“A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.” That line, improvised by Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan in AIR, is probably the most memorable one in the film. It’s also an incredibly astute characterization of the memorabilia market both at the time and even more so today. 

While exciting assets like jerseys and sneakers went unmonetized via formal channels for years, today’s sports memorabilia market sees those items brought to market via formalized programs, as leagues and teams alike have recognized the untapped source of value. Until very recently, though, the mundane class of items – those that, at most, might have been fodder for unassuming ballboys, equipment managers, and locker room attendants – was scarcely even called memorabilia. But that’s all changing. Those overlooked items are now a burgeoning target for bidding.

“A chair is just a chair until someone sits in it.”

“A towel is just a towel until it wipes someone’s sweat.”

“A net is just a net until someone’s shot passes through it.”

Today, leagues, teams, and players are better equipped (pun intended) to engage fans who are eager to own a piece of the moment, whatever shape that may take. Few athletes have commanded the recent moment in sports better than Caitlyn Clark. The Iowa Hawkeyes hooper captivated the nation and propelled women’s college basketball to unprecedented heights in viewership through the team’s postseason run, culminating in an NCAA Tournament Final loss to South Carolina. At the beginning of that postseason run, Iowa won the Big Ten Tournament, for the third successive year thanks to Clark’s third successive Tournament MVP effort.  

In the past, the paraphernalia from such events – the chairs, towels, nets, and signage – were effectively lost to the world, or at least their connection to the games and those who played in them was. Some well-connected fans might’ve walked away with keepsakes from time to time, but those not fortunate enough to be on-site often lacked the opportunity to acquire those items, at least with any notable and verifiable provenance. This time around, though, those opportunities were plentiful and their authenticity was assured, as The Realest partnered with the Big Ten to offer witness-based authentication and auctioning of an assortment of tournament items. 

Among those items: “Game-Used Player Chair (Used by Iowa WBB #22 for Pre-Game Introductions).” We’ll allow you to guess or perhaps Google who might’ve worn #22 for Iowa. The chair featured The Realest’s gold hologram, meaning use by the athlete is guaranteed thanks to the presence of a TRuEST Authenticator who doesn’t let the item leave their line of sight from usage to collection to sale. It turns out that the market quite appreciated this offering. It received a staggering 45 bids to reach a $3,722 final price. 

A seat used by #22 before the start of the game amassed 44 bids to sell for $2,505, while a seat used near the end of the second quarter drew 42 bids tallying $2,750. To put the results in context, the most expensive sports chairs ever sold at Goldin and Heritage were $3,840 and $3,383 respectively. A mere piece of the net from the same game similarly saw 41 bids battle to a $560 result. These prices, and perhaps more the competition to achieve them, are significant validation of the value proposition for witness-based authentication, particularly for those items that might be outside of the scope of a traditional photomatch. Similarly, for leagues and teams, the appetite from fans to collect previously overlooked items should serve as a jolting wake-up call.

In fact, Iowa’s rival in the NCAA Final, the South Carolina Gamecocks, recognized the value in the very court on which they won the championship. The university purchased the center-court logo and other parts of the court for approximately $86,000. While the school will keep the logo for display, other panels will be sold via Artsman, a company that specializes in crafting memorabilia from flooring and other items that would fall in the previously overlooked bucket.

The NBA has long embraced the value of game-worn memorabilia, led by jerseys. Recent events hosted by Sotheby’s as part of the NBA Auctions partnership demonstrate increased acknowledgment that fans covet other items as well. Via All-Star Weekend events, the league took the opportunity to bring the locker room nameplates of All-Stars and Rising Stars to auction. The nameplates were photomatched by MeiGray as part of the existing program. Continuing the rookie’s white-hot streak on the block, Victor Wembanyama’s nameplate sold for $12,700 against an estimate of $2,000 – $4,000. While most of the players didn’t perform to those heights, the nameplate lots still achieved $29,464 in total sales. That amount of revenue changes very little for the league, but it came from 25 throwaway items that otherwise would’ve added no value. 

One item that might have been overlooked in a different era until its story was muddied and lost to time was the rim on which LeBron James broke the all-time scoring record. With 100% of net proceeds going to The Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation via MeiGray, it sold for $152,400. While it may be fair to consider nearly $30k in revenue to be de minimis for the NBA, most would agree the opportunity to direct $120,000 to charity is an exceedingly worthwhile pursuit. That’s the kind of door that organizations can now open by bringing previously overlooked memorabilia to market via more formalized channels. It may take time for the value of those items to find their appropriate level, and the consistent introduction of new supply may weigh on that value, but done via the right channels with the right authentication, win-win opportunities abound nonetheless. 

