Just released: The Spring 2023 Art Market Auction & Asset Class Report
Photo: Heritage Auctions
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As far as we can tell, the set from Cheers - the 1980s and '90s sitcom that ran for 11 seasons - is the second most viewed item to sell at Heritage Auctions in 2023. Among items of the last three years, it ranks in the top 10.
Traditional collecting categories like sports cards and comic books, they have their audiences. They're large and loyal, and the activity is consistent and frequent. No matter the week, there's almost always something to buy.
Some categories, though, aren't like that...at all.
Some items are so rare and so uniquely 1-of-1 that they rarely see the light of day. And some collectors in those categories are so dedicated and so active that their collections swallow up these items before anybody else has a chance.
That's the Comisar Collection in a nutshell.
There's an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer (a recurring Alts & Ends character at this point) finds the entire set of The Merv Griffin Show discarded in an alley and brings it into his apartment to conduct his own talk show. By the looks of it, James Comisar could have done just that with about a half dozen different late night and game show sets, from Carson to Letterman and beyond. Since 1989, Comisar has been identifying, valuing, and securing the most comprehensive archive of television costumes, props, sets, and memorabilia in existence.
This past weekend at Heritage, treasures from that collection were up for sale, and the interest was remarkable.
The sale totaled $5.4 million. That's an impressive figure, particularly for assets where a frequently active and liquid secondary market doesn't really exist. In that regard, perhaps no event has more uniquely demonstrated the power of nostalgia.The sales figures, though, pale in comparison to some of the page view statistics. The auction event has received over 822,000 page views in total. Believe it or not, that's almost as many page views as the 877,000 recorded by Summer 2022's Platinum Night Sports Auction. Why is that significant? At that event, Heritage recorded its most expensive ever sports sale: the $12 million sale of an SGC 9.5 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card (more on that in a moment). Again, we're talking about a collectible category - television ephemera - that doesn't really have a developed, active audience, and it punched above its weight with the biggest sports auction in the house's history, an event that had nearly $35 million more in sales volume.
Clearly, there was a media offensive at play here. Even for those not remotely involved or interested in the collectibles, memorabilia, and auction worlds, it would've been hard not to be aware that the original bar from Cheers was coming up for sale. Without knowing the cost of those efforts, it appears they paid off. Not only did the Cheers bar sell for $675,000 (as part of over $820,000 in total Cheers sales), it also garnered over 58,000 page views.
Let's put that in context. The SGC 9.5 Mantle, the single most expensive sports card ever sold, a card desired by almost every person who's ever collected cardboard, amassed 215,000 views. Okay, that's a drubbing, but even so, isn't it a smaller gap than you would have expected?!
Amazing Fantasy #15, the most expensive comic book ever sold by Heritage and at one point the most expensive comic book ever sold period, had just under 67,000 views - just 9,000 more than the bar from Cheers! Dmitry Muratov's 2021 Nobel Peace Prize sold for $103,500,000 in July of 2022 with 100% of proceeds benefitting UNICEF's humanitarian response for Ukrainian children displaced by the war. It has just under 47,000 page views. If you're keeping score at home, that's 11,000 LESS than the bar that saw Sam Malone serving up drafts and Norm and Cliff gulping 'em down. That's nuts!
While the page views were strong, the sale prices and bid counts perhaps don't match up with those coveted items to the same degree. It speaks to a category that has high mainstream interest and forges an intense nostalgic connection but isn't yet perceived as museum or fine art quality and is inaccessible to most people - the type of problem fractional might have solved in brighter days. You can downgrade from a '52 Mantle to a more common Mantle card of a lesser grade to find something in your range. Going from the set bar to a Norm-worn outfit from the show doesn't really hit the same, though... no disrespect to George Wendt.
It should be noted that over 420 of the sale's 924 items sold for less than $1,000, so perhaps there are some entry-level dynamics at play.
Inability to act aside, the high degree of interest in such an anomalous event points to widely-held aspirations to own items of that unique caliber. Unlike Kramer, nobody will be lucking into an entire TV show set dumped in their back alley in 2023. Instead, they'll have to contend for them at the likes of Heritage, where future suitors will likely be attracted by the events of this auction. That's a shame - we were really hoping to strike a cut-rate deal for the AFC Richmond locker room in Ted Lasso.
Anyways, to the buyer of the bar, don't hesitate to get in touch. We'd love to saddle up to the house that Danson built for a cold one. We promise to speak only in Norm-isms.
"How's a beer sound, Norm?"
"I dunno. I usually finish them before they get a word in."
We've got dozens just like that one.
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
Photo: DraftKings
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When the auction closes on June 18th, it'll be official: the most expensive sports card ever sold by DraftKings will be a BGS 9 Jayson Tatum National Treasures RPA. It has a current bid of $5,200.
