Auctions, auctions, auctions, here we go again. There never seems to be a shortage of auctions to report, especially during this time of the year. A giant offering from Mastro, an initial offering from Memory Lane, and another solid showing from Lelands tops the Market Report this week. After a few auction recaps, I have provided a Christmas wish list from an anonymous collector. Wait till you see this one.

This is all I have to say; the auction catalogue weighed about 4 pounds! That being said, this catalogue was not only heavy in terms of weight, but it was also heavy in quality. With the exception of the Barry Halper sale of 1999, no other auction has grossed near this amount. In fact, it was the largest multi-consignor auction ever. There was just about something for everyone in this sale including sportscards, bats, jerseys and autographs galore. Needless to say, many records were broken during this historical sale. Here's a peek at some of the highlights.

Remember that this is just a small sampling of highlights. There were a tremendous amount of strong prices to report. As expected, the team at Mastro Fine Sports was pleased, "When you put together a $9 million auction, it's hard to complain," said a laughing Louis Bollman of Mastro Fine Sports. "It was a lot of fun to offer such a high number of quality items at one time, the bidding was strong, and everyone had a lot of fun participating."

Let's take a closer look at the sale. For the first time at auction, two very high-grade (PSA 8’s) E93 Standard Caramel cards were offered and both cards, a Honus Wagner and Napoleon Lajoie, brought great prices. Another key price was the PSA 8 T205 Ty Cobb. The T205 set is very hot right now and this was the first time, publicly, that a T205 Ty Cobb was offered in that grade. Look for major movement on both sets in the near future. As major condition rarities, both issues offer tremendous value.

Mastro will be holding another auction, strictly on the Internet, that features over 100 lots of PSA Mint 9's and Gem Mint 10's between January 31 and February 7, 2001. Market Report will be there for a full recap.

It was a first for Memory Lane, Inc. but, after viewing the prices realized, they seemed like old veterans. The California based card company held a 50-lot PSA card auction with tremendous results, including a record breaking 1948 Leaf Ted Williams PSA Mint 9 that brought $49,002. That was just the beginning as the high-grade material did well across the board. Here's a peek at some of the highlights:

As you can see, there were a lot of very strong prices. Steve Hurst, partner at Memory Lane, Inc., wasn't surprised by the success, but he was very pleased. "Our auction was absolutely a success and we accomplished the goals we set out before it took place," explained Hurst. "Some of the prices were very strong, like the 1948 Leaf Williams, but we knew the interest was there for pieces like that because the quality was there too."

Even though the auction was less than colossal in size, Hurst has noticed a trend in the market that was confirmed by the auction. "The 1954 Topps set is very hot right now and all of our 1954 Topps lots received significant attention," said Hurst. "The set is filled with key rookies and stars and the design is considered a classic."

Anytime you combine an authentic Lou Gehrig autograph with baseball content, you have a winner. When you feature a contract from Gehrig's Triple Crown Season of 1934, the bidding gets fierce. That's exactly what happened at the most recent auction put on by Lelands of New York. When the bidding stopped, that very contract set a Gehrig contract record with a final bid of $49,301. Most Gehrig contracts, which have been offered at public auction, usually sell between $20,000-$35,000, but this one flew past those numbers.

The total sale ended with $1.7 million in bids with approximately half of the lots featuring entertainment memorabilia. A couple of other notable sports related items were Babe Ruth's own signed spittoon ($5,397), Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig signed barnstorming photo ($20,372), Johnny Unitas last game-used Baltimore Colts jersey ($30,560), Roberto Clemente signed and game-used bat ($8,418) and a 1987-88 Edmonton 13" Stanley Cup trophy ($12,245).

Here are the top five things I want for Christmas in 2000.

1) I hope that baseball players do not go on strike a year from now, it would be bad for the game and the hobby.
2) I hope that the Minnesota Vikings win the Super Bowl so my dad doesn't throw our television out the window again.
3) I hope that Lennox Lewis ends up fighting Mike Tyson in 2001. After Lewis pounds Tyson's head in, maybe he will get the respect he deserves.
4) I hope that Oscar De La Hoya stops singing love songs and gets back in the ring where he belongs, a Felix Trinidad De La Hoya rematch would be interesting.
5) I hope that Shaquille O'Neal makes a sequel to Kazaam, it will give the media something else to make fun of besides Shaq's free throw shooting.

Santa, for the love of all things holy, please make my wishes come true.

Anonymous Collector