A $3 find at a Goodwill outlet in Portland, Oregon has sold for $89,600 at Sotheby’s after it was discovered to be a genuine Wilt Chamberlain warmup jacket.
‘From my knowledge of selling, I know that most sports items sell very well,’ 19-year-old Quinn Brown told The Daily Mail earlier this month prior to Monday’s final sale at Sotheby’s. ‘Especially vintage items. Finding any sports clothing from the 1970s is very rare, so I knew I had something special shortly after finding it.’
Brown had been reselling clothing for years, but this discovery was more than even he could have ever expected.
After seeing another customer discard a bright yellow item emblazoned with the Los Angeles Lakers logo and the name ‘Chamberlain,’ Brown quickly grabbed the vintage piece and scurried to the checkout, where he paid a total of $3.07, as he told KPTV.
But it wasn’t until he got home that he began to suspect the item was more than just a replica. Posting a photo of the oversized warmup on Instagram, Brown managed to attract the attention of Sotheby’s, which has some experience in authenticating such pieces.
As it turned out, the jacket may have been used during the 1971-72 campaign, but was definitively photomatched to one Chamberlain wore during LA’s NBA Finals run the following season.
Quinn Brown, 19, of Portland, found an authentic Wilt Chamberlain warmup jacket at Goodwill
The jacket was verified through multiple photos of Chamberlain wearing the jacket
The warmup jacket was definitely used in 1972-73 and perhaps the previous season as well
‘What makes this jacket particularly significant is the combination of the photomatch and what it connects to,’ read the description on Sotheby’s website. ‘Being matched to multiple independent photographs across a single season already places an item in a small category.
‘The possibility that one of those photographs was taken during the 1972 NBA Finals pushes it further still. Photomatching a piece of game-worn clothing to a specific Finals series, for a player of this era, is genuinely exceptional.
‘And then there is the question of finality,’ the description continued. ‘Items from a player’s last active season carry a weight that nothing else can replicate. When Chamberlain retired after 1972–73, the supply of things he would ever wear on an NBA court became fixed forever. This jacket is part of that fixed, finite group.’
A buyer has not been identified, but as Brown told The Daily Mail earlier this month, he wanted the jacket to go to a true Lakers fan.
Although his best years came with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers, Chamberlain did play five memorable seasons with the Lakers
Chamberlain is seen sitting between Lakers legends Elgin Baylor (left) and Jerry West
Chamberlain and LA beat Phil Jackson (left) and Walt Frazier (right) in the 1972 Finals
‘To be honest, I don’t have any personal connection to the Lakers, and knowing that this could be worth a quarter of a million dollars, I would rather it go to a true Wilt Chamberlain fan than keep it,’ he said.
Of course, the final sales price fell well short of a quarter million dollars, but Brown still made a profit of nearly 3 million percent on his initial $3.07 investment. (The $89,600 sales price includes the buyer’s premium)
All in all, the auction price could prove to be a bargain given the limited amount of Chamberlain collectibles and the Hall of Famer’s impact on the game.
Although his best years came with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers, Chamberlain did play five memorable seasons with the Lakers at the end of his career.
And while his 17.7ppg scoring average with LA is dwarfed by the 41.5ppg he averaged with the Warriors, Chamberlain was nonetheless a key member of the Lakers’ first championship since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
Chamberlain, who still holds the NBA record with 100 points in a single game, passed away in 1999 at age 63.