There's a bit of work to do there to catch the likes of PWCC, Goldin, and Heritage, but if DraftKings is really going to make a play for a greater piece of the sports card market, you can bet that record is going much higher in the months and years ahead.
The Spring Sports Auctions hosted on the DraftKings Marketplace are the first card auction attempts for the daily fantasy juggernaut turned sportsbook, but they're far from the company's first exploration of the collectible world. Efforts in cards started earlier in May with auctions for break tickets, with those tickets corresponding to ownership of specific packs to be opened by the breakers. So far, the breaks, hosted by Steve Aoki, DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish, and Chris Costa, have focused exclusively on basketball card product ranging from 1980-81 Topps to 2022-23 Prizm.
The show is titled...you're never going to guess this one....The Break. Sometimes the simplest answer is the best one.
Before the company dabbled in physical collectibles though, it was active in digital collectibles, putting a significant push behind NFTs in their heyday. The surge in demand for digital collectibles dissipated about as quickly as it arrived, and attention has pivoted to the also recently-declining, but comparatively resolute interest in physical sports cards.
DraftKings' pursuit of the space coincides with Fanatics' bolstering of both its sportsbook and collectibles businesses. The "build" method of starting a card marketplace will certainly lag the "buy" route taken by Fanatics in its acquisition of PWCC, and with the significant competition offered not only by PWCC but by all the other incumbents, you're left to wonder just how competitive DraftKings can be. Winning consignments of desirable cards is the ultimate challenge, particularly when your audience is not yet as focused or engaged as that of the competition.
That said, DraftKings has 2.3 million monthly unique users, a figure that surged 31% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022. When you have a captive audience of literally millions of sports-crazed consumers that already spend - not just spend, but gamble - on your platform, the opportunity to cross-sell different expressions of fandom is appealing. The synergies are quite natural. While purchasing sports cards with aims of financial gain is typically not as overt a gamble as explicitly casting a bet on a sporting outcome, we've seen the power of the speculative appetite in the category. Perhaps the opportunity to collect or to speculate with lower risk (but not zero risk) of losing 100% of principal will appeal to some segment of that audience.
The rise in popularity and legality of sports gambling in the United States has surely increased the comfortability that many feel with staking some level of money on a sporting outcome. Of course, that money is often gone as soon as it's staked, with effectively nothing to show for it in a losing effort. That need not be the case in cards. To the extent DraftKings wants to create new card customers, they may seek to lower the barriers to entry and flatten the learning curve. To some degree, The Break scratches the latter itch but not the former.The traditional auction method, which is crowded and competitive, may not be the best mechanism to convert this audience. Could vaulted base or other inexpensive cards be used as rewards or incentive for prop bets placed on a specific player? Could cards be staked in peer to peer wagering? We're not advocating for those potentially scary, but potentially effective bridges between the two categories, just musing on the possibilities.
Pure collectors may be disturbed to learn of the strengthening ties between sports gambling and the Hobby. In a category already polluted in some circles with short-term thinking and action, the introduction of an audience accustomed to near instant results will do little to assuage those concerns. To the extent sportsbooks are successful in cross-selling cards and creating new card customers, the schism between speculator and collector could be set to grow. Based on the cards selling on DraftKings to date, it appears that as always, vintage will remain the purist's safe haven.
Not much betting left to do on ole Cannonball Titcomb, is there?
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
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The Dream Team was the greatest sports team ever assembled for official competition.
We could go on and on about the roster composition, individual accolades, and the team's dominance (the average margin of victory was 43.8 points), but we won't. You know the story, and you get the idea.
Because the team's legacy is so unique and so memorable, and because it was assembled for such a short period of time, memorabilia related to the 1992 phenomenon is both exceedingly rare and exceedingly coveted. So, when Karl Malone's complete personal collection of jerseys and sneakers gifted from each teammate was consigned to Goldin, big results were a certainty.
How big?
24 items - 12 jerseys and 12 pairs of sneakers from 12 players - amassed $5.4 million in total sales. The highlight was the $3,030,000 sale of Michael Jordan's jersey from the Olympic semifinal, which is the second most expensive Jordan memorabilia sale of all time.
The collection was a showcase for the power of provenance and authentication. The provenance, of course, was ironclad, coming directly from the Mailman, with inscriptions written directly to him. In today's market, though, it's preferable to expand beyond provenance alone. 9 of the 12 jerseys were photomatched by three separate providers (Meigray, Resolution, and SIA). The 3 that were not photomatched (Ewing, Laettner, Mullin) were deemed "likely" photomatches by Resolution, and they sold for 28-33% less than the lowest photomatched sale.
Prior sales of Dream Team memorabilia - and really of most memorabilia from players of this era - have often been held back by those missing measures of authenticity. The timing of this event, in a moment where market participants are well-attuned to the allure of trophy assets, and that heightened standard of authenticity combined to effectively rewrite the record books for countless players.
