Collector-Owned Sports Memorabilia Company Aims for Trust

Game Used Universe closed its first-ever auction in the wee hours of last Friday, with a John Elway game-worn road jersey and some vintage bats leading the way.

It began as a forum for collectors to exchange information. In just a few years, GameUsedUniverse has evolved into something a little more substantial. The company spent months collecting consignments for its first-ever on-line auction, hoping to steer collectors toward its business model.

Forums attached to each item, a relatively low 10% buyer's premium and a wide variety of game-used equipment and uniforms did just that when several hundred pieces were consigned.

A 1986 John Elway road jersey attracted the most interest from registered bidders. The jersey sold for $18,160. With the buyer's premium tacked on, the realized price was $19,976.

A Spalding model Ty Cobb bat brought $11,790 with the buyer's premium while a 1914-15 Wahoo Sam Crawford professional model sold for $7073.

Interestingly enough, the auction closed just days after the departure of Yankees' manager Joe Torre. A 2005 Torre home pinstriped jersey was in the auction and sold for $3252.

The rising value of sports memorabilia, the creativity among scam artists and the chase of big money has cast suspicions on a number of pieces of supposed game-used items coming from every sport. It's become a hot button issue, sometimes shielded from the often naive or undereducated buyers themselves who spend millions on collectibles each year.

Is it real?

No question is more important when four, five and six-figure items are offered to the public via the dozens of large sports memorabilia auctions taking place each year. Many casual collectors can't possibly know and have relied on their trust of auction houses to make purchase decisions for them. Much of the time it works. Other times, reservations expressed or information known outside the auction realm about a specific item never makes its way to those involved in the bidding. An unsuspecting buyer can wind up with an item that's questionable or even an outright fake.

Rather than have one of just a handful of people attempt to evaluate a wide spectrum of items, the sports collectors who built the popular website, Game Used Universe, felt they could build a better mousetrap.

"We believe the current auction model is deficient," CEO Chris Cavalier told