Bidder Swings $144,352 Bid For Babe Ruth Bat

WILLOWBROOK, ILL.

:MastroNet's recent online auction included such diverse items as a World Series jersey worn by Dizzy Dean to a lock of hair from Napoleon. Held in August, this auction had many unusual and unexpected results. All prices given reflect a buyer's premium.

According to Doug Allen, president of MastroNet, the rapidly growing Americana division provided fertile ground for establishing some new favorite collecting items and areas of interest. "There can be little doubt that Americana collectors are increasing in numbers," said Allen. "With each auction we see new categories of collectibles emerging, many with selling prices that seem to be giving previously obscure items new value."

One such item was an early 1900s royal scepter of England's King Edward VII. The lot opened with a minimum of $1,000. Thirty-five bids later, it sold for $40,100. "Any time an item sells for 40 times its opening bid, you've got to give it the credit it deserves," said Allen. "This auction has gone a long way to establishing the standards for many collectibles that to this point did not have benchmarks."

While the prices in the world of sports memorabilia tend to be much more predictable, "The Wayne Gretzky jersey and rookie card went through the roof," said Allen. "Anything Gretzky has a tendency to do well but this was a phenomenal jump that is bound to impact the future sale of Gretzky items."

Allen also cites the Grover Cleveland Alexander 1926 St Louis Cardinals game worn jersey, the 1938-39, Dizzy Dean, Chicago Cubs, worn home jersey, and a single signed Babe Ruth ball and baseball bat as price setters that will shape tomorrow's collecting market.

Some of the top sports lots included: the Babe Ruth 1931 H&B signed and inscribed game used bat that Ruth gave to Hollywood producer Louis Bresnow as a token of friendship after working on a film project together. This bat, inscribed to Bresnow, sold for $144,352.

The brilliant, but troubled, pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander wore this flannel jersey on the day he helped nail the World Series for the St Louis Cardinals in 1926; it went for $92,160. For any serious baseball collection a baseball signed by Babe Ruth is a must. This Babe Ruth single signed baseball - PSA 9 - commanded serious money, selling for $89,628. Mickey Mantle's 1958 H&B World Series game used bat, one of two bats manufactured specifically for the '58 fall classic, commanded $87,771.

Dizzy Dean wore the 1938-1939 Chicago Cubs jersey, SCD A-9.5, his first two seasons in the Windy City. It features a design worn for only two seasons. The jersey is the only Dizzy Dean Cubs jersey known to exist. Obviously, uniqueness has its price; it went for $63,693.

Sports cards included a 1979/1980 O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky rookie card, which now stands as the most valuable modern trading card of any kind, it sold for $62,374.

Historical items also set some new highs for this type of item at MastroNet. An 1840 William Henry Harrison six-sided campaign jug, with Harrison prominently pictured on four of the jug's six sides, with each depiction bordered top to bottom by a log cabin and a US Eagle seal, respectively, realized a final price of $39,547; a lock of Napoleon's hair, given to Baron Gaspar Gourgaud (1783-1852), upon the emperor's first abdication - provenance for the lock of hair comes directly from Gourgaud's great-grandson - brought $35,055; a receipt records payment to Beethoven for his musical services during the time he composed his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. The signed receipt sold for $33,530; and a 1799 George Washington check, signed four days before his 67th birthday, a partly printed bank check in the amount of $158.82 to Mrs Ann Gray from his account at the Bank of Alexandria, written the year Washington died, commanded $22,321.

Titanic items have always been popular and this auction was no exception; one top lot was a deck chair salvaged from the water after the ship sank that commanded $36,883.

MastroNet's next auction is scheduled for December.

For information or to place consignments, 630-472-1200 or www.mastronet.com.