Here's just a sampling of the jersey records, and it's not an exhaustive list, as three others notched new highs as well:
Those are big names...like all-time great big names. All five made the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team of the 75 best players ever, so to have each of their records fall at the same event is telling.
The sneakers also decimated the game-worn sneaker record books for 8 of the 12 players. Interestingly, this isn't the first time a complete set of Dream Team sneakers has been auctioned. Back in 2016 at Heritage, the collection of team physician David A. Fischer was sold, similarly featuring signatures and inscriptions, though without clarity as to what game(s) they might've featured in. Additionally, four of the lots featured only single sneakers rather than a pair.
Still, the total sales at Goldin were more than 6.5 times higher than what the Fischer collection garnered seven years ago. If you exclude the single sneaker lots, on average, the sale of each pair at Goldin was 833% higher than its counterpart in 2016. For some context: Larry Bird's Fischer sneakers sold for $17,925. At Goldin? $91,200. Barkley's sold for $8,962.50 in 2016. Last week, the pair at Goldin sold for $79,200. Put another way, it's a blowout on par with the team's 116-48 victory over Angola. Not a fair fight.
In June of 2020, Lelands sold signed Jordan, Pippen, and Magic sneakers with provenance from the Tournament of the Americas (a pre-Olympic tournament) and some evidence of photomatching to the gold medal round of that competition for the Bulls teammates, though not from either of the three photomatching providers used for the Malone collection. Here's how the results stack up:
On average, last week's sales were 104% higher than those from 2020.
This also isn't Goldin's first experience with Dream Team memorabilia. In 2014, it sold a signed Michael Jordan Dream Team uniform for $31,987. The lot came with letters from MEARS, PSA/DNA, JSA, UDA, and the Basketball HOF. Just a veritable parade of capitalized abbreviations. The same uniform sold again in 2016 for $61,200. In 2016, market participants might've considered the item to be ironclad in authenticity from the sheer number of LOAs alone, and in 2016, they might've considered $61,200 a sizable sale. But times have certainly changed...
The unique nature of Malone's collection may be incredibly difficult to exceed. The formula of impenetrable provenance, unparalleled authenticity, culturally iconic nostalgia, and global renown is incredibly potent, as evidenced by the results.
There will never again be something quite like the Dream Team. What other phenomenon could propel a non-Duke Christian Laettner jersey to a near $40,000 price tag?
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
![An Enticing Prospect: Owner of Druw Jones Superfractor Faces an Intriguing Proposal [UPDATE: $250,000 Offer Accepted!]](https://assets.website-files.com/629e480a792d37fc9ba6a60d/647a2cc3138310849b549f27_photo-output%20(27).jpg)
Photo: Best of Ohio Sports Cards
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There are very few situations in which the answer to the following question should be no: would you like $250,000 for your piece of cardboard?
What if there was a follow-up question, though: If the player depicted on that piece of cardboard becomes a Hall of Famer, would you like $1,000,000 for it?
Those are the literal questions facing the family that recently pulled the 1/1 Druw Jones Superfractor Auto from 2023 Bowman Baseball.
About a month ago, Dave and Adam's, a collectibles dealer, made headlines when it issued a bounty for the premier grail of the 2023 Bowman Baseball set. Their offer: $250,000 up front for the card....or $1,000,000 if and when Jones becomes a Hall of Famer. We know, it sounds crazy! But you have to remember.....this piece of cardboard is uniquely shiny. The "fractor" is of the "Super" variety.
Of course, cards valued at $250,000 or above aren't at all uncommon. They're a bit more uncommon when they're the cards of players who have yet to appear in a major league game, but they're still not entirely unheard of. The most well-known example is the $474,000 paid for Jasson Dominguez's Superfractor Auto at Goldin in February of 2022. Dominguez is batting .207 this season in AA ball and is currently ranked somewhere between the 47th and 67th best prospect in baseball.
That result alone might make you spit at the $250,000 offer. A pittance! How dare they!
This market is not, however, the market of February 2022, and the same strength of demand hasn't been on offer for prospect cards in recent months. Jones is indeed a highly touted prospect, though, ranking between 15th and 33rd, and his arrival has been heavily anticipated for many years as the son of Braves legend Andruw Jones. The Diamondbacks were certainly eager to have him aboard: Jones is just one of five drafted players in history to receive a signing bonus in excess of $8 million.
Let's assume $250,000 is a pretty reasonable offer in today's market for a player with no big league experience. Maybe it would do better at auction, maybe it wouldn't...either way, it seems reasonable. But what if things go really well for Jones over the next, say, 10 years?
