Helmet of NFL Colts All-Time QB Scores at Auction

Memorabilia of Johnny Unitas fetches over $165K at auction

Just a few weeks after the NFL's Colts were led by their amazing quarterback to their first Super Bowl title in Indianapolis, memorabilia of the man who guided them to their last - when they were in Baltimore - scored big at auction.

A helmet worn by Johnny Unitas in the 1960s sold for $54,050, and the quarterback's first contract with the Baltimore Colts drew a bid of $29,900 at an auction of sports memorabilia last week in Exton, PA.

There were 10 items associated with Unitas up for auction. An anonymous bidder purchased all of them for a total of $165,370, including a 15 percent buyer's fee.

According to published reports, the vintage helmet was worn by Unitas during his Hall of Fame career with the Colts. He handed it to John Ziemann, then a member of the Baltimore Colts Band, while walking off the field during the final game of a season.

"Johnny told me they were getting new helmets next season, so he gave me that one," Ziemann said recently as quoted by the Associated Press in a story that ran in, among other papers, the Baltimore Sun.

Ziemann sold the helmet to a collector, who put subsequently put it up for auction. It became the featured item at the two-day event run by David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions.

Unitas earned $7,500 during his rookie season, about one-fourth the total of the winning bid on the valuable document.

The four-page contract, an original copy signed by Unitas and his mother on Jan. 31, 1956, was sold by the family of the late Don Kellett, then the Colts' general manager who kept it in his files.

A sterling silver tea service presented to the quarterback after the Colts won the 1959 world championship sold for $23.000. Also, the belts Unitas received in 1959 and 1964 as a finalist for the S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year Award garnered bids of $8,050 apiece.

Unitas retired in 1973 and died of a heart attack in 2002 at age 69. Memorabilia associated with the old-school quarterback becomes more valuable with each passing year.

(Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

ATR Photo Tip: Try Some Macro Magnification

As part of our efforts to bring you news you can use - not merely the events in and around the world of auctions and buying, selling and collecting but also practical tips to make your efforts more fruitful - we offer this photo tip.

Stating the obvious, good photos are essential to the viability of your online auctions wares. To mine the old adage, at a thousand words a piece, your eight photos on eBay are worth quite a few words, so you want to make them count. This means not only shots that display each item in all its glory (and grime), but those that set that item apart in the minds of prospective bidders.

Often this means showing the details. Whether it's the signatures on the bases of your Wee Forest Folk, serial numbers on old Marantz gear or the makers' mark on that funky china piece, these details can be important to collectors. Yet showing them clearly can be problematic. The macro settings on even the best digital cameras can only get you so close - and sometimes that's not close enough.

The solution: a simple magnifying glass, or maybe a handsome 19th Century piece such as the one pictured. Place one in front of your camera with the macro setting on and the zoom pulled out to full wide. With your camera in auto focus mode, point it at the tiny area you want to shoot. The macro setting ought to try to focus on your desired spot while compensated for the added optics of your magnifying glass.

You'll have to play around with this, and it won't work on the very smallest of items. But for the right item, the result can be a clear picture of the kind of small detail that may make a big difference to bidders.

(Photo: item for sale at George Glazer Gallery)

Thrift Store "Junkie" Buys Copy of Declaration of Independence that Could Fetch Fortune

Set for auction next month, artifact was donated last year by family cleaning garage

A Nashville, Tennessee man has won what may be the thrift store treasure hunter's equivalent of a lottery jackpot: a $2.48 purchase estimated to be worth 100,000 times that sum. And his treasure isn't just any old rare find.

Set to hit the auction block next month is a 184-year-old copy of the Declaration of Independence. The Associated Press reports that it was purchased last March by Michael Sparks (pictured), a music equipment technician. Sparks said he found the document while browsing at Music City Thrift. When he asked the price on a yellowed, shellacked, rolled-up document, the clerk marked it at $2.48.

It turned out to be an "official copy" of the Declaration of Independence - one of 200 commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820.

"I saw that it said 1823 and I knew that the declaration was 1776, and I was just interested. It also said 'by order of the government,'" Sparks said. But he didn't know he had such a valuable piece until he did some online research and then had appraisers at Raynors' offer an opinion.

As the The Tennessean is reporting, the old adage of one man's trash being another man's treasure really is true. The document was donated to the thrift store by Stan Caffy, of nearby Donelson Hills.

According to the paper, the document had been hanging in Caffy's garage since he purchased it 10 years ago. When he married his wife, Linda, last year, the self-professed thrift store "junkie" set about purging his garage to make way for the merging of two households.

"I used to be a packrat but now I am trying to get rid of things. The best I can recall, we had a little debate about whether to keep it (the Declaration) or donate it and she won."

So Linda took a pile of Stan's stuff, including the Declaration, to Music City Thrift last March.

