When we announced the Super Bowl contest to find the best New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks collection on Collectibles.com, I honestly didn’t know what we would find.
Many maps were submitted, but nothing really stood out. There were collections of autographed jerseys – mainly Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski – but those were the ones you could easily buy at any time.
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What I fell in love with is the real 1/1 of things. The pieces that proved these collectors were true fans. I’m not saying that true fans need to have a 20 year history, but the fact that our two winners clearly did made them stand out.
Not only did these guys own these items, but they proudly uploaded them to Collectibles.com for the world to see.
Our Seahawks winner is David Ellis. You can view his collection here. Of course, there are the awesome game-used jerseys: a 1999 Christian Fauria, a 2001 Brock Huard, a Cortez Kennedy and a team-issued Steve Largent. But the one that stood out to me was a team-issued 1991 Dan McGwire. All of us ’90s kids knew Mark McGwire’s little brother, who wasn’t exactly a baby (6’8″). The Seahawks drafted him 16th overall in 1991, 17 picks ahead of a guy named Brett Favre. What makes this jersey great is that McGwire, unlike his brother, was a bust and McGwire only played in one game during that 1991 rookie season, completing just three passes for 27 yards! So when I saw this McGwire jersey, I said “Real old school fan.”
And guess what, I would have been wrong. When I called David Ellis to inform him he had won, he told me he wasn’t even born in 1991 and his collection was only five years old.
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“I used to collect retail Seahawks jerseys and one day I saw a cool Eugene Robinson on eBay that looked a little different – it was at least team-issued,” Ellis told Cllct. “And from there, I discovered a whole community of Seahawks collectors.”
Over the past five years, Ellis has stepped up his efforts and now owns 60 team-issued or game-worn jerseys and 20 helmets. The jersey he spent the most money on was a Mike Teel jersey. Mike Teel who didn’t play a single snap in the NFL?
“Yeah, that Mike Teel,” Ellis said. “This was one of those jerseys back in 2009, when the Seahawks wore that horrible green. Turns out only three of them made it to market and so when one of them hit the market, it didn’t matter who was on the back.”
The price? $3,000 cash and trade!
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My assessment of his collection? You get the right Seahawks fan, he could probably fetch $45,000.
But the biggest prize is actually what’s coming this week. You see, when the Seahawks last played in the Super Bowl in 2015, Ellis was in college. Since then, his parents began secretly saving $50 a month so they could surprise him with tickets the next time Seattle came around. Ellis is now on his way to San Francisco.
For our Patriots winner, I really thought outside the box. Once again, we saw a lot of signed jerseys, a few teams issued, and a few players uploaded to people’s profiles on Collectibles.com. But submission where we left off came from Kevin Marszalek.
This guy uploaded 5,946 items to his profile and only had three Patriots pieces. But boy, were they beautiful. The great thing about Collectibles.com is that you can add so many details. The details added here – for the three paper autographs – were excellent. They are former Patriots quarterbacks Tony Eason, Steve Grogan and Doug Flutie. Marszalek noted that he got them at Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I. in 1988, during a joint practice between the Patriots and New York Giants.
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“I was nine years old and a friend and I were chasing these guys everywhere,” Marszalek told cllct. “I remember seeing Bill Parcells on a golf card and Phil Simms’ platinum blonde hair. If you look at my profile, you can see I also have autographs from that day from Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall and Carl Banks. When Banks approached, he stepped on my foot with his cleats, said ‘Sorry kid’ and patted me on the head.”
Marszalek said he knew nothing about the collection at the time, which is why they are all on pieces of paper. “Some are signed on the back without a player’s name,” he said.
Although he moved three times in his life, Marszalek always kept the autographs from that day.
For his evaluation? Our guy could probably sell the set for $50, but holding on to them 38 years later gives him far more joy than money ever would. “It’s invaluable,” he said. “That’s why I still have them.”
Thanks for all the submissions and be sure to try uploading your collections to Collectibles.com.