Two of the most marketable and productive players in today's MLB have had their key Superfractor autos sell over the last 12 months. Aaron Judge's sold for $324,000 in May of 2022, notably before he broke the AL single season home run record. Bryce Harper's sold for $432,000 in November of 2022. Almost anybody would agree that no matter how highly-touted, if a prospect ends up being as successful as Aaron Judge or Bryce Harper, that's a massive success. So, if you pulled the card and you resolutely, 100% believed Druw Jones would be that good, you wouldn't take the $250,000 unless you thought you could earn enough by investing that $250,000 today to surpass the future proceeds from the card. That's right, we're about to drop some time value of money on ya. What other collectibles newsletter is doing that?!$
250,000 invested at an annual return of 5% for 10 years would yield about $407k. That would put you in today's Harper/Judge ballpark, but you'd also be operating under the assumption that the market would be stable over the next 10 years and not in the ascendancy. We're guessing that would not be a popular belief for someone involved enough in the Hobby to pull the Jones card.
If the market were to appreciate, you'd have to do much better than 5% annually on your investments to out-earn where the Superfractor of a successful Druw Jones might end up a decade down the line. Again though, this is all operating under the assumption you unflinchingly believe he's going to be great, building in a 100% probability that will be the case. Obviously, the reality of the situation offers nowhere near such a probability.
And if you think he's going to be great, you probably think he's a Hall of Famer, right? In that case, let's assume Jones plays 15 years and becomes HoF eligible after another 5, meaning you have a 20 year time horizon. If you took the $250,000 today, you'd have to return about 7.2% annually for 20 years to surpass the $1,000,000 that could have instead been due to you. Not an impossible number if you have an appetite for risk, but certainly no slam dunk; over the last 15 years, the annualized return of the S&P 500 is 7.85%, though it's higher at 10.11% over the last, highly bullish decade. Of course, if you took the cash up front, you'd have the $250,000 in hand, and plenty of people would have plenty of great uses and needs for it beyond investing.
Still, there's really only one way at the moment to make that $1,000,000 offer look insulting: assume Jones becomes Mike Trout. Trout's Superfractor Auto sold for $3,840,000 in August of 2020. Obviously that sum is much larger than $1 mill, but the seller also didn't have to wait for Trout's induction to cash in, which is a meaningful advantage. If Jones is to be a Hall of Fame caliber player on Trout's level, it will be apparent long before he's enshrined in Cooperstown.
Ultimately, the decision will rest with The Silers, owners of Best of Ohio Sports Cards. The grandpa of the family pulled the card in the passenger seat of the car on a drive to Cincinnati, asking "is Druw Jones any good?"
They've stated that they're not considering the $1,000,000 offer due to the timeframe entailed. Whatever they decide, whether that's taking the $250,000 outright or consigning it at auction sometime in the near future, it's clear that a swift exit is far and away the lowest risk option. If Jones becomes Trout, they'll have regrets. If he becomes Judge or Harper, they can probably take that in stride. As it stands today, just about any lesser outcome will leave them with few qualms about taking the $250,000 bird in hand.
A fascinating potential suitor for the card has emerged: Druw Jones. Whether in jest or not, Jones himself commented "let me get it" on an Instagram post documenting the pull. With that $8 million signing bonus, perhaps he could do better than $250k, but that might not be the most prudent use of cash for a 19 year old athlete. Then again, it's one way to bet on yourself....you know, like not in a Pete Rose-y way.
UPDATE: The Silers have accepted the $250,000 offer from Dave & Adam's!
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
Coming Soon: Artex MTF AG, a Liechtenstein-based platform, is gearing up to offer shares of Francis Bacon triptych, 'Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer', for $100 each. Currently valued at $55 million, the work depicts three portraits of Bacon’s lover George Dyer.
About the Artwork: The triptych, which fetched almost $52 million at auction in 2017, is one of the five Dyer portrait triptychs made by Bacon between 1963 and 1969. The 2017 price highlights the worth of intact Bacon triptychs, where selling them as a set typically commands a premium surpassing the individual values when held separately.
Background: Bacon's work has enjoyed a robust market in recent history. The artist is respected as one of the greats of the 20th century; numerous prestigious museum exhibits, including a 2009 retrospective at Tate Britain in London, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York have all contributed to the confirmation of Bacon into the annals of art history. His auction record was set in 2013 for the sale of Three Studies of Lucian Freud at $142,405,000; a gargantuan, six-foot tall canvas depicting the painter’s british rival. Definitely the greatest triptych of the last century (biased).
The Bottom Line: Bacon’s market has cooled since the record setting 2013 sale. 2020 saw Sotheby’s sell a similar size triptych for markedly less at $84,550,000. Investors will have to decide for themselves if a far smaller Bacon triptych is investable at $55 million. BLOOMBERG
Confirmed News: Sotheby's has announced the purchase of the iconic 1966 Brutalist building by Marcel Breuer, previously owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art. The purchase price remains undisclosed, but sources estimate it to be around $100 million. Sotheby's will relocate its headquarters to this Madison Avenue building from York Avenue in 2025.
