Calling all sports cards and memorabilia
What treasures might be in your basement, attic, garage?
Ben Pernfuss (pictured above, center, with Miller & Miller owners Ethan Miller, left, and Justin Miller, right) is stepping up to the plate as the new Consignment Director for Sports Cards & Memorabilia at Miller & Miller Auctions.
Miller & Miller Auctions is stepping up to the plate and launching a whole new auction category: Sports Cards & Memorabilia.
“The market is super hot right now,” says Ben Pernfuss, who’s been working at Miller & Miller for eight years and will now become their Consignment Director for Sports Cards and Memorabilia, with the first themed sale planned for Jan. 25, 2025. “We believe there are very likely all kinds of collections here in Canada that people don’t realize have value.”
In fact, just last year an elderly woman came into Miller & Miller with a shoebox filled with her father’s collection, which she consigned to their January 2023 Advertising & Historic Objects auction. At that sale her 1923 Willard Chocolate Babe Ruth baseball card, estimated at $2,000-$3,000, sold for $23,000 with buyer’s premium.
This 1923 Willard Chocolate Babe Ruth baseball card sold for $23,000 at Miller & Miller in January 2023.
“It was that sale that kick-started our interest in the category. The collection came out locally and that really opened our eyes,” says Ben, who was previously Miller & Miller’s Assistant Consignment Director for Advertising & Petroliana. He’s a collector himself and over the past five years has “hopped on the train of excitement for sports cards”.
Ben says they got thinking at Miller & Miller, “how can we utilize what’s here in Canada? How can we tap into a market that’s exploding, but still in its infancy here?”
And there’s no doubt it’s exploding.
In August 2022, the Globe and Mail reported, “Before the pandemic, the sports memorabilia market was estimated at more than US$5.4-billion, according to a 2018 Forbes interview with David Yoken, the founder of Collectable.com. By 2021, that market had grown to US$26-billion, according to the research firm Market Decipher, which predicts the market will grow astronomically to US$227-billion within a decade.”
As of 2021, the sports memorabilia market was valued at US$26 billion and is projected to expand to US$227 billion within the next decade.
“That lure of making money on something that might be sitting in one’s childhood basement has been irresistible,” said another expert.
Ben feels the category has grown so dramatically, in part, simply due to people’s enduring love of sports. “I think people connect with sports and athletes on a deeply personal level. Those people are heroes, their idols.”
And then of course, there’s the investment angle. A mint condition 1952 Mickie Mantle Rookie baseball card sold in 2022 at auction in the United States for over US$12 million, which had previously been bought in 1991 for $50,000.
This 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card with a 9.5 grade sold in the US for over US$12 million in 2022.
Miller & Miller will be focusing on three categories, all pre-1980: Sports cards, game-used memorabilia and signed memorabilia by All Stars and Hall of Famers.
“This new division at Miller & Miller is Ben’s baby, and there’s nothing this young guy can’t achieve,” said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions. “He’s smart, he’s charming, and he’s always thinking, ‘how can I help’? He pitched the idea and two words left my lips without a quiver of hesitation - ‘do it’.”
The fact that Miller & Miller is in Canada offers a distinct advantage to consignors, adds Ben.
“We are a Canadian auction house with an international audience that can take the risk and hassle out of consigning, since selling cross-border can really complicate options. We also treat people with great respect – we have the feel of a family-run business, but there’s also a very high level of professionalism. That’s what differentiates us.”
“I’m excited and optimistic we’re going to create a buzz with the consignments coming our way. We’ll be curating a sale that opens the door to Miller & Miller becoming a leader in sports memorabilia.”
For a free market evaluation of your collection contact Ben at benp@millerandmillerauctions.com