July 1, 2004
Regency-Superior
Scores
Big with Vintage Cards
At SportsFest 2004
St. Louis, Missouri – For the first time in its history,
Regency-Superior was the official auctioneer at SportsFest 2004 in
Chicago, Illinois, June 25-27th. With nearly 700 lots of sportscards and
memorabilia, Regency conducted its Public Auction on the floor of this
popular annual sports collectible show produced by Krause Publications.
Regency-Superior’s auction featured hundreds of items from an array of sporting areas and events including baseball, basketball, football, hockey and the Olympics – just to name a few. Hundreds of autographed items, sportscards, game-used equipment and uniforms were auctioned off.
Many auction items realized great prices, particularly vintage sportscards.
One such lot was a 1958 Topps baseball complete
card set featuring Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Mickey
Mantle – overall in EXMT condition. This lot estimated at
$4,000, and hammered for an astonishing $9,775.
Another card set that hammered far above its estimate was a 1948 Bowman complete basketball set of 72 cards estimated at $2,500 brought a price of $4,312. A 1970-71 Topps second series basketball collection estimated at $500 sold for $3,220. This lot featured three Pete Maravich rookie cards, five Jerry West cards, three Calvin Murphy rookie cards, plus many more – all cards pack fresh.
Hockey
cards were quite popular on the auction floor. A 1962 Topps complete
hockey card set featuring Bobby Hull, Gendron, Pilote and Ingarfield, just
to name a few cataloged at $1,200, and sold for $2,990.
Regency featured game-used jerseys worn by the 2004 Olympic womens’ soccer team each signed by the 20-team members. The game-used jersey worn by Mia Hamm sold for $1,500. A portion of the proceeds of these jerseys will be donated to the Women’s Sports Foundations ‘GoGirlGo Program’.
An
original 8”x10” autographed color photo of
Ted Williams during his 1939 rookie year estimated to bring
$750 sold for $1,265. This photo appeared on the cover of Sports
Illustrated when Williams died. Another lot featured four signed photos of
Williams with other baseball greats such as Joe DiMaggio hammered for
$1,380.
Some very unique items were available for sale during this auction. Regency featured a bronze statue of ‘Rocky’ commissioned by Sylvester Stallone, the 1979 Federation Tennis Cup won by Billie Jean King, an 1896 Bronze medal at the first modern day Olympics, plus three Indy race cars. As an added attraction, two of the race cars were featured on the floor during SportsFest weekend.
Regency-Superior has been an auctioneer since 1929 specializing in the sale of stamps, space memorabilia and other fine collectibles. In the 1990s Superior was the country’s leading auctioneer of sports memorabilia. When Regency bought Superior in 2002, it was decided to resuscitate their presence in the sports market. They added two very successful and prominent individuals to their staff, Howard Soll, former owner of All-Star Collectibles in St. Louis, Missouri and, Michael Barnes, a leading sports marketing agent who brokered the sale of six homerun baseballs hit by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. McGwire’s 70th home run baseball sold for $3 million and the other five balls sold from $55,000 to $175,000 each.
Regency-Superior is currently accepting consignments for their upcoming December Public Auction in St. Louis. For information about consigning your vintage sportscards and sports memorabilia, please contact Howard Soll at Regency-Superior, 229 N. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis MO 63108, or email: hsoll@RegencySuperior.com. Toll-free (800) 782-0066, or visit their website at www.RegencySuperior.com.
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