The Building: Recognized as a masterpiece of modern architecture, the Breuer building represents a significant asset for Sotheby's. CEO Charles F. Stewart described it as "a once in a lifetime opportunity," particularly ideal for their client base due to its proximity to museum row. The area is populated by countless galleries and museums including The Guggenheim, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the Acquavella and Gagosian galleries.
What It Means for Sotheby’s: For Sotheby’s, this acquisition signifies a homecoming of sorts, as the auction house once occupied the Parke-Bernet Galleries across Madison Avenue. The move also situates Sotheby's closer to the heart of the Upper East Side art world and will likely increase foot traffic to its exhibitions and pre-auction previews.
The Bottom Line: Sotheby's acquisition of the Breuer building signals a major shift for the renowned auction house, both in terms of location and symbolic return to its roots. How this move will influence its operation and standing in the art world remains to be seen. Though the market for buyers of museum buildings is not large, it is an optimistic sign for the space that players are willing to spend big even with current economic uncertainty. NYTIMES
Confirmed News: The family of the late rock legend Tom Petty has accused the Boston-based RR Auction of dealing in stolen property. Announcing on Wednesday, they stated they will pursue "swift legal action" against the auction house.
The Allegation: The Petty estate claims that items allegedly stolen from a secure archive are being auctioned. These items include some of Petty’s clothes, autographed items, and limited editions, which can reportedly be traced back to family members. RR Auction has not disclosed the consigner or how these items were acquired.
The Auction House Response: RR Auction's attorney, Mark Zaid, states that the company has cooperated with the Petty family and will continue to do so. They're currently investigating the situation and have asked for the Petty family's cooperation as well. Zaid adds that they take defamatory allegations against their company seriously. They have temporarily withdrawn the disputed lots until the situation is resolved.
The Bottom Line: The Petty family seeks the safe return of the allegedly stolen items, highlighting their sentimental and educational value to Tom Petty's legacy. RR Auction seems confident in their ability to quell the situation, we will see how the situation develops with regard to the provenance of the lots. ROLLINGSTONE
Gemrate published their monthly numbers on card grading. Overall grading declined 14% month/month, but rose 2% on the year. PSA is still the top dog at just over one million cards graded in the month. GEMRATE
Panini America and Fanatics have agreed to a temporary restraining order (TRO) until a trial begins on April 8, 2024, in Panini's lawsuit against seven former employees and Fanatics, alleging that Fanatics hired its top employees to gain access to trade secrets. The court order prohibits the former Panini employees from using or disclosing confidential information and requires them to preserve all relevant evidence. SPORTSCOLLECTORSDAILY
Universal Music Group is reportedly in discussions to purchase Queen's music catalog from Disney for over $1 billion, reflecting the booming music deals industry. Despite Disney denying plans to sell the catalog, the rumor underscores the upward trend in music deal valuations, driven by an expanding universe of buyers and sellers, an increased number of licensees and performance royalties, and rising royalty rates. AXIOS
DraftKings Marketplace will introduce physical trading cards, including a set featuring rookie cards of Luka Doncic and Trae Young, through a series of four auctions starting May 8, 2023. Each auction offers six tickets correlating with the user’s break and pack order, with a minimum bid of $100 for each ticket. DRAFTKINGS
Collectors, the parent company of PSA, has laid off 11 employees, including several members of the marketing staff, as part of "strategic organizational changes," although none of the cuts affected the grading and authentication teams. The layoffs come amidst rumors that Collectors is cutting expenses in preparation for a possible sale, similar to the recent actions by PWCC Marketplace prior to its acquisition by Fanatics. SPORTSCOLLECTORSDAILY
Climate activists Timothy Martin and Joanna Smith have been indicted by a federal grand jury for smearing paint on the glass case holding a Degas sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to draw attention to the climate crisis. If convicted, they could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. ARTNEWS
Urban explorers find millions of hockey and baseball cards in an abandoned warehouse in Detroit, Michigan. TWITTER
StockX has announced a revamped seller program set to launch in July, featuring reduced fees and new perks for sellers meeting certain thresholds. First-time sellers will now have a fee of 9%, the lowest among competitors, and the most active sellers can enjoy fees as low as 5% as they meet the qualification criteria. COMPLEX
Adam Sheffer, a veteran art dealer and former president of the Art Dealers Association of America, has allegedly become a victim of an art fraud scheme conducted by high-profile art advisor Lisa Schiff, despite his advocacy for due diligence in the art world. Sheffer, who has served as an expert witness in art fraud lawsuits, has recently testified about due diligence in a separate case involving disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick, while he is indirectly connected to a lawsuit against Schiff over missing profits from a $1.8 million painting sale. ARTNET
Currently with bidding starting at $300,000, this Goldin auction features a highly sought-after 1998 Pokémon Japanese CoroCoro Promo Rare Holofoil Illustrator Pikachu card, recognized as one of the rarest and most coveted Pokémon cards in existence. GOLDIN
Feel free to reach out to Keenan@Altaninsights.com for any questions/comments.
