Complete run of SI's found in storage locker auction
 

A complete run of Sports Illustrated plus some extras in a storage locker auction for $330.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/oth...treasure-trove

Wouldn't want to have to carry those around.

A great find- but 100000 is absurd
I think 10k would be extreme for the value and that assumes that someone want all of them. From the late 60s through present those are going to be hard to move at more then a couple bucks a magazine

Agreed. It would be interesting to hear from someone who deals with SI's and could offer an educated guess as to total value. I'm not that guy. :p

I was going to say 3k, but it appears the ones they are showing have no labels as was common in the first year, but even if they are all no label I would have a hard time believing anyone would pay more than about 5-7k. As all of the cover guys have started dying off so have the collectors. I have a lot of them and haven't tried selling many for years. Maybe if you put full retail price for no label SI's and added it all up, maybe you get some ridiculous inflated number.

What does #1 go for? And, besides #1, are there others that are universally sought or just the ones that specific collectors (e.g. Mays guys, Mantle guys, Clemente guys, etc.) go for?

Steve Prefontaine's 1970 cover brings good money.

What's "good"?

The prototypes may be driving that higher number. They may just be that fresh and in top condition though, which may bring a further premium from the right buyer.

There are a few issues with "cards" in them that are popular (I want to say #2 or #3 has some and seems to be harder to find than #1) and a number of super star covers that would be desirable, but I assume nobody would want the group as a whole, unless they were looking to resell.

None have sold on ebay recently without a label, but with a label they seem to go between $25 and $50.

No way does that run go for more than $10k, if it does, then I have a collection of SI, TSN & SL that I will happily sell to the buyer.

Doug

I think the big difference with this find is the condition. Apparently they are individually wrapped and in mint condition. The no label thing is also huge. These may have been saved by an employee as I believe there were tapes from interviews also in the find.

Don't want to hijack this thread, but is there an effective way to remove mailing labels from old SI issues? Like the magazine equivalent of soaking a card?

I have the 1972 SI of Willie Mays returning to the Mets and I'd love to frame it up without having some random stranger's address permanently attached to it.

Issue #1 was reprinted, with the card fold-outs, as part of a SI Gift Set a few years ago (it included the reprint, a hardcover book, and a coupon for a free subscription). So the demand for #1 may not be as big as it might have been, because those who just want to read the issue or see what it looked like can settle for the reprint.

http://smncc.com/store/images/P/1924...0SI%20Pack.jpg

There are some frightening statements in this article about this guy.

"Alan, who once enjoyed gambling at casinos in Oklahoma, found a similar rush at storage auctions."

"Most of the money was supposed to cover the April rent on his family's Allen apartment."

"Whenever I want a unit," Alan said, "I don't stop until I get it."

""I was angry," said Jacqui, whose parents had loaned the young couple much of the $1,200 and had been encouraging them to give up auctions for a more traditional source of income."

I find it really sad that he was given money to pay his rent for himself and his family but spent it on a storage locker.

Embrace it... Its part of the magazine's history and provenance.
After all, if it wasn't for that "random stranger", you wouldn't have the magazine to begin with.

$100K? The first issue only sells for a few hundred dollars. I would think every issue after that drops dramatically. Am I wrong?

The ones from that era are very difficult to remove. The glue they used stuck like superglue. You might be able to use some chemicals on the label, but you would still have the three lines from where it was stuck. Sometimes they dry out enough where you can kind of chip it away, but same results.

If anyone thinks that a run of sports illustrateds is worth 100k, please contact me for purchase. 60 years of SI's is about 3,000 magazines. I can't think of more than 100 or 200 I would be willing to pay strong money for and that is not going to be more than a couple thousand dollars. I invite you to try to sell the rest of them. Good luck.

The magazines appear to be un-circulated with no mailing labels. There's also mention of early prototypes that I imagine hard core completists would be going after.

I think many here are under-estimating this collection. Maybe not 100 Grand, but I have to imagine Heritage knows what they are doing in regards to this grouping.

It also appears that the grading craze has caught up to Sports Illustrated collectors based on recent realized prices on Ebay, and I imagine some of these issues will bring surprising prices if they score high grades without mailing labels.

In particular: Anything from the first few years, first Cassius Clay, first Michael Jordan, first Larry Bird, first Magic Johnson, Prefontaine, first Lebron James, first Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, many of the swimsuit issues appear to be popular, etc., etc., etc....