The world can continue to let chairs be chairs and towels be towels, and that’s fine. But fans and collectors love storytelling, and memorabilia of various kinds, accompanied by verifiable provenance, can provide the perfect vehicle for it.

In a fusion of fashion, art, music, and memorabilia, the seminal sale of Sir Elton John’s treasure trove of iconic collectibles paid homage to the unique personality displayed by one of music’s most impactful figures. 

The event, aptly titled “Goodbye Peachtree Road”, seamlessly interlaced culture and luxury, while a predictable mix of outperformance and record prices also hinted at a glaring weakness in the auction world’s ability or willingness to provide reasonable estimates for music memorabilia. Just as Sotheby’s declined to “value love” in its assessment of items from Freddie Mercury’s estate, it seems Christie’s avoided the inclusion of an “Elton John premium” in its projections.

On the opening night, art – in the form of prints, sculptures, and photographs – took center stage, as total sales across the categories reached $6.5 million. Among the evening’s standout moments was a trio of pieces that made their triumphant return to the auction block after decades in private ownership. Each of the three repeat sales tallied a premium over their last appearance at auction as photography remains a lucrative collectible category worthy of attention.

 In 1991, Sotheby’s sold an original print of Dovima with Elephants, a photograph taken by Richard Avedon for a 1955 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. The famous shot sold for $19,800 and resurfaced nearly a quarter-century later as part of Elton’s collection. This time, the work hammered for $120,000, up to $151,200 with premium, to demonstrate an overall valuation gain of 663% or a modest 6.4% increase on an annualized basis. Additionally, a photo titled Grapes by Robert Mapplethorpe sold for $81,900 after Elton acquired it from Sotheby’s for $36,800 in 1996, while Four Plants by Gilbert & George flipped for $189,000, up only narrowly from $186,000 in 2005. 

The most expensive item sold came by way of an iconic and recognizable Banksy. The poignant painting, Flower Thrower Triptych, sold for $1.9 million, good for the fifth most-expensive Banksy sold at auction over the past year. The sale established a record for any Banksy work related to throwing flowers, besting the previous high of $458,221 for Flower Chucker, 2023, which sold last March. Across more than 300 lots in the day and evening sale, the Banksy was the only to carry a seven-figure estimate and ultimately closed as the only item to hammer for at least $1 million.  

Although collectors of works by Keith Haring might long for the late 2010s, when art by the late American pop artist reached their valuation peaks, the pair of Harings owned by Elton John demonstrated the impact of provenance. Both paintings surpassed their pre-sale estimates, while the top sale, which was an untitled work from Haring’s Three Eyes collection, sold for $756,000 and surpassed any comparable work from the early 1980s series. 

As the premier sales closed, the remaining results carried less significance but still delivered new highs for more obscure artists. One new record that was established came by way of Pinnin Leaves by Radcliffe Bailey. The unique work is one of the first sold since Bailey’s passing in November of last year, and its inclusion within Elton John’s collection signifies the impact an artist can have despite a lack of prominent prices. Prior to the sale, Bailey’s auction record sat at $62,812, set via Bonham’s in 2021. With an estimate between $10,000 and $15,000, Pinnin Leaves sold for $94,500, representing an 18% increase over the previous high. Another artist, Derek Jarman, had his auction record nearly doubled as Topsey Turvey sold for $52,920 against an estimate of $8,000 – $12,000. The prior top price paid at auction for a Jarman was $26,739, paid for an oil on canvas at Christie’s in 2001. 

If the prices realized for Elton’s art weren’t evidence enough, the power of provenance was on full display for his luxury watch collection.

Five different watches sold for six-figures, while two, both by Cartier, reached $200K. The star of the evening sale was an 18K gold Cartier “Crash” which nearly tripled its high-end estimate of $100,000 and realized $277,200 after fees. Even setting aside the added provenance, the watch itself is rare with a total quantity of 400 in existence. The limited edition timepiece opened with an estimate between $70,000 – $100,000, a head-scratching range as comparable examples have consistently sold for at least $100,000 and have even surpassed $300,000 in recent years. The final bid plus premium totaled $277,200, below the all-time record for any 1991 Paris “Crash” but noticeably above the median sale 2022-2023 price range of $150,000 – $220,000. 

As the clear favorite timepiece of the piano-playing icon, Cartier outpaced all other watch brands with $853,020 in sales. The day sale was led by a Cartier Tank that hammered for more than 7x its pre-sale estimate. Christie’s offered an estimate range between $15,000 – $25,000, a fair premium to the average Cartier Tank but strikingly conservative for the unique ruby and diamond laden watch owned by an icon. 