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
New Venture: Kevin Ching, former CEO of Sotheby’s in Asia, joins Christie’s as the new Chairman of Asia, commencing his duties on May 24, the first day of Hong Kong’s spring sales week. This move signifies an unexpected switch of allegiance in the escalating auction house competition in Asia.
Significance: Ching's appointment comes amidst ambitious expansion plans by major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, all striving to establish a greater presence in Asia. His appointment anticipates the launch of Christie's new Asia Pacific headquarters at The Henderson in Hong Kong. Last year, Christie's Asia Pacific salerooms generated a remarkable $833 million, the third-highest ever for the company. Asian buyers contributed a substantial $1.8 billion, equating to 26 percent of the global business in 2022.
Personnel: Renowned as a veteran of the auction circuit and an established jade collector, Ching led Sotheby’s Asia as CEO for 15 years, facilitating the house’s growth in the region, especially into mainland China. His valuable experience will be instrumental in Christie’s aspirations for regional dominance.
Changes: Ching's decision to move to Christie's occurred two years after Sotheby’s was acquired by collector and entrepreneur Patrick Drahi. As Ching was departing Sotheby’s at the end of 2021, Drahi put his 26-year-old son, Nathan, in charge of the region. Ching was named “Chairman Emeritus” and had been mentoring the younger Drahi throughout his final months. This transitional time also saw the exit of other prominent Sotheby’s figures, including former Asia chairman Patti Wong and the former head of contemporary art for Asia, Yuki Terase.
Final Thoughts: The auction business, like many others, is really the relationship business. The game can be broken down into who you know and what you can get them to consign. As the big houses make a mad dash for market share in the region, it would be wise to keep their strongest dealmakers in the fold. Houses are only as good as their best business-getters; so letting the guy that spent 15 years building your Asia business go to your biggest competitor cannot feel good.
Legal Dispute: Plaintiffs Gervase Peterson, Richard Berger and Skye Dennis are seeking all gains, profits, and advantages they allege the defendants have derived from the supposed infringements. They also demand an injunction to halt the streaming of "King of Collectibles" and seek coverage for attorneys' fees.
Implications: Preeminent Hobby lawyer, Paul Lesko, suggests this could be a tough case for the plaintiffs as copyright infringement laws cover the copying of a work, not an idea. He speculates that if parts of the "sizzle reel" appear in "King of Collectibles", it could complicate the case, potentially leading to substantiated claims of infringement. However, he expresses doubt about the likelihood of shutting down the entire show.
Details: Interestingly, no contract claims are present in this lawsuit. There are no allegations of a breached exclusivity contract or a non-compete/NDA—just accusations of copyright infringement. Lesko shares that the evidence includes emails, treatments, texts, and exchanges between the plaintiffs and DiNote from Goldin.
Thread: Lesko’s twitter thread gets into the nitty gritty with evidence and screenshots. Check it out!!!
New Role: Benoît Repellin, a seasoned specialist and auctioneer, has been promoted to the position of Worldwide Head of Jewelry at Phillips. The appointment, which is based in Geneva, marks a strategic expansion of Phillips' commitment to the category across Europe, Americas, and Asia.
Significance: Repellin's promotion underscores the house’s investment into their Jewelry department. He has been a noted dealmaker for the house, contributing to the success of recent lots including the sale of a 4.05 carat Fancy Intense Pink oval diamond ($1.9mm) and a brilliant cut D Flawless diamond of 26.12 carats ($2.5mm).
Growth: Under Repellin's interim leadership, Phillips achieved a record annual total (for the house) for global Jewelry auctions in 2021, with a 75% increase from 2019. It also posted a successful close to the 2022 sale season and achieved a record year for Jewels auctions in Asia. The market for high-end jewelry has been on an upswing in the last few years, though Phillips hasn’t captured quite as much of the market as Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
Challenges: As the house seeks to expand their reach in the jewelry market, they are sure to bump up against powerful opposition in the two big dogs of the auction game. Christie’s recently set records with The Horten Sale totaling $202mm (even in the face of criticism over the troubled history of the assets sold). In 2017, Sotheby’s sold “The Pink Star” for $71mm. Hopefully for Phillips, Benoît has a few tricks up his sleeve to grow the jewelry business against stiff competition.
Final Thoughts: In an Altan blog post, Luxury Auction Market Analysis: 2021 vs. 2022, we broke down how the top three houses were performing in each of the luxury categories. Phillips’ sales totals fell far below the competition, but they have been able to build out their watch business by focusing mainly on higher end timepieces. Their average lot value in watches surpasses both Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Replicating this success in jewelry will be a greater challenge though, as the other two houses are already entrenched in the space with consignors willing to sell 8 figure jewels.
