CLEVELAND — I have a reputation for buying some of the most talked-about pieces at the National Sports Collectors Convention each year.
One year, I bought a Tiger Woods signed lap dance ticket.
Another, I purchased Shaquille O'Neal's college ID from LSU.
There's also Bruce Springsteen's health insurance card.
What I love about these items is the cost-to-value ratio.
For what these unique rarities cost, there's so much value in being the one who owns them.
Over the years, that reputation has turned into a brand.
"That's something you would own," I always hear.
And so, when word at the National circulated that the oldest sealed Twinkie was at the I-X Center, I knew I had to have it.
As cllct previously reported, Memory Lane's Dan Wulkan purchased it for $1,000 from longtime dealer Kevin Bronson. On Saturday, I convinced Wulkan to sell it to me at a profit.
But first, I had to hear the story from Bronson himself.
"I bought it from a California antique dealer maybe five years ago," Bronson told me. "He posted it on Instagram, and I contacted him immediately because I knew it would be an attention-getter."
Bronson said the research he did online suggested the Twinkie was from the 1976 to 1977 range. Quick research of boxes in 1977 revealed the "Twinkie the Kid" mascot had evolved a bit, which put the Twinkie in the 1974-76 range for me.
I wanted to go a little bit further, but because of so much Hostess turnover, there's not really a historian who can help.
So, is it the oldest sealed Twinkie?
We will soon find out because if any collector owns an older one, I expect it to surface soon.
My plan is to put it in a vacuum sealed case so that deterioration does not continue. I want to bring it to Ohio, home of The J.M. Smucker Company, which bought Hostess last year and try to get it certified in the Guinness World Record Book as the oldest sealed Twinkie in the world.
CLLCT'S COVERAGE OF THE NATIONAL:
- The 2024 National: 10 things we learned in Cleveland
- The National made major improvements, but there’s much more to do
- Surging momentum of the hobby on full display at The National
- Live at The National: Scenes from 2024 NSCC in Cleveland
- Behind the scenes with PSA's grading operation at The National
- Exclusive: Experts differ on photo-match for Babe Ruth 'Called Shot' jersey
- Young collector meets Jerry Rice, gets own set of cards from Fanatics
An opened Twinkie is still in a clear glass box at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Maine.
In 1976, the school's chemistry teacher, Roger Bennatti, began the experiment to observe the decay of food, putting the Twinkie, the item that supposedly lasts forever, to the test.
It stayed in Bennatti's classroom until 2004 when he retired. The project was taken over by Libby Rosemeier, who had been Bennatti's student the day the experiment began and is still at the school.
The original shelf life of a Twinkie when it was invented in 1930 was two days. The number was pushed up to 25, 45 and eventually 65 days, which is the promise today.
Twinkies famously have more than 30 ingredients, but don't include any dairy, which helps provide its legendary lifespan. The cream is made from beef fat.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.