Does the run on O.J. Simpson memorabilia begin now?
The Hall of Fame running back was granted parole Thursday afternoon in Nevada after spending nine years in prison for armed robbery involving two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. Before that, he was acquitted in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1995.
Not long after the new news on Thursday, one auction house had its own Simpson news. SCP Auctions will sell a pair of Simpson’s driver’s licenses in auctions in October — one issued to him in 1995 — around the same time that Simpson will be released.
“The two different licenses will be auctioned off separately,” said Terry Melia, SCP spokesperson. “The one that was issued during the trial, in 1995, should certainly attract more bids and thus go for a higher price. We have that one estimated to go for $5,000 or more, while the license issued in 2000 has a high estimate of $1,500.”
According to SCP, both licenses came from one of O.J.’s former bodyguards and the auction will run from Oct. 4-21.
“Despite what you think of O.J. Simpson,” Melia said, “there remains a real fascination about him with collectors.”
Collectors don’t have much new cardboard for Simpson. Clearly Simpson is not available to NFL card licensees as he barely appears on more than 100 different football cards total — and three-fourths of those are from his playing days and the years before the trial.
Simpson also does not appear on a single game-used memorabilia card and he appears on just 15 certified autographs — nearly all signed before his acquittal. His most-plentiful certified autograph cards are from the landmark 1991 Pro Line Portraits release, two Ted Williams Card Company cards and a pair of Signature Rookies cards. Everything else is of the non-packed oddball (Goal Line Art) or cut autograph variety.
For more on his cardboard, click here to view a past Simpson item here on The Buzz.
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