As per usual, this week’s A&E broke down three of the biggest stories in collectibles.
The Patek Philippe watch previously owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last Emperor of China's Qing Dynasty, sold for $6.2 million in Hong Kong. The significant auction, reflecting the historical and cultural value of the timepiece, was predominantly attended by mainland and local Hong Kong buyers. BLOOMBERG
Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) has launched CGC Home Video, a new grading service that will provide expert authentication, grading, and encapsulation for most VHS and Betamax videocassettes. As the latest division of CCG, this move is anticipated to expand the potential value and appeal of collectible home videos, enhancing their value, liquidity, and security in the collectibles market. CGC
Following his impressive performance at the PGA Championship, golfer Michael Block has received a remarkable $50,000 offer for his TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 7-iron, the club he used to achieve a hole-in-one during the final round. The PGA of America also expressed interest in showcasing the club at their new headquarters, highlighting the significant attention this particular piece of golfing equipment has received. GOLF.COM
Laced, a UK-based startup that serves as a marketplace for premium sneakers, has secured $12 million in a Series A funding round. The platform provides a safe trading environment for buyers and sellers, with a unique authentication process that verifies the authenticity of every pair of sneakers, addressing a major issue in a market plagued by counterfeit goods. TECHCRUNCH
The final jersey worn by NHL legend Wayne Gretzky during his last game is being auctioned for the first time at Grey Flannel Auctions. Gretzky, considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time, wore the iconic blue #99 jersey during his 2,857th point match in 1999. As of this writing, bidding currently stands at $189,880. GREYFLANNEL
The NBA and MeiGray are auctioning off a jersey worn by Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets during the 2022-23 National Basketball Association playoffs, including the team's victories over the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as matches against the Memphis Grizzlies. NBA AUCTIONS
The 1970 College Player of the Year trophy, officially known as the "James A. Naismith" trophy, awarded to LSU's Pete Maravich is going up for auction starting at $25,000. The sale, conducted by Arizona's Grey Flannel Auctions, signifies the historical value of the award, representing Maravich's record-breaking season and his overall impact on basketball. WBRZ
Feel free to reach out to Keenan@Altaninsights.com for any questions/comments.
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Fanatics making an acquisition isn't shocking. It's more shocking when significant time passes without a Fanatics acquisition.
Fanatics acquiring PWCC? Also not really sending jaws to the floor in surprise.
Fanatics acquiring PWCC in part because the latter was allegedly closing in on insolvency? Okay, now you have our attention.
While there isn't yet clarity on how much Fanatics paid for PWCC or just how dire the situation was, rumors swirled earlier in the week about PWCC's financial instability. Darren Rovell reported PWCC would not have survived much longer without being bought, sentiments which were seemingly supported by a large recent wave of employee terminations.
How did such a large and bustling auction and marketplace business run into such trouble?
Many have been quick to point to the company's card lending program as a significant culprit.
PWCC had been advertising its lending capabilities since the early height of the card boom in 2021. Using their cards held in the PWCC Vault as collateral, customers could receive loans amounting to some percentage of the cards' market value. In September of last year, PWCC announced that it had expanded the program, establishing a $175 million asset-based credit facility led by Whitehawk Capital Partners to pursue the lending opportunity with greater firepower.
Alas, over the past year, in this very newsletter, we've highlighted numerous failed flips of modern cards at PWCC....six-figure losses crystallized in mere months. Why, oh why, would the seller ever take the card to market in such choppy times, when a massive loss was all but assured? There was conjecture that it was the result of borrowing gone bad. Now, the suggestion is that it could perhaps more accurately be described as lending gone bad.
With the swirling speculation about PWCC's tenuous financial position, there are some reports that borrowers willingly defaulted on their loans as the card market went south. Effectively, borrowers would fail to repay their loaned funds, keeping those funds and instead saddling PWCC with the rapidly depreciating card collateral. If PWCC's liquidity position was indeed challenged, it makes sense that they would then turn to the market and sell those cards as quickly as possible to raise whatever funds they could.
Whether the lending program and its failures were large enough on their own to sink PWCC is another question altogether. The company had been aggressive in investing for growth over the last few years, and the combination of that investment, the market's rapid and severe decline, the lending program troubles, and rising rates may have eliminated any margin of safety in terms of ongoing liquidity.
With Fanatics at the wheel, there will no longer be immediate pressure to foist the defaulted card collateral into the market for whatever proceeds may be available. The company, instead, will be able to return its focus to operating an active and popular marketplace and auction business, backed by what is - in relative terms - a quite technologically-advanced platform.
