Every year, I like to look back on how I did with my memorabilia investments. It’s not an ROI thing as I’m not selling anything that quickly.
It’s more of a looking at my favorite items and to see how I feel about them at year’s end. I think 2024 — in value and breadth — was my best year ever, even though more time will tell.
Here are my Top 10 favorite things that I bought this year:
1. World’s oldest twinkie ($1,100)
My best purchase at the National Sports Collectors Convention was undoubtedly a Hostess treat that was marketed as the oldest, sealed Twinkie in the world.
It was purchased by Memory Lane’s Dan Wulkan, who, after a few days of basking in the glory of having the most interesting item at his booth, sold it to me. Why was it a good buy in my opinion? It’s a 1/1, and it’s a showstopper.
Realizing I needed more, I also bought what I think is the oldest sealed Taco Bell packet (1984) and the oldest sealed Tootsie Roll (1948).
2. Two Billy Joel MSG debut tickets ($1,350)
With Billy Joel closing in on 150 performances at the "World’s Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden, my long quest of getting Billy Joel MSG concert No. 1 was fulfilled.
Another one popped up soon after and to protect myself I also bought that one, which represents the entire graded PSA population.
3. 1987 NES sealed console ($6,750)
I’ve always wanted a second-edition sealed Nintendo Entertainment System. And after seeing a first-edition 1985 version with the robot and Gyromite sell for $108,000 at Goldin, I knew I had to move quick.
The general rule is usually buy first-edition. For this, I make an exception. Why? The first NES might have been embraced by Japanese audiences, but the second-edition, without the Robot, but instead with Zapper Gun, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt was the one that really popped in America.
At 1/10th the price, I thought and still think, my highly graded sealed one (CAS 85+) is an tremendous cheap buy.
4. Bruce Springsteen signed business card ($4,300)
To me, Springsteen and Joel are the most undervalued in all of music, given their fan bases and the spending wherewithal of their audiences. The truth is, there’s just not anything particularly remarkable to collect of most musicians.
After getting the earliest Bruce Springsteen ticket known in the PSA database – from The Boss' performance in a parking deck in 1970 with his then-band Steel Mill — I began searching for more.
On eBay, I found a former promoter, who was selling a signed Steel Mill business card of Springsteen’s, that he personally obtained. As my most rabid Springsteen friend Sammy Steinlight texted me that night: “Arguably the most important and influential American-born artist of all time. Certainly, the greatest live act of all time. It’s a business card for him seeking work.”
5. Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas ticket ($11,500)
In 2018, when I made my list of 100 tickets I had to own, Tyson-Douglas was a top 10 pick. Seeing Tyson lose for the first time was such a vivid memory of my childhood. But because of an extremely low (under 10) PSA population, the ticket I wanted, in the condition I wanted was pushing an $18,000 ask.
This year, a couple more entered the population, and when the prices dropped, I made sure to snag one before the 35th anniversary arrives in February.
6. John F. Kennedy last meal/last speech tickets ($3,500)
For as long as I have been collecting, JFK items have always been must-have pieces for me. From the ticket to the night Marilyn Monroe sang him “Happy Birthday,” to collecting the tickets to the NFL games from two days after the assassination when commissioner Pete Rozelle somehow decided the league would play on.
Two JFK grails arrived in my collection this year. First, the last meal — the breakfast in Fort Worth, Texas, and second, his last major speech at Amherst the month before.
Both tickets share a common theme. They both were tossed because they came into significance later. No one knew it was going to be JFK’s last major speech. And for the breakfast Nov. 22, 1963, no one knew that, hours later, Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas.
It’s why tickets to the scheduled Nov. 22 dinner, which never took place, are plentiful, but the breakfast now has a PSA Pop 2, including mine. The Amherst ticket is a Pop 1.
7. "Coming To America" McDowell’s costume ($750)
I’m a sucker for props and lost almost every auction for movie memorabilia this year. But I did get this beauty: A “Coming to America” McDowell’s costume.
Why was it so cheap? Because the person who had it couldn’t say who wore it, but it is perfectly screen matched to the outfits in the film on every detail.
8. Tickets from games where photos for Michael Jordan's rookie cards were taken ($7,450)
Part of the fun of ticket collecting is to get tickets that, at the time, have seemingly little value. Tickets to Jordan rookie games usually trade for $850-$1,500, but two in particular this year, sold for more: The Dec. 14, 1984, game and the Jan. 16, 1985, game. Both were Bulls-Nets games, and both were games where Jordan’s rookie pictures were taken for his 1984 Star and 1986 Fleer Rookie sticker. Happy to have the set.
9. Michael Jordan signed 1988 Slam Dunk Contest judging card ($4,200)
There’s always an item that I’ve kept my eyes on over the years, hoping its sale price would drop to reality. What I believe to be the only Slam Dunk Contest fan card signed by MJ from his foul-line dunk in Chicago in 1988, this item was on the market a couple of years ago for $15,000. It then dropped to around $10,000. Finally, willing to see what the market would bear, I bought it for $4,200 earlier this month.
What makes it great is that the consignor nor the auction house knew who the second signature is. It’s relevant and perhaps makes the item more valuable. The signature is of “Jumping” Johnny Green, a former NBA player, who was one of the five judges that, let’s just say, made it easier for MJ to beat Dominique Wilkins. No one would ever get Johnny Green on the same paper as MJ unless it was that same day as the dunk contest.
10. Debut magazines ($1,000)
With PSA grading comics, there will be a natural evolution to magazines. So, I set aside $1,000 and invested heavily in what I believe are first magazine issues of stars: I picked up the first appearances of Billy Crystal, Goldie Hawn, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Redford and countless more.
The most expensive? First appearances for JFK and Arnold Schwarzenegger, which cost $250 each.
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.