Sorry I didn't get the chance to blog during the Sotheby's with SCP Auctions live event in New York, but I didn't have much free time. The auction had a ton of bidding on virtually every item. The auction total of $4.7 million exceeded expectations and is especially impressive considering there were only 366 lots (actually a few less than that), which averages out to around $13,000 per lot. All this is considering the biggest item in the auction, the Lou Gehrig jersey, didn't sell.

The two items that really stood out to me were the Casey Stengel 1951 World Series ring and Stengel's 1957 A.L. Championship gold cufflinks, which sold for $180,000 and $72,000, respectively. It's crazy to be at one of those live events where two people are well funded and are dead set on winning the item. Both were record prices and the World Series ring sold for more than Mickey Mantle's  ring a few years ago.

The photo from 1939 of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth singed by both players, along with a lot of the Tour of Japan stuff, was something you really needed to see in person to really appreciate it. No photo in a catalog could do those items justice. There was also a 1927 Babe Ruth and Brother Matthias (St. Mary's School for Boys) dual signed ball that sold for $66,000 and was truly a one-of-a-kind item.

The basketball jerseys were interesting to watch. There was plenty of interest and bidding, with most falling right in the estimate range, while some went way beyond the estimate. Willis Reed's historic Knicks jersey sold for $90,000, while Oscar Robertson's 1967 Cincinnati Royals home uniform finished at $66,000. Bill Russell's 1967-68 Celtics home jersey and George Mikan's 1947-48 Lakers road jersey both finished at $60,000. Nate Archibald's Celtics home jersey ($15,000) and Jerry Lucas' 1973 Knicks home jersey ($13,200) sold well beyond expectations.

We've had an interesting dilemma in our office the last few days after opening a box of UD Reserve Basketball. For more than a year now, Michael Redd has held the title of the worst autograph we've seen, but we now have a new challenger: Rodney Carney. It's a tough call, but most are saying there is a new champion.

Redd's autograph has some style to it, but it's one unidentifiable letter that unfortunately doesn't resemble any of the letters in his name. I'm guessing he's going for a symbol-type signature like the artist formerly known as Prince.

Carney's signature looks like I let my 3-year-old sign it (pictured on his first birthday) or if I got creative and tried to sign it with my foot. It gets a plus because there are two different marks indicating a first and last name, but there are no identifiable letters. If I were in charge of receiving these cards and sending Carney a check for his work I would be pretty tempted to make him sign them over, but this time with his hand.

The card companies are at the mercy of these athletes to take some pride in their work. Maybe it would help if there were certain guidelines established, including:

• Sign with dominant hand
  
• Must have at least one identifiable letter in signature
• First and last name need to be separate, even if signing with initials

If you've got your own "worst autograph" please comment on it or post it and give some input to our worst autograph dilemma. It's too close to call right now.

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While I will normally refrain from shamelessly plugging our own web site, there are two articles that just got posted that you really should read. First, The Story Behind It All: Aaron's 755th HR Ball by Scott Fragale and an SCD Classic story entitled Sy Berger: The Father of the Modern Baseball Card (and barge captain) by T.S. O’Connell, which gives some great history about Topps. There's also video of an interview with Doug Allen of Mastro Auctions that I did at the Hawaii Trade Conference. If you don't read anything else on our site, read those two articles. Hopefully, you’ll find more to read though.

Well, I've got my ticket and hotel booked for the Sotheby's with SCP Auction in New York on June 5. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Sotheby's building and looking at all the great stuff. And I never pass up a trip to go to New York City, but unfortunately the Rucker tournament (yeah, I know it's actually called the EBC) doesn't start until June 18, but I'll probably do some shopping on 125th Street anyway and may even visit the court if my schedule permits. It's very easy to get to if you know the subway a little and you switch lines at Yankee Stadium, which is another fun place to visit.

Since I'm a big basketball fan, the jerseys are where I'm focusing much of my attention. Some of the highlights include:

• 1955 Dolph Schayes 1955 Syracuse Nationals road lersey
• George Mikan 1947-48 Minneapolis Lakers road lersey
• Wilt Chamberlain 1955 Philadelphia Warriors rookie uniform
• Willis Reed 1969-70 New York Knicks home jersey from the final game of the Championship Series (yeah, that one)
• Oscar Robertson 1967 Cincinnati Royals home uniform
• Connie Hawkins early 1970s Phoenix Suns road jersey
• Pete Maravich 1975-76 New Orleans Jazz road jersey
• Jerry West 1970s Los Angeles Lakers home jersey
• Elgin Baylor early 1970s Los Angeles Lakers home jersey
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar circa 1980 Los Angeles Lakers home jersey
• Julius Erving early 1980s Philadelphia 76ers home jersey with shorts
• Bob Cousy 1950s Boston Celtics signed home uniform
• Bill Russell 1967-68 Boston Celtics home jersey
• John Havlicek 1960s Boston Celtics road jersey
• Dave Debusschere 1970s New York Knicks signed home uniform

