Complete run of SI's found in storage locker auction

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Steve Prefontaine's 1970 cover brings good money.

What's "good"?

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

What's "good"?

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

[MK]

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.

[JollyElm]

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.

[Gary Dunaier]

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.

[gregr2]

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.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

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.

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.

[packs]

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

[T20Brew]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

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.

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.

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by T20Brew

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.

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

[Duluth Eskimo]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

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.

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.

[Duluth Eskimo]

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.

[D. Bergin]

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.