That was the end of it until this week when Stan heard a mention of the Declaration miraculously turning up in a thrift store on Gerry House’s morning show on WSIX-FM.

"I'm happy for the Sparks guy," Stan told The Tennessean. "If I still had it, it would still be hanging here in the garage and I still wouldn't know it was worth all that. It is just life. So I'm not really upset. But you can’t help but feel not very smart for doing it."

Yet another reason why some people NEVER throw anything away!

(Photo: The Tenneseean)

Here's Why Some People Never Throw Anything Away:

Valuable treasure of Beatles photos tossed by cleaning firm

EMI and Apple Corps are suing a cleaning firm for £700,000 after one of the firm's cleaners threw out two boxes of original Beatles photos including the photo on the cover of the group's first album, "Please Please Me."

The U.K. Sun is reporting that the photos by photographer Angus McBean were in boxes marked "Not Rubbish - Do Not Remove." They were removed and crushed in a waste compactor. The suit alleges the cleaning firm was negligent in not training or supervising their worker properly.

The suit says, "The Beatles transparencies were the only original material from the photography from this session and were historically important and valuable." The cleaner who allegedly admitted to discarding the historical photos has been fired.

One wonders just how "lost" this stuff really is. After all, crushed is not the same as shredded. ATR will bet that there's a small Fab Fortune in the hands of some dumpster diver somewhere.

Super Car Makes Fashion Statement at Elton John Gala

Beverly Hills charity event features Versace Lamborghini Roadster

When the capital of car culture and show biz glitz intersects with high fashion and rock music royalty, you know some big bucks are going to be in the story. That's just the case when a ne-of-a-kind Versace Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster took center stage among a star-studded charity auction event in Beverly Hills on Friday.

As part of a gala event to benefit Elton John's AIDS Foundation, the sexy super car - customized by the fashionistas at Versace - sold for over $500,000 (the precise price was not divulged) to Vik Keuylian of Lamborghini Orange County, on stage in front of 600 VIP guests.

According to The Auto Channel, celebrity seductress Sharon Stone served as honorary auction mistress at an event attended by such A-listers as Prince, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Eva Longoria, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Mischa Barton, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Cindy Crawford, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields and Christina Ricci.

(Photo: The Auto Channel)

FEMA Trailers from Gulf Coast Disasters Up for Bids

Trailers that housed Gulf Coast residents now up for sale

They were once the temporary homes for the victims of the hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast of the U.S. in 2005. Now they are on the auction block as the government looks to downsize its inventory of trailers.

According to KSLA-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana, 69 of the trailers that once housed victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now sitting empty in Hope, Arkansas with the Federal Emergency Management Agency now looking to sell them.

A FEMA spokeswoman told the station that it is no longer cost effective for the agency to spend the estimated $1,500 in repairs each trailer needs to make it habitable again, so they are being sold to the highest bidder. Descriptions and other information on what's available can be found at the U.S. Government Services Administration's website.

Deal Unravels After Sale of 'Sniper's Perch' from JFK Assassination

Winning bidder with only six eBay transactions demurs

The window alleged to be the perch Lee Harvey Oswald used to sit above Dealey Plaza on the day he shot President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas 43 years ago was sold at auction on eBay Friday, only to have the transaction voided by an unqualified bidder moments after the sale.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the winning bidder is from the Netherlands, with only six listed transactions on eBay, "the most recent for two packs of artist's color markers." Those are not exactly the kind of bona fides a seller might want from a buyer who posted a winning bid of $3,001,501 a mere 22 seconds before the auction closed.

Caruth Byrd, who is the son of the man who owned the building when JFK was shot on Nov. 22, 1963, told the paper that the window might go back on the block. He said that he spoke to eBay shortly after the deal unraveled, telling the company that the lowest he will take for the historic item (the provenance of which is actually a bit murky) is $2,750,000.

(Pictured: The Dallas County Administration Building as it looks today. Photo from Yahoo News)

7 Arraigned for eBay Fraud in Atlanta Federal Court

Charges of wire fraud among those brought against alleged conspirators

Four men were charged Friday with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud stemming from a scheme uncovered to sell non-existing items for sale on eBay. Three other defendants were also arraigned today in federal court in Atlanta on internet fraud charges.

According to U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias, from July 2003 through October 2006, at least 215 victims paid the defendants approximately $539,000 for non-existent merchandise posted on eBay, such as custom-styled car tires and rims, and, in a few instances, vehicles. The purchasers paid for the merchandise by wire transfer or by Western Union, but the defendants allegedly never sent any merchandise, reported Biz Journals.com today.

eBay says Half.com Sales Will Now Count Toward PowerSeller Status

Half.com sellers got a little good news from eBay today. Merchants using both eBay and Half.com can now have their Half.com sales count toward their PowerSeller rating, according to Ecommerce-guide.com. To obtain PowerSeller status, sellers need to meet a minimum of $1000 in sales per month for three consecutive months, plus satisfy other member and feedback requirements.

