Sometimes collecting doesn’t make sense — and that’s just fine

The recent Ken Stabler Career Collection sale via Pristine Auction was one on my collecting radar from the second it was teased and on my mind until the final gavel came down earlier this month.

Simply put, I had to have something.

Why? Stabler wasn’t the first NFL player I ever met — he was probably the second — and I had his autograph a dozen times from various appearances where I played autograph hound in the past, but I knew I had met someone unique every time I ran into him. I knew that the MVP awards and the game-used items would be out of my reach. I knew that the game balls would be scooped up by serious collectors just like many of the odd mementos in the auction that included everything from wedding photos to belt buckles, cowboy hats and mix tapes.

But I knew I had to have something.

Kenny Stabler auction commands thousands via awards, memorabilia

Earlier this month the late Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame but this past weekend the treasures from that career entered the hands of collectors around the world.

The auction of “Snake” Stabler’s personal collection of memorabilia via Pristine Auction ended on Sunday night with one six-figure item that didn’t reach its reserve and many others of note. In all, the auction generated nearly $200,000 in sales.

The priciest item was his 1976 Hickok Belt Award for Professional Athlete of the Year (above), which reached $107,427.60. It’s an honor that was awarded the final time with Stabler’s win and this is the first copy of the award to hit the open market. It’s an 18K gold belt buckle with a three-carat diamond, a three-carat ruby, a three-carat sapphire and 26 diamond chips totaling 5.5 carats.

National Sports Collectors Convention — the catch-all post

Via @paniniamerica: We are here! Set-up has begun for the @nsccshow #NSCC16

The National Sports Collectors Convention is nearly here and the months of preparation are culminating in the show of all shows for sports collectors the next five days in Atlantic City, N.J.

There will be plenty to see, plenty to do and plenty to buy and Buzz has been watching the developments the whole way. We’ll have galleries of images from the show floor and a few nuggets here and there in the coming days but there’s already been plenty written leading up to the show that you can all find right here.

Here’s a rundown of all past NSCC stories here on The Buzz …

Ken Stabler’s personal memorabilia to be sold via Pristine Auction

More than 450 lots of memorabilia from the collection of a former Alabama Crimson Tide and Oakland Raiders great are headed into collectors’ hands soon as they are now on the auction block.

Trophies, game-used memorabilia and more from the collection of Ken Stabler, who will be posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 6, are up for grabs after his family decided to part with them. “Snake” died in July 2015 after a brief battle with colon cancer.

“In honoring Ken Stabler’s requests, his family has chosen to make items from his personal career collection available to the fans of Mr. Stabler’s career through Pristine Auction,” read a release from the Phoenix-based company. “It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … to obtain a piece of sports memorabilia owned by legendary Oakland Raiders quarterback and 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ken Stabler.”