Sports memorabilia

[dawgball]

I'm not a collector at all, but I do have one item that is extremely unique, so it is hard to gauge what it is worth.

I have two Maker's Mark limited edition bottles from the Kentucky Wildcats 1996 national championship year. Now the bottle itself is not unique, but Jarred Prickett (forward for UK then) was in my best friend's fraternity and he got the entire team to sign the bottles for me.

I would be willing to guess that these items may be the only two that are like this. The only signature missing from this bottle that would help is Rick Pitino's, but i could get that with little effort if it would help the value that much.

Any thoughts on what the value of this is?

 

[wayniac]

1 of a kind collectors items like that are worth as much as someone is willing to pay.
I sometimes sell basketball cards on ebay and things like that often sell for highly variable amounts.
maybe a good way to find out what it would bring in on the market without actually selling it would be to list it as an auction on ebay with an extremely high reserve price and just let bidders go at it to see what they will pay for it.
you might get a few direct offers from collectors too so it might help give some indication of what it is worth.
Plus that way if you are looking to sell and it goes pretty high you can email the bidder directly and contact them about the sale for their high bid, otherwise you can decide not to sell if it doesn't reach the reserve and you will have some extra info on it's market value.
Hope some of that helps

 

[wayniac]

also, Rick Pitino's auto would probably help sale price too.
I've noticed (for bball cards at least) his 2001 Fleer Greats of the game autograph card tends to sell pretty high compared to some others. usually around $60US from memory

 

[dawgball]

Thanks for the info. I have thoguht about doing the false ebay auction to get an idea. I may try that.

Thanks again

 

[IntenseOperator]

Makers Mark may have an interest...

or possibly one of the signatories of the bottle.

Either may be willing to throw you some serious scratch.

 

[BleedDodgerBlue]

I'd be willing to buy the makers if interested and you can keep the bottles and signatures and stuff

 

[Phenom]

A guy I used to work with collected special edition Maker's Mark Bottles. He had some friends that would go to Japan and buy bottles there and bring them back (pay about $30) in Japan and sell them on EBAY for $100-$125 a piece.

The job was right outside of Lexington, so naturally many people were UK fans, and he had several of the UK National Championship Bottles 96' 98', some signed. He said he had been offered $200 about four years ago for one that was signed just by Pitino or Smith (can't remember). So with that said I would say that with all the signatures, a collecter may give you anywhere from $200-$400 for one if you look on EBAY or check around the internet for collecters.

There are at least several dozen of these types of bottles floating around though...

Another idead is to become a Maker's Mark Ambassador, it is free and they send you stuff for holidays and birthdays, and have tailgates around the country, bourbon tastings, and other free cool events. If you go to one, you could likely find a collecter, this is the website:

http://www.makersmark.com/Ambassador/AmbInfo.aspx


I have a bottle that I got from my Grandfather before he died which is a clear bourbon whiskey made by Brown Forman (Jack Daniels, Heaven Hill, etc...) (he worked for them). From the 1960s which is unopened, they only made it for a year I think, but I am also very curious about what it is worth..

Hope all this chattering helps...

 

[dawgball]

Sounds good, Phenom. I am already a Maker's Mark ambassador. That is a good idea about the events. I have my son's name on a barrell up there waiting for it to age.

I have several of the specialty bottles that were sold here, but I don't think they are worth much besides what the contents are. I just like displaying them since Maker's represents my home state to me.