Two watch auction records were established during the evening sale, one by way of a Cartier Normale which sold for $176,400, and the other, for a leopard-print Rolex Daytona. In a continuation of the overarching theme, the $40,000 to $60,000 estimate for the Rolex appeared light. Yes, there have been sales for the unique animal-themed model that settled below $60,000, but those have been few and far between. The retail price across authorized dealers who managed to secure one or two of the rare Daytona’s hovered in the $70,000 – $80,000 range at the time of release. The recent decline in Rolex valuations hasn’t ignored this model, as market values fell below $70,000 in late 2023. With that said, you would be hard-pressed to find an authentic example today for less than $65,000 and the timepiece presented by Christie’s came with more than just the standard papers. With the added benefit of royal provenance due to its place within Sir Elton John’s collection, bidders ignored concerns of a faltering Rolex market. When the hammer fell and premium had been added, the realized price read $176,400, setting a new record for this 21st century classic. 

It should go without saying, but could you really have an Elton John auction and not sell a piano? Admittedly, the supply of musical instruments was scarce, but the one Piano that did hit the block on the opening night struck a chord with collectors. 

The 1992 C6 model Yamaha grand piano entered with an estimated price between $30,000 and $50,000. Yes, that valuation is actually in line with the replacement value of comparable C6 Yamaha’s without superstar provenance, but for one owned by a musician who is to the piano what Michael Jordan is to a basketball, the estimate was grossly understated. That understatement was underscored by a response from bidders that can’t be overstated. The piano auctioned for $201,600 with fees to close as the most expensive music-related item sold throughout the multi-day event. 

Additional stage-worn and stage-used costumes and props included a pair of silver leather platform boots that carried an eyebrow-raising and inviting $5,000 to $10,000 estimate but sold for a reasonable $94,500. Various other costumes and apparel items combined for $212,310 in volume across the Evening and Day sales. 

Who needs a writer to pen auction lot descriptions when you have an essay from Elton John himself?

That was the case for the 1990 Bentley Continental, purchased by Elton shortly after the British-born classic rolled off the assembly line. The two door convertible, appearing at auction for the first time, was given an estimate between $25,000 and $35,000, which fell well short of the market value provided by collectible car experts. With the added bonus of carrying less than 30,000 miles of wear, the market value for a ‘90 Bentley Continental per the insurance company Hagerty is somewhere in the $50,000 – $70,000 range, double the auction estimate.

While Christie’s abstinence from accounting for “the Elton premium” was consistent, even the Hagerty market value was miles away from what bidders were ultimately willing to pay. The auction house reported a flurry of two-dozen bidders, and the heated action drove the price to a new record of $441,000. The hammer plus premium exceeded the pre-sale estimate by more than 12x and surpassed the price paid for any 1990s Bentley at auction by almost double. The prior high watermark was for a 1994 Continental IV, which sold in 2022 for $296,500, an impressive tally, but well below the price paid for one that came alongside a short essay, penned by the superstar owner himself. In the letter, Elton emphasized his astonishment with the beauty and detailing of the car, in addition to its unmistakable smell. 

In an active collectibles market where there’s constantly something new and shiny to catch our attention, the power of provenance remains as influential and important as ever. 

The Numbers Behind the Elton John Collection

Top 3 Sales

1. Flower Thrower Triptych by Banksy  – $1,925,000
2. Untitled (Three Eyes) by Keith Haring  – $756,000
3. Untitled  by Keith Haring  – $529,000

Total Sales by Event

• Opening Night – $7,960,900
• The Day Sale – $6.474,132
• The Jewel Box – $1,735,902
• Honky Château – $1,336,986
• Love, Lust, and Devotion – $1,123,416 
• Elton’s Superstars – $587,916
• Elton’s Versace – $574,938

In our Guide to the Music Memorabilia Market, published last month, a recurring theme was the dominance of vintage artists relative to active acts more popular among Millennial and Gen Z audiences. The market composition skews vintage in nature for myriad reasons:

• The music memorabilia market is often driven at the high end by estate sales or single-owner sales from late-career artists. These events offer the strongest provenance, rendering their contents highly desirable. As most currently-popular artists with young demographics are still living (and aren’t in the career retrospective phase that often inspires single-owner sales), much of their reputable material has yet to hit the market.
• Authentication standards in music memorabilia are lacking, so bidders’ confidence in the items that reach market is relatively low. Consequently, these items rarely attain headline-making prices.
• Channels of distribution for active artist memorabilia are similarly murky. Aside from one-off charity auction events, artists generally do not avail themselves of opportunities to engage directly with their fanbases and raise money for their causes through memorabilia.
• Fans of “vintage” artists are in their years of peak wealth, rendering them more inclined to spend big on memorabilia. 