At face value, the acquisition is a natural and logical step for a Fanatics Collectibles business eager to offer a full end-to-end suite of products and services to collectors. The PWCC acquisition will bolster the company's vertical integration, engaging collectors from the time they purchase a card at retail until they sell it on secondary markets and start the process all over again. The ability to reach the customer at every step of that process is powerful, and Fanatics will surely benefit from the flywheel effect of an effectively closed loop of Fanatics card commerce.
When cards and collectibles never really leave the Fanatics ecosystem, the opportunities to generate revenue on them multiply. This is an opportunity recognized by the various companies who put significant marketing push behind vaulting, PWCC included. That opportunity expands considerably when a product can go straight from retail purchase to vault.
The most notable competitor in the vaulting and marketplace business is Collectors (with Goldin in the fold). With the PWCC acquisition, Fanatics moves into more direct competition with Collectors, though it leaves one glaring void in the company's growing arsenal: grading.
Whether or not that's a business Fanatics will pursue to compete with PSA and further close off its ecosystem is unclear; there is something awkward about a company that manufactures cards owning a business that grades - among other things - the production quality of those cards. PWCC has partnerships to streamline grading with Beckett, CSG, SGC, and MBA, and perhaps those will be considered sufficient for the moment.
There's another element of potential awkwardness at play. It's often the case that manufacturers of coveted products with active secondary markets like to keep those secondary markets at arms length, enjoying the retail demand they create but effectively ignoring them or pretending the to be blissfully ignorant to the huge profits generated when their products are resold. With a major secondary marketplace now under its ownership though, it'll be interesting to see if Fanatics maintains or softens the same stance.
Would a manufacturer be so bold as to explicitly acknowledge the cards it produces can fluctuate considerably in value, both immediately after purchase and over time? Will it market those data points, or does it invite too much scrutiny and too much legal expense?
Expect the arms-length treatment to continue in the near term, before PWCC is gradually eased more directly into the fold over time, but don't hold us to that.....we can't even promise Fanatics won't have acquired three more assets by the time you read this.
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
All Images via Goldin
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Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
Today pretty much wraps up New York auction week. Macroeconomic troubles have finally seemed to have caught up to the art market; bidding was very subdued compared even to a year ago. Auctioneers were far more patient in waiting for bidders to raise a hand. Below is a few notes on the big sales of the week.
Top Lot: "L'Empire des lumières" by René Magritte - $42,273,000 after fees
Sale Estimates: $103 million to $155 million
Sale Total: $123.7 million
Top Lot: "Insel im Attersee (Island in the Attersee)" by Gustav Klimt - $53,188,500 after fees
Sale Estimates: $290 million to $360 million
Sale Total: $303.1 million
Top Lot: "Untitled (Mask Boy)" by Kerry James Marshall - $5,734,800 after fees
Sale Estimates: $42.4 million to $61.9 million
Sale Total: $37,164,700
Top Lot: "Spider" by Louise Bourgeois - $32,804,500 after fees
Sale Estimates: $154 million to $180 million
Sale Total: $167,453,500
Top Lot: "Self-Portrait" by Francis Bacon - $34,622,500 after fees
Sale Estimates: $142.6 million to $167.6 million
Sale Total: $177,792,000
Top Lot: "El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)" by Jean-Michel Basquiat - $67,110,000 after fees
Sale Estimates: $68.8 million to $80 million
Sale Total: $98,802,500
Top Lot: "Les Flamants" by Henri 'Le Douanier' Rousseau - $43,535,000 after fees
Sale Estimates: $256.8 million to $331 million
Sale Total: $328,779,600
Top Lot: "Untitled" by Christopher Wool - $10,070,000 after fees
Sale Estimates: $163 million to $235.4 million
Sale Total: $153,053,300
Top Lot: "Banksquiat. Boy and Dog in Stop and Search" by Banksy - $9,724,500 after fees
Sale Estimates: $63.2 million to $90 million
Sale Total: $69,543,100
A recap of the 2022 market by alternative-asset investment researcher Altan Insights Inc. showed the volume of six-figure sales fell 17% from the previous year in the fourth quarter, and fractional sports card and sports memorabilia finished 2022 down 35.9% and 26.7%, respectively. In a later report, Altan suggested 2023 could be a year when “trophy assets” continue to do well, though there may be “a reset lower for assets that no longer seem exceedingly rare or desirable.”
Feel free to reach out to Keenan@Altaninsights.com for any questions/comments.
Want to get more great insights and access to powerful tools to help guide your investment strategy? Signup for Altan Insights now.
Disclaimer: You understand that by reading Altan Insights, you are not receiving financial advice. No content published here constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. You further understand that the author(s) are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, transaction, or investment strategy. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether an investment, security or strategy, or any other product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal financial situation. Please speak with a financial advisor to understand if the risks inherent in trading are appropriate for you. Trade at your own risk.