Unfair to compare them to a typical mid-grade collection of these that several select issues might be cherry picked out of.

.......and I'm saying this as someone who really does not like handling Sports Illustrateds at all. I handle thousands of boxing publications and the boxing related Sports Illustrateds I have are all stacked in boxes in the far corner of my attic, and I won't even go near them, because nobody wants them unless they're 1st appearance Cassius Clay.

I won a huge publication collection from an auction house a few years ago, and I flew out to pick them up in a moving truck and drive them back home. I was so worn out from carrying boxes to the truck and I wasn't convinced I had enough space back home to store them, and I left most of the monster boxes full of SI's behind. A part of me wishes I had gone through them better to cherry pick them a bit, but looking back, I don't think I really had it in me at the time.

How much would you estimate the collection to be worth? Even if you could get $100 to $200 for those first covers you'd have to have 500 of them to reach half the estimate given.

I think about 50 Grand will be realistic, but they WILL spend some money on grading to get to that figure. If they are as high grade as they look, there will be several that go for $300 bucks or more apiece, with some much higher.

I think a high end Prefontaine or high end Cassius Clay will easily fall into the 500-1000 range.

This is not even taking into account the prototypes mentioned, that I imagine some will be eager to get into their collections.

Just filtering through Sold unsigned Sport Illustrated that ended on Ebay in the last 90 days, there's plenty of results that signify a trend, and most of the better issues have not even been traded in the last 90 days. Saw a couple of not so great looking Prefontaines that sold at between 60 and 80 bucks.

I see several CGC graded issues that I'd consider run of the mill but in great condition, that traded for 100 bucks and higher.

............and like I said earlier. I hate Sports Illustrated's. They're heavy and they take up too much space. ;)

Ok, you're up to $1000, only $49-99,000 to go. The "prototype" issues are the dummy issues I'm sure and they are not that rare. Maybe a couple hundred each. I like how you assume people here are "underestimating" the value when you yourself say you cannot sell a boxing issue unless in the 1st Clay issue and you left boxes behind when you bought a large collection.

Heritage can put whatever value on them they want to entice some rube to auction his find thru them. Maybe they do get a little more by paying some idiot to "grade" them. Giving them the benifit of the doubt, you're up to $10,000 including a hell of a lot of grading fees.

Bottom line, it sounds like a great buying opportunity for you. With all your knowledge of SI's there surely is a lot of meat left on the bone to flip to all these buyers you found. I will just have to be satisfied with my "mid grade" magazine collection that I will continue to try to sell.

Sounds like I offended you. Sorry if that's the case. I'll keep my opinions to myself from here on out.

It's been years, but my father had removed mailing labels from older magazines by opening up the first page and laying a thin cloth on the back of the first page. He then took an iron and put it on the cloth to heat up the glue that was holding the label on. Most were removed fairly easily after that. As I recall most of those magazines were pre-1970 though, with most from the 40's - mid-60's.

Please don't Dave...I value your opinion.

I think you might be high on your estimate of value...but I do think that there is decent money in this purchase if marketed correctly (based on my 30 years collecting Sports Publications and 20ish years selling on eBay).

Jeff

Maybe I'm cynical but it's a pretty good marketing ploy for Heritage to offer insuring the collection for 100K. The benefits are two fold: the guy will consign with Heritage and the house can collect consignment fees, and Heritage gets its name in the newspaper. Putting the 100K value also attracts more attention than "collection may be worth $3,000" or something like that.

Thanks for sharing this tip! I'm gonna have to give it a try one of these days.

Dave,
I apologize for barking back that strong as everyone can and generally does offer an opinion, but seriously $50,000 plus? If you have been in the game as long as I am assuming you have been, that number seems ridiculous. I looked at 6 pages of sold SI's and yes some did have some decent numbers, but 90% were unsold and many of those were newer "Mike Trout" 1st edition or something like that. It doesn't even mention if it's a complete run and only a few magazines were shown.

Add to that, try recovering some of these fees from CGC:

Economy On-time 25 business days $200 per book $28 per book
Standard On-time 15 business days $400 per book $37 per book
Express On-time 5 business days $800 per book $55 per book
WalkThru On-time Same day No limit $77 per book

Jeff, that's great that you have been buying and selling sports memorabilia and magazines for 20-30 years, me too. You're going to tell me that you would be willing to buy this run for $10,000 or more?

