots at Julien’s. Still, it got bid up to over $30,000. Hard to imagine that’s not a great price for a piece like this. I guess with unique items you never really know.
Rovell: If you are going to bring something to auction, do it. If you are a scaredy cat, sell it privately or don’t sell it at all. Bringing something to auction at an auction house in Arizona, allows for the auction house to have an undisclosed reserve, which this had.
Seller walks away and says “Aw shucks, but at least I didn’t sell it for that price.” What the seller miscalculates is, the next time it is seen, a buyer wonders why something is being flipped so fast, and human nature is to discount for that. The result? You either sell for lower or hold it for three years.
As for the price, it’s not a Type 1, but it's a gorgeous signed photo. It’s probably in the $25,000 to $35,000 range, which means it should have sold.
Harry Houdini handwritten press release
Price: Did not meet reserve
Stern: A handwritten press release from one of the most famous names of the age (c. 1910) is a really fantastic piece. With a minimum bid of $3,000 and final price of over $22,500, it’s wild that this failed to hit reserve.
Only issue could be that in the lot description Iconic wrote that “the entire document is written in Houdini’s hand, and we are in the process of getting a revised LOA from Beckett stating that fact. The winner of this piece will receive the revised LOA with this important detail included.” So, maybe this scared off bidders?
Rovell: Outstanding piece. I think $22,000 is probably a little low, but that’s what the market commanded. Iconic might be a smaller auction house, but even in a week-long auction, interested parties know it's there.
1965 Beatles at Hollywood Bowl ticket
Price: $10,000
Rovell: When Beatles authenticator Perry Cox is selling something on eBay, you know it could get serious. This was a beautiful full ticket of their 1965 performance at the Hollywood Bowl, where they recorded their first live album.
Among the greatest Beatles U.S concerts, Cox, in his auction description, mentions Shea Stadium, Washington D.C., and Candlestick.
Breaking down the graded PSA population, combining stubs and fulls, this is what we have:
- Shea 1965: 45
- Washington 1964: 3
- Candlestick 1966: 29
- Hollywood 1965: 7
At $10,000 for this beautiful ticket, I think the price is right and very easily could have gone higher.
Hot Wheels Redlines U.S. custom Rose Camaro
Price: $1,976
Rovell: I know that rare Hot Wheels do well, but to get almost $2,000 for this is wild. The reason is this car is from 1968 and is one of the very first cars made.
1962 Presidential tour of Cape Canaveral Type 1 photo and visitors badge
Price: $6,875
Rovell: Full disclosure: I bid on this, but stopped at $900. This is a great piece of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson stopping in Florida for a space briefing the day before JFK gave his famous “We choose to go to the moon” speech.
This is all about knowing what angles you have. If I could get “Day Before ‘Choose Moon’ speech" on the slab, I would probably have been able to stretch my budget to $3,000, but realizing the chances that PSA will slab it as that are next to nil, there’s really nothing special here.
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.