A jersey said to be worn by LeBron James in a specific high school game was pulled from an auction Wednesday, just hours before closing.
RR Auction said it pulled a St. Vincent-St. Mary's jersey, which was billed as worn by James during his senior season in the 2003 Pangos Dream Classic, after it received inquiries as to why it might not match with photos of James from the game. In particular, the green and gold lined trim on James' sleeves in pictures from the game doesn't line up with the trim on the jersey being auctioned.
"With most everything RR Auction offers, we will show items to a third-party expert before offering items to our clients," RR's Bobby Livingston told cllct. "This particular jersey came with a Mears CERT stating its game-used and also with a letter of provenance describing which game it was worn.
"In the years since we originally sold this jersey, photo-matching has now become a resource in the game-used market. A handful of perspective bidders have reached out and asked us if this particular jersey will pass photo-matching by the major photo-matching services. With only a few hours left before the auction ends, we simply cannot make that guarantee to prospective bidders. Out of an abundance of caution, we withdrew the item from tonight’s auction, and we hope to relist the LeBron jersey in the future with the further certification."
RR first auctioned off the jersey for $4,145 in 2014, with documentation from Brad Gart, who said he was an authorized purchaser and reseller of SVSM gear during James' career. It was Gart, whose company at the time was Collectibles Palace, who attested to the game use along with Mears. Gart incorporated the company in the state of Ohio in 2003, but before or after shows no evidence of having certified anything not related to James' high school items.
A year later, the auction house sold the same jersey for $2,125.
On Wednesday, bids surpassed $5,000 before it was pulled, a number that suggested that the market didn't believe it was game-used or at least used for that game.
Livingston said after it was pulled, RR received a cash offer for the jersey as is.
"Ultimately, the consigner will need to decide whether he wants to submit it for photo-matching or sell without the certificate," Livingston said.
The reward for matching up to a game, if the jersey is in fact game-used, would be quite lucrative.
At game-used high school jersey worn by LeBron that was photo-matched to his first Sports Illustrated photo shoot and the game later that day against Archbishop sold for $187,500 in 2019 at Goldin Auctions and for $512,200 in 2021 at Julien's.
In the past couple of years, the art of photo-matching, which involves matching photos to items said to be worn in games, has taken over. An item said to be game used that isn't matched doesn't carry much weight anymore from collectors.
The Pangos Dream Classic featured LeBron's No. 1-ranked high school team against Mater Dei. James scored 21 points in the victory, which was broadcast on ESPN2.
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.