WHEN A WINNING BIDDER DOESN'T PAY

The Holy Grail Wayne Gretzky rookie card case is going back on the market.

In February, Heritage Auctions made headlines by selling a case of 1979 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards, stored away for decades in Regina, Saskatchewan, for $3.72 million. It's a case that included 16 sealed boxes with 48 packs per box and more than 10,000 total cards, and the potential to pull a stack of Gretzky rookie cards. It was a story of discovery, nostalgia and treasure hunting, until the original auction winner didn't pay the tab.

Now, thanks to that unpaid bill, collectors will have another shot at it.

The Director of Sports Auctions for Heritage, Chris Ivy, said the auction house discussed options on how to proceed with the consignors of the case and ultimately decided to put it back up for sale in its upcoming Winter Sports Catalog Auction in a twist to an increasingly bizarre story.

After downing Red Bulls to stay up late and win the initial auction, Jack Arshawsky told the CBC in April that his passion for the hobby went away when he saw the reaction of others who lost out on the case. He said he paid $3 million of the total price upfront while Heritage held the case in its vault, pending payment of the outstanding balance.

However, according to Heritage Auctions, no payment was made by Arshawsky.

Arshawsky claimed to have offered the case to prominent business owners and celebrities, attempting to find a suitable buyer for it, but was unsuccessful.

I just hope that whoever gets it is someone who really appreciates this kind of an item, Arshawsky told The Athletic, noting how serious collectors are about such rare finds. They live and breathe it. … It's like a religion to them.

It is extremely rare for someone to fail to complete a sale. It has happened in less than 1 percent of Heritage auctions, Ivy said.

We've never had a situation quite like this where a buyer who went to the press and essentially announced that he was looking to sell the item prior to making any sort of payment for it, Ivy said. It's very, very odd circumstances.

The botched sale isn't expected to negatively impact the value of the case, Ivy added. Despite the amount of media attention given to the item, no one has come forward with any other unopened cases, which Ivy said underscores the belief that it is the only one.

To read the complete article, see:
Wayne Gretzky rookie card case going back to auction after $3 million unpaid tab (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5903800/2024/11/06/wayne-gretzky-rookie-cards-auction/)

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