Forgive this long post, but I'm a hard-core estate/garage sale junkie on Long Island in New York. It's a real passion of mine, and this is an amazing area for sales. Lots of old houses, old neighborhoods, old money, so many of the estates have remarkable stuff. I go most weekends and use the hobby (obsession) to supplement my income.
Anyway, I haven't had tons of luck with baseball-related stuff. A few old bats worth $50 to $100, some high-grade 1951 Bowman commons, some old programs here and there. Best was probably the Jackie Robinson cut signature I got for less than $200 that I flipped (didn't really want to but needed the money at the time) for $500.
I've had tons of other finds, though. Bought a large box of 1960s/70s ballet publicity photos for $80 and sold them over a couple months on ebay for nearly 15 grand. Found a signed, limited-edition book by stock market lion Jesse Livermore for $1.50 and sold it through Heritage for nearly $8,000. Once even bought a seashell collection for $100 and sold them on ebay over a few weeks for nearly 5 grand. Fun stuff.
One of my coolest finds was sports-related but wasn't at an estate sale. It was at an antique shop in upstate New York. I was looking at a box of what appeared to be old track and field ephemera, including an old photo album, when the owner yelled over, "That's the 'Chariots of Fire' guy. That's his stuff." Turns out it was a small collection of items once owned by Harold Abrahams, the guy who won the 100-meter race. The album had photos of him as a teenager in prep school and from his pre-Olympic track days. There were two leather bags with his initials "HMA" on them. There were Christmas cards, track and field programs, a mimeographed letter from the assistant to Prince Phillip and some other items. Really neat stuff. I had to beg my wife to let me buy it (I said, "Trust me, I think it's worth it.") and I talked the guy down to about $650 from $850. Anyway, when I went to do research on the photos and such, I discovered that there was a book about Abrahams coming out a few months later. (If anyone's interested, it's called "Running With Fire." Very good read.) I ended up contacting the author and he used the items in his research and thanked me in the book's credits!
I contacted Bonham's in London and they were very interested in the collection and met with me at their Manhattan office. They plan on featuring it in their 2012 pre-Olympic auction and gave me a rough estimate of 7,000-10,000 pounds, which translates to more than 15 grand. It was very fortuitous to find this collection a year before the London Games. I'm hoping some rich British bidders will have Olympic fever and fight over the collection. Regardless, not a bad investment. Also pretty nice when you can say to your wife, "See? I actually know what I'm doing sometimes."
Anyway, should be fun next summer. I'll report back when they put the stuff online. And of course when the auction is over.
Cheers!
Rob