Three 1984 Olympic basketball (Jordan) Gold medal game ticket stubs
Ticket from August 10th, 1984. Jordans first gold.
Uncle owned prior. Have not had it graded, but 2/3 are in excellent condition.
Inherited
Maybe
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry. Based on the photographs and description provided, the subject of this appraisal is a set of three non-authenticated used ticket stubs from the Gold Medal basketball game played by the 1984 United States men's team against Spain, with the US winning 96 to 85 at the Forum. The game is significant as Michael Jordan led a squad composed of notable players including Chris Mullen and Patrick Ewing. The team was coached by Bobby Knight.
According to the current owner, the pieces were acquired from a family member. Two of the tickets are in excellent condition, with a third ticket being in good condition with some fold lines noted.
Last month a single preseason ticket stub from Jordan's first game with the Bulls team sold by Heritage for $34,800. A PSA authenticated stub from his Bulls regular season debut game sold for $33,000 on May 6, 2020 according to Heritage.
The value of Jordan-related memorabilia from his early playing days remains astronomical, and in recent days has enjoyed an even higher surge in popularity with the release of the ESPN documentary series "The Last Dance".
In consideration of the factors noted, a Fair Market Value (pre-auction estimate) of this three-ticket collection, conditional upon examination and grading by a reputable third-party authentication and grading service such as PSA, would be estimated at $50,000 to $75,000.
There is a PSA graded specimen currently available on eBay with a Buy It Now price right at $13,000. In a traditional auction setting I believe the most relevant price data establishing FMV would be the comparables I listed as they include very recent auction-house-reported sales for likewise monumental games in Jordan’s career.
My mind is blown right now. Lost for words.
Trey. Have you ever heard of anyone traveling to the PSA office to get these things done? I would not feel comfortable sending them through the mail no matter if they were insured or not.
I would call their customer service and speak with them. The items would fit in one of their high value categories and they mention calls to customer service being welcome on https://www.psacard.com/pricing/.
Also, Sent the same this to appraisal with someone local in San Diego, they said they were not even worth it? any thoughts or comments?
Well, I would look at the recorded sales of notable Jordan ticket stubs that I mentioned that within the past month that came in over $30k each and do some research on where and how those prices were achieved. I would ask if a gold medal game at the olympics is at least close to as notable as those, and see if the logic holds up that indeed these could bring similar numbers at a well-advertised sports auction once authenticated. Just like in real estate, appraisers rely on comps to help determine value. Sometimes our gut feel is off and I expect your local guy isn’t aware of what early Jordan ticket prices have done at auction mere weeks ago. I likely would’ve far undervalued these without the proper research myself.
Trey, Thank you so much for all your help and knowledge, i tend to get virtually nowhere with anyone else about this subject. feel a long process ahead.
Heritage just got back with their appraisal and it is extremely different from the one you provided. I am starting to become slightly concerned the service I payed for on here is not accurate.
Brett, Sorry to hear that. If there are better comparable sales that form the basis of another appraiser’s opinion than the ones we used, I’ll be happy to examine them and see if that impacts the FMV estimate provided.
Heritage said there were 2 of these same tickets sold for under 200$
Brett, All I can tell you is that looking through their auction records doesn't show me any such results. https://www.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?Nty=1&Ntt=1984+olympic+gold+ticket&N=790+231&ic10=ArchiveTab-071515, for example, shows no such records.
Further, PSA itself has the item as a total population of TWO in their records.
https://www.psacard.com/pop/tickets/1984/olympics-basketball-aug-10-stub/101117
Trey, Again, you are awesome. By far the only one that has clearly been helping me instead of trying to rip me off. I noticed the one from PSA had a big fold in it also and graded at a 2?
Grading items is certainly part of the reason I suggested PSA in the initial appraisal. I trust them for authentication and for physically examining the condition of the pieces. It's hard to speculate what yours will grade at, but I would hesitate to treat them with anything but the utmost care. I think the folded one would probably be close to the 2 you also are looking at. The others are really going to come down to fine details on a physical examination.
If you do sell the items, I could certainly be completely far off on what the hammer price would be. I simply am giving you a price estimate that, in today's market, with the rarity of what you have (until I'm proven otherwise) from the data I have seen (particularly the market for Jordan memorabilia in the past couple weeks alone) I in good faith believe to be a reasonable estimate. In the auction world, it's all about the bidders and the appetite. It may totally not even hammer, though; I can't predict the future. But I am confident that what you have is rare enough that if they were my own, I would get them graded and authenticated, and then see what the market says the value is. I think it starts with PSA authentication. If they were in my personal collection, they'd be the centerpiece.
Again, if similar authenticated tickets from this gold medal game have indeed been sold very very recently for a couple hundred bucks each (and they may have, but I haven't seen those records), I would like to see the data and will certainly revise the appraisal and would ask for you to let me know so that I can do so. For now, I still think what you have is very special.
Thank you so much for all your help Trey. I will be sure to keep all that in mind going forward. I have already had a couple of auction houses email me about moving forward. But I do not want to do anything till I do get these graded. Thank you for all the information! Crossing my fingers!
Wow! Have you ever seen any of these sold before?