The fourth point, however, is partially rebutted by the extreme spend of Taylor Swift and Beyonce fans on concert tickets. Millions of fans spent four-figure ticket prices to see those women live, and yet you’ll be surprised to learn just how non-existent the markets for their memorabilia are. These acts – Taylor, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, and Drake – fill the world’s largest stadiums for multiple nights, but that popularity hasn’t transferred to collecting realms. It seems, though, to be less an issue of demand and more an issue of supply. 

Let’s take a closer look at their markets to understand.

Taylor Swift’s fame needs no introduction. Providing one would only fall on already-fatigued ears. Since you already understand the size and scope of her superstardom, you might expect her memorabilia market to be sizable. But total sales volume of Taylor Swift memorabilia at all the auction houses* featured in our Guide to the Music Memorabilia Market was merely $36k in 2023.

That’s it. A pittance. A rounding error for some iconic vintage artists. 

Many prominent houses registered zero dollars in T-Swift volume. That’s hard to comprehend, as her tour single-handedly boosts local economies. 

The reality is that high-quality material simply isn’t out there. The most expensive Taylor Swift item to sell at those auction houses last year was a signed 1989 album, which sold for $5,500 at Gotta Have Rock and Roll. There were no stage or video-worn or played items to bid on. 

It was at one-off charity auctions where there were some fireworks. A Swift-signed guitar sold for $120,000 at Toby Keith’s OK Kids Korral Auction, while another autographed guitar sold for $50,000 at Hometown Foundation’s Dream Ride. Such items have not typically drawn big dollar figures in the past, but the results show that demand may be significant from the Swift-loving crowd that hasn’t previously dabbled in memorabilia.

Another Swift-autographed guitar (which the listing notes was not played by her) comes to Julien’s this winter for its Musicares Charity Relief Auction, with the donation coming from the artist. Could it clear the 2023 sales volume total? It’s not a particularly high bar, though the $1,000 – $1,500 estimate remains tame.

In 2016, Beyoncé embarked on her seventh, and until 2023, most lucrative world tour. The Formation Tour spanned 49 sold-out shows across the United States and Europe, becoming her highest-grossing tour with more than $250 million in total ticket sales. Despite the series of record-breaking shows and an overall surge in popularity, the demand displayed for Beyoncé concert ticket sales did not translate to a notable auction presence. The only piece of stage-worn memorabilia from that famed Formation Tour to sell for more than $10,000 is a signed black felt hat which totaled $27,500 at a 2017 auction hosted by Heritage. 

Those days might have been the peak, as the majority of Beyoncé memorabilia sales took place between 2016-2019, and some music-centric houses such as Iconic Auctions haven’t sold a single Beyoncé-related collectible in nearly four years. While the music industry surrounding Beyoncé is valued ​​in the millions and billions, and resale prices for her concert tickets reach the thousands, prices for Beyoncé memorabilia usually settle in the hundreds. In September 2023, RR Auction struck its most expensive Beyoncé sale ever when a 5×3 index card signed by the pop legend sold for.. drumroll… $650. While that might seem low, it’s no knock on RR, as the price plus premium was more than six times their pre-sale estimate. 

Unlike many in the music industry – no comment on Taylor Swift – Beyoncé’s career has intertwined with professional sports. Beyoncé belongs to a rare unique collective of performers who have taken the stage at multiple Super Bowls, with her inaugural performance coming in 2013 followed by a second showing in 2016. The sports crossover dates back to the early 2000s when Beyoncé appeared in the 2007 Sports Illustrated “Swimsuit Edition.” Scenes from which would later be used for her first trading card. In 2021, Goldin sold a PSA 10 specimen for $3,900, which stands as their most expensive Beyoncé sale to date. As for an update on the market, in 2023, a different gem-mint version hit the block at Goldin and closed for $377. 

Even at Julien’s, it’s not particularly cumbersome to tally the artist’s sales volume, so few are the available lots. The auction house best known for delivering impressive numbers for the biggest names in music has racked up a mere four Beyoncé sales with a total tally that sits below $14,000 all-time. Her 2023 auction house memorabilia total sat at $20k, led by Propstore’s $15,500 sale of her Foxy Cleopatra costume from Austin Powers in Goldmember. 