I am not trying to offend anyone and i'm sorry if i'm ruffling feathers for people, but I think Heritage might be expecting a lot.

Nope. I never said that. I think at $300 that they got a hell of a deal. With hard work and the correct marketing of the better issues and rarities they can turn a nice profit.

I thought you were harsh with Dave who was offering his opinion. You made it personal and you don't even know him. I have met Dave in person (because of Net54) and know that he has a ton of knowledge and experience. I have followed his eBay auctions and have visited his website.

You say that you are experienced which I have no reason to doubt. Do you have a website or an eBay account showing the items that you have for sale?

Instead of attacking you, I supported him.

Jeff

"I think many here are under-estimating this collection. Maybe not 100 Grand, but I have to imagine Heritage knows what they are doing in regards to this grouping."

and

"Unfair to compare them to a typical mid-grade collection of these that several select issues might be cherry picked out of."

Both of these statements are making bold assumptions about people making comments on this story. I guess it's not ok to take an opposing view of some "long time" sellers opinion.

Also, thanks and yes I have been selling on eBay for 20 years and I do have a website that I don't really sell on anymore, but I don't really feel the need to prove anything to you or get in some type or who's more knowledgeable contest. If you're as knowledgeable as you're claiming you know the numbers being thrown around are ludicrous.

I would guess a sports ill junkie would overpay for some of the issues in high grade, but again, many there would be little or no interest in. He should just give it all to Heritage, with the tapes and all, and even w their fees, etc. he will get a REAL NICE profit, on just 330.00 orig investment.

I can understand wanting to get the "most you can', but in some cases, just getting a strong profit is easier in the long run.

Like Jason, I have been buying and selling SI's forever. I would be very excited to find a collection like this because of the condition and the fact that they all appear to be NEWSSTAND Edition magazines. The two prototype (Dummy) issues are not impossible to find. I probably have 2-3 of each of them right now. They can sell for $200-$300 each on a good day. The first issue sells for $150-$200. The second issue sells for $200-$250. The 1955 Williams and the 1956 Mantle Newsstand Editions usually sell for $200-$300. The 1963 Clay and the 1970 Prefontaine will also sell for a few hundred. The 1955 Hogen, 1961 Maris and the 1955 Mays/Durocher will sell well if they have the NEWSSTAND flaps but probably $150 tops for each. There are some other issues that sell well and are very collectible because they are NEWSSTAND Editions but not for crazy money. On a good day if this seller could get $15,000 he should take it and be completely happy. A more realistic estimate is $7,500.

Fella's, it's fine. I suggest we just wait until the Heritage auction and see what happens. I don't know if anybody noticed, but I did make the caveat that they would have have to spend a pretty penny on CGC grading to get to the number I threw out there.

I'm also going on the assumption that Heritage somewhat knows what it is doing in even accepting this collection. Selling off a huge magazine collection like this is extremely labor intensive, and they have to justify any consignment fee/buyers premium they get, with the work they put into it.

I'll be curious how they offer it out. Whether it's as one complete run, which is easier for them but will in no way get anywhere near the figure I mentioned......or will they break it up, use CGC for a couple hundred issues at least (I imagine they would have some sort of a sweetheart deal a normal collector wouldn't have access to) and break up into singles and raw higher grade 50 to 100 piece groups.

Heritage also tends to get bidders who apparently have no clue that ebay exists. Just yesterday I was researching an old accordion style trade card from the 1880s. Worthpoint shows about 5 or 6 sales in the past decade all showing them from $10 to $20, one even sold on ebay two months ago for $10...but Heritage had one and it sold for $175. I wouldn't rule out some hype to a complete collection pulling in bidders who are not necessarily sports memorabilia collectors.

Now this I can agree with, but still not at those numbers.

Very true Dan. These "glossy, super slick" auctions spend the money to make presentations that blow your mind out, or , in the case of a less valuable piece, the "name" does it. I mean, its great for super valuable pieces, but otherwise, you pay for the name.

Same w the Alphabet boys COA's w autographs. Yes, on some its a valuable selling point to have one, but lets face it, as Chris, Richard, Jim and many others have said, do your research and you can get a good item, that is real.

I agree. Heritage, Hake's, whoever. The auction houses always get stupid prices.

Well said and as a collector who purchases Sports Illustrated covers (baseball only) to have signed, I totally agree.