Heritage Auctions has quietly rolled out a new service called “Best-in-Class” this month, aiming to provide a new type of designation to sports cards and memorabilia that separates each item as the best of its peers.
This initiative, led by Heritage executive vice president of sports Joe Orlando, is meant to elevate the market for sports collectibles by providing a new type of documentation — separate from the current slew of third-party authentication services — which allows collectors to submit their items to Heritage and, if deemed “Best-in-Class” receive a document explaining why it ranks a rung above seemingly comparable examples.
The service is not confined to Heritage’s auctions, with the idea being the document will be able to follow the item wherever it might go, whether that be into a private collection or into an auction — via Heritage or elsewhere.
“I think in any market there are steps that need to be taken for further maturity,” Orlando told cllct. “And now that we're here in 2024, and we've gone through this recent hobby explosion over the past several years, the timing just seemed right for something like this, because now there's a large body of work provided by the authentication and grading services.”
Orlando, who served as President of PSA from 2002-17, is a veteran of the industry and clarified this new service is not meant to compete with or replace the current status quo of grading services, rather building upon the foundation with an added layer of expertise.
Heritage currently lists 40 items which have earned its “Best-in-Class” designation, clearly seeking to exemplify and emphasize the diversity of the program, both in terms of category as well as price-point.
Items listed as “Best-in-Class” include everything from a 1924-25 Ty Cobb Game-Used Bat to a 1933 Goudey Sport Kings Babe Didrickson card, graded PSA 7.5.
The documentation provided by Heritage’s panel of experts explains the decision-making process that led each item to be deemed worthy of the distinction.
In the case of the Cobb bat, that lies in its extraordinary level of provenance as well as features of exceptional player-use.
For the Didrickson card, the explanation is more reliant on eye appeal, much like the designations already provided by companies such as Fanatics Collect and Mike Baker Authentication, calling out its bright borders and “superb” centering as characteristics elevating it above like-graded examples.
Orlando says Heritage’s deep expertise allows the auction house to reliably weigh in on these items.
“I would put Heritage's team up against anyone in the industry, and because of the wide variety of expertise that we have within our sports department, it put us in a unique position, In my opinion, to provide a service like this,” he said.
One of the key elements of this new service which Orlando emphasized was its reliance and commitment to nuance, treating each item and category with unique evaluation methods.
“It's not a one size fits all approach or process that we go through, but whether it's game-worn or game-used jerseys, bats, gloves, that sort of thing, or unopened material, it could be autographs, it could be type one photos,” Orlando explained. “There are different things that astute collectors look for that add value to that particular piece that is not captured by the foundational authentication or grading process. And that's where we can come in."
One example Orlando provided was a comparison between two game-used Mickey Mantle bats, both given the highest possible grade, both from the same year. One could be worth $500,000 and the other $150,000. The goal, according to Orlando, is to provide a concrete explanation — to collectors old and new — of the rationale between that price discrepancy.
“That's a big part of the service that I think will be different than anything that we've seen before in this field is that we actually tell you why we have arrived at this conclusion, why we feel this is best in class versus others in its category,” Orlando said. “So, in the case of the Mickey Mantle bats there might be a big difference in value, which, again, is not always captured by the technical grade, and it may have to do with things like the overall player characteristics on the bat. Was that that use for a special moment? Has it been photo-matched after the grading has taken place? There are lots of other things that can affect value.”
This new service, which is in a soft beta, not yet fully-rolled out to the public, is meant to act as a guide and reference point allowing for collectors to observe two similarly graded or comparable items and immediately understand the reason for the difference in value.
It was especially important for Orlando to not limit this service merely to the most expensive items.
“It's whether or not it is exceptional inside of its category,” Orlando said. “It certainly doesn't have to do with monetary value. It has to do with whether or not this is considered exceptional inside of its class. That's really the primary thing.”
As for the decision to treat this program as a stand-alone service with no requirements for consignment to auction through Heritage, Orlando explained this was by design, in an effort to expose the wider hobby to this expertise. Though, he does expect future auctions to begin to feature items with this new documentation.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.