If there’s any current market for Beyoncé, it might rest in royalties. The company Royalty Exchange, which acts as an online auction platform and marketplace for music rights, copyrights, and royalty streams, has offered opportunities in multiple offerings related to Beyoncé. Their most lucrative transaction totaled $66,500 for the public performance rights to a music catalog that was headlined by Beyoncé’s “Flawless” in addition to a remix featuring Nicki Minaj. 

There is little doubt that the overall demand for Beyoncé has never been higher, as her 2023 Renaissance World Tour grossed $580 million, which more than doubled the total sales from her previous record, established in 2016. In a year where Swift stole headlines, Beyoncé broke the record for more career Grammy wins while her tour generated an estimated $4.5 billion for the US economy according to an article published by the New York Times. And to think her memorabilia market is as scarce and underappreciated as it is…

Harry Styles’s second concert tour, Love On Tour, grossed more than $600 million with north of 5 million tickets sold. While his popularity is perhaps not quite to the Taylor Swift or Beyonce standard, he boasts a remarkable global following with nearly 50 million Instagram followers. And guess what that rabid following spent on Harry Styles memorabilia and collectibles at auction houses of note in 2023? 

$1,341.

We’re not missing any commas, nor are we missing any zeroes. You’d be hard-pressed to find a larger incongruence between a person or entity with a large following and the associated collectibles spend. Make it make sense!  

Of course, fans are buying merchandise in venues other than these auction houses, which are perhaps missing the mark altogether when it comes to younger demographics in the music space. But, still…..we’re talking about 3 lots across eleven notable auction houses grossing only $1,341 for one of entertainment’s biggest superstars. 

Maybe Ed Sheeran isn’t the first person that comes to mind when you think “megastar,” but the numbers don’t lie. He was, at least at one point in 2022, the most followed artist on Spotify, and his Divide Tour is the third-highest grossing of all-time. 

His 2023 auction numbers actually compare very favorably to the peers listed here, though there are caveats. His auction sales totaled $68k. However, $57k of that can be attributed to two Tudor watches sold at Sotheby’s which were made for the Divide Tour crew. Though the Tudor Black Bays would have value on their own (think mid-four-figures), the prices were certainly raised by the rarity of their unique backstory. Those two items account for the lion’s share of Sheeran’s volume. 

Otherwise, business isn’t necessarily booming. The Julien’s website basically stopped just short of asking us if we took our pills today when we searched for Ed Sheeran.

Easy Tiger! No such thing as a “ed sheeran” here!

Drake generated a whopping $18k in auction house volume in 2023, though there were signs of broadening collectability across handwritten lyrics (some authenticated and slabbed) and graded CDs and vinyl. Still, put it this way: Drake, the buyer of Tupac’s $1 million crown ring, seems to spend way more on memorabilia at auction than is spent on memorabilia of his. 

These are the results of only five artists from a mere selection of auction houses (albeit the ones that do the most music memorabilia business), but the findings are clear: the collectibles market for the megastars of modern music is woefully underdeveloped. If these are the volumes for the megastars, imagine what that says about the market for artists of lesser popularity. 

There is a teeming, but unstructured collecting economy on eBay, where the volume of merchandise transacted is higher. Here’s a sampling of volumes in eBay’s “Entertainment Memorabilia” and “Music” categories in 2023, where the frenzy for the Eras Tour was most prominent.

Taylor Swift: $7.72 million

Beyonce: $225k

Harry Styles: $207k

Generally, items sold are manufactured collectibles of larger quantity, rather than artist-used or rare memorabilia. There aren’t big-ticket sales among those volumes, but the sales are significant in magnitude, demonstrating the broad appetite for a more concerted and targeted effort from auction houses and artists alike. 

Given the size of other collecting categories and  the tools available to better engage with fanbases through social media, it seems odd that we would wait for an artist’s estate sale to see more active markets for their desirable memorabilia and collectibles. The channels to bring assets to market have underwhelmed to date, and an opportunity appears sorely missed, even if that opportunity is only for artists to raise money in support of causes dear to them. Supply of desirable assets is limited, and large, global fanbases have been given little reason to take interest. It’s possible that the same means of achieving auction success in other categories won’t work here – those methods haven’t always cultivated engaged, female audiences, and many of these fanbases skew female.

It’s hard, though, to look at the size of following for Harry Styles and his $1,000 sales volume and come to any conclusion other than this: the modern music space is one of the most untapped opportunities in collectibles. 

* Included auction houses: Bonham’s, Christie’s, Goldin, Gotta Have Rock and Roll, GWS, Heritage, Iconic, Julien’s, Propstore, RR Auction, Sotheby’s