The list just continues to go on and on. I'm sure I missed one that would have you scratching your head saying, "He really should have pointed that one out too." And I've talked to the consignor of most of it and it sounds like he's got quite a few more that will be hitting future SCP Auctions. He's also done plenty of homework on the jerseys he's added to his collection, which means I need to start selling some bats to free up some money for this one.

Heritage Auction Galleries has offered to purchase the baseball that Barry Bonds hits to assume the career home run record of 756 for $1 million, announced Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for the Dallas-based auction house.  
 
According to its press release, the lucky owner who delivers the historic sphere, as verified by MLB, is invited to redeem the baseball for the million-dollar bounty at a Dallas press conference within fifteen days of the record-breaking homer.

“The career home run record is arguably the most significant in American sport,” explained Ivy.  “The baseball that sets the mark could truly be considered ‘priceless,’ but we expect that one million dollars will be very tempting to the fan who catches the ball."

If the fan that secures the baseball believes it to be worth well in excess of one million dollars, Heritage will offer an alternative option.  “We will waive our standard seller’s fee should the owner decide to let the market determine the price tag at auction,” explained Ivy.  

I guess we'll find out how tainted the home run record and ball really is. Getting $1 million for a ball without having any of the normal selling concerns would be worth it to me.

This is a brilliant move for Heritage. The offer made national news so they've already gotten a ton of mileage out of this even if nothing happens. If the lucky fan decides to go accept the offer and sell it, they make another huge splash, then a third to promote the ball up for auction and a fourth after the auction reporting what it sold for. You can't buy that kind of publicity.

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Upper Deck Authenticated, working with Harlan J. Werner signed an exclusive partnership with MLB Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. UDA’s agreement with Koufax and Werner provides the company with exclusive autographed memorabilia. Additionally, Koufax will be included in Upper Deck’s super premium baseball card brands such as UD Premier Baseball.
 
UDA will produce limited autographed baseballs, authentic MLB pitching rubbers, signed replicas of the 1963 Sports Illustrated cover of Koufax, framed photos including a dual signed photo with Nolan and several unique high-end shadow box display pieces.  

“Our partnership with Sandy Koufax allows us to bring baseball fans and collectors closer to the Hall of Fame player and to own memorabilia with historical significance,” said Tim Muret, Vice President of Upper Deck Authenticated. “Sandy’s career was truly amazing and it is our mission to create the same level of excitement and feeling with his Upper Deck Authenticated pieces as he did during his playing days.”

Adds Muret: "We take great pride in protecting the long-term value and collectibility of the athlete’s we work with and provide unique limited edition items to enhance people’s collections.”

I'm not sure if most of you sell on eBay or not, but I do. And the one constant pain in the butt for me is international shipping. I accept paypal and love the way it helps the transactions, but won't accept it for international purchases. I stopped accepting international paypal payments a few months ago after getting burned by their chargeback policy...again.

You see paypal requires proof of delivery. Not proof of mailing. Delivery. Within the United States, you can just put delivery confirmation on it and send it and that's enough (unless it's more than $250, then they want signature confirmation). The post office here is pretty reliable and I've almost never had a package with delivery or signature confirmation on it not get scanned with tracking available on the web site.

International shipments are a whole different deal. I've shipped via global priority, global express, FedEx and even registered mail and the tracking is very unreliable. With paypal, this would usually lead to a chargeback since international customers seem to be aware of how well paypal protects them. If the online tracking doesn't work, you lose. I've had arguments with paypal through email and over the phone, where I can produce a registered mail receipt, with the post office stamp and employee signature on it and I still lose the case.

No more international payments for this eBayer. I've changed my policy to money orders only so I don't have to worry about it. Proof of sending the package should be enough. How is it my fault that the postal employee in France or Canada didn't scan the tracking number correctly. Still, at least one out of two international buyers email after the auction and say, "I tried to pay you through paypal, but it wouldn't let me." I just stick to my guns and tell them it's clearly stated in the auction that I don't accept international paypal payments.

If you've had similar experiences or have found a way around this, post a comment and maybe we'll figure something out and help some readers along the way.