Christie's Postpones Auction of Auto Union Racer

Auctioneer cites question about the car's history

The sale of one of the most valuable vehicles in the world has been postponed by the auctioneer. The 11th hour demur by Christie's of the auction of the Auto Union Type D was announced Wednesday with the auctioneer citing the provenance of the racer as an issue.

The Auto Union GP car was expected to draw record bids at the upcoming "Retromobile" auction in Paris. However, Christie's said the auction was suspended "pending further exploration into the car's race history." No other explanation was given. Yet Hemmings is reporting that Philip Powell at Classical Drive is among those supporting the idea that the postponement could be a sign that the history and authenticity of the Type D may be questionable.

Citing Hemmings, a story on Autoblog.com comments further:

This car's history is known, from being totally rebuilt after being reduced to just a driveline in an accident, to being found in the former Soviet Union, but the questions can linger in the minds of potential owners. It should be noted, however, that Christies is investigating the car's race history, not its authenticity, per se. We saw something similar in Arizona last month when a rare Ferrari Dino SP failed to crack the $1 million mark and didn't meet its reserve, going unsold. The car had been well-documented, but because it had been nearly totaled in a racing incident, the rebuilt car can sometimes raise doubts among buyers who would rather have the genuine article than one rebuilt by a non-factory team years after its birth or rebirth.

SIDEBAR

Back in December, a bass guitar from the collection of Dick Clark that was alleged to be a gift to the emcee emeritus by Paul McCartney in his Beatles days was revealed to be a fake. Considering all of the players involved, this was a surprising revelation. Now this question mark on another item with what would seem to have been unassailable credentials comes to light. If the provenance of these items could be in doubt, how can we mere mortals ever attest to the authenticity of our Bauer plates or hockey souvenirs?

(Photo: Hemmings)

6th Annual eBay Live! Conference Dates Announced

USPS on board as title sponsor

The sixth annual eBay Live conference is set for June 14-16 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The three-day event is expected to bring together more than 10,000 eBay buyers and sellers from around the world the company announced this week.

"This one should be larger and more enthusiastic than ever," eBay North America President Bill Cobb said last week. "This is the premier event for eBay users to come together, share their stories, learn new ways to buy and sell on the world's largest online marketplace, and most importantly, have fun!"

Also eBay also announced that the United States Postal Service will be eBay Live's title sponsor. The theme for 2007 is "The Power of All of Us."

The company says this year's eBay Live! will offer more than 150 classes tailored to improve the buying and selling skills of beginning, intermediate and advanced eBay users. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in roundtables and panels with eBay executives

To register online or find our more, go to at www.ebay.com/ebaylive.

Window to Tragic History at Auction

Window Linked to JFK Assassination Offered on eBay

The window from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the rifle that killed President John F. Kennedy is apparently being auctioned off on eBay. The listing has attracted bids of over a million-dollars. It says the white-bordered window has been on display at a museum for more than a decade, and that it's currently in the possession of Caruth Byrd, whose family owned the Texas School Book Depository at the time of the assassination. The window is being offered with official documentation of authenticity.

"Cash in the Attic" Treasures to be Auctioned Online

Live, online bidding for items from the HGTV fave is set for Saturday

Saturday is the day collectors can connect to one of TV's most popular shows for pack rats and, well, collectors. For the first time ever, the auctions from HGTV's "Cash in the Attic" will be available to online bidders. The live auction will take place on February 3, 5:00 pm (CST) at Hammer Down Auctions in Leander, TX. The live online component of the auction is available via Proxibid - a leading provider of live auction broadcasting services.

For the uninitiated, "Cash in the Attic" sends professional appraisers scour the homes of the show's participants for hidden treasures. The items chosen by the appraisers are then auctioned off to raise money to pay for a home improvement project for the participants.

"By offering online bidding in conjunction with the live auction, we are able to add a new type of bidder to the traditional auction typically featured on the show," said Michele Hammer of Hammer Down Auctions. "Proxibid's leading technology will enable us to attract a wider audience than ever before to a 'Cash in the Attic' auction. We are thrilled to be working with Proxibid to bring live Internet bidding to HGTV's viewers."

To participate in the online auction, visit www.proxibid.com/hammerdownauction. Once there, bidders can view the auction catalog, place pre-bids and bid online during the live event. While the auction will take place on February 3, 2007, the actual "air date" is to be determined.

New, Expanded Resource Links Now Online

ATR.com has expanded our list of auction resources

As we move further along in the development of auctiontalkradio.com, we have just completed the first major expansion of our resources page. You will now find over 100 links to sites offering information on collectibles and antiques, charity auctions and consignment stores, auction services and more. This will continue growing and we would appreciate any feedback you have and, maybe even more than that, your suggestions on sites and services you find important, useful and valuable. Let us know what you think.