Although Lelands.com's 2006 Lelands.com Winter Auction's 1,800 lots netted more than $3.5 million in sales, it was hockey jerseys that stole the show.
Just months after selling a Bobby Orr jersey for a record price of $179,000, Lelands.com sold five hockey sweaters for more than $20,000 including two for more than $50,000. Here's a look at some of the 75 hockey sweaters: 1941-42 Tom Anderson Brooklyn Americans sweater from his Hart Trophy season and only year in Brooklyn ($57,867.11); 1941-42 Neil Colville NY Rangers sweater ($52,606.45); 1976-77 Bobby Orr Blackhawks jersey ($33,524.12); 1961-62 Red Kelly Toronto sweater ($20,282.07); 1991-92 Lemieux jersey with patches from first game played after the death of coach Bob Johnson and features a "Badger" Patch on the left shoulder ($22,310.28).
As always, the Lelands.com auction unearthed many rare baseball artifacts. Some of these highlights included: Joe Jackson 1909-11 American Caramel E-90-01 SGC 70 Ex 505 ($77,021.12); 1955 Ted Williams Red Sox game-worn road jersey ($47,824.05); 1978 Dave Parker MVP Award ($40,574.20); 1973 Oakland Athletics Full Size World Series Trophy ($31,827.03); Babe Ruth's First Ever Major League Game Program ($8,311.76); Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball 8/10 ($19,762.08); Roberto Clemente Signed baseball ($10,057.22); first HR baseball hit in the Astrodome by Mickey Mantle ($11,448.71); Original Andy Warhol Pete Rose ($14,372.37); Pete Rose 1973 NLCS road jersey from fight with Bud Harrelson ($10,141.07); Pete Rose Batting Helmet ($10,251.69); Martin Dihigio Rookie Card 1930-31 Double Aguila ($15,404.23); 1920 Bill Wambsganss triple play glove ($29,375); 1942 Phil Rizzuto game-worn home jersey ($16,197.26); 1967 Harmon Killebrew Twins game-worn road jersey ($14,847.55); 1958 Billy Martin Detroit Tigers flannel home game-worn jersey ($5541.17).
When tennis legend Martina Navratilova decided to retire this year, she gave the outfit and racquet she wore at Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open to a lucky collector. That collector consigned the three lots to Lelands.com which sold each of them for the identical price of $6296.80. In addition to these historic tennis items, Lelands.com also offered more than a dozen unique boxing items. Four of these were: 1906 Battling Joe Nelson vs Joe Gans boxing book by Dana ($20,282.07); Jack Dempsey vs George Carpentier boxing posters ($16,944.65); one of the finest Jack Johnson photos ever offered ($12,730.76); and a classic pair of Muhammad Ali signed and used training trunks ($6956.28).
Photographs, Negatives & the Jim Rowe Collection
Although Lelands.com has always offered some of the finest sports and historic photography, ever since acquiring the archives of the San Francisco Examiner earlier this year, photography has become an even bigger part of each auction. This time more than 500 lots of photographs generated more than $250,000 in sales. Among the highlights were: Honus Wagner early batting photo ($2893.37); Emmett Kelly/Roy Campanella Photo ($3182.70); 1929-40 NHL photos collection (146 photos) ($5260.75); 1951 Mickey Mantle World Series injury photo ($1633.21); Ralph Branca (15) photo collection (#1349.77); 1933 MLB All-Star photo ($1796.44); 1930's Stanley Cup Playoff photo (47) collection ($2630.33); 1929-40 NHL (146) photo collection ($5260.75).
Famed collector Jim Rowe consigned Lelands.com his personal photo collection. Lelands.com offered the collection in 22 different lots. 25,000 Negative Collection ($9816.53); Massive lot of 5,000 prints and negatives ($8326.33); 850 signed baseball photographs ($5160.95); 10,000 baseball postcards and postcard size photos ($3440.64); 300 signed letters from MLB players ($2580.48); set of original Hartland baseball statues ($3434.61); personal collection of 350 signed photos ($8815.51); baseball card collection of 50,000 cards ($2585).