Have you ever dreamt of owning a piece of history? Imagine buying a share of the iconic 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, which Sotheby’s sold in 2022 for a record-breaking (at the time) $12.6 million. Perhaps you’re a Star Warrior who drools at the prospect of owning Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from Return of the Jedi? Or a Van Halen fan who lusts after Eddie’s Hot for Teacher “Frankenstrat” guitar?
These items are more than mere collectibles; they’re cultural touchstones, illustrative statements of fandom, iconic generational symbols, and - importantly - investable assets.
Auction Houses Are All-In
Major auction houses are not blind to the growing popularity of these types of collectibles. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Heritage, Bonhams and Julien’s, among others, have increasingly focused on chasing these types of consignments. Let’s look at a selection of the iconic assets they’ve sold in the past few years.
For the film buffs:
Do you love Star Wars? In 2017, Profiles in History (now owned by Heritage Auctions) sold R2-D2 for $2.76 million. In that same year, Bonhams sold Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet for $5.375 million. Or perhaps your tastes are more shaken-not-stirred? In 2019, RM Sotheby’s sold James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 that was featured in Goldfinger and Thunderball for a paltry $6.4 million.
Or maybe you’re more into music:
Nirvana fan? Julien’s recently sold two of Kurt Cobain’s guitars - the Martin D-18E he played on the popular 1994 album MTV Unplugged in New York for $6.01 million, and the Fender Stratocaster he used to record the 1991 smash hit Smells Like Teen Spirit for $4.55 million. Not to be outdone, Christie’s sold David Gilmour’s Fender Stratocaster featured in Pink Floyd’s legendary Comfortably Numb guitar solo for $3.975 million. For the classical aficionados, Tarisio Paris sold the “Da Vinci” Ex-Seidel Antonio Stradivari violin in 2022 for an eye-popping $15.3 million.
Sports enthusiast? Try these on for size:
Heritage recently set a sports memorabilia auction record with the sale of Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series jersey that the Bambino wore when he famously “called his shot” for a staggering $24.12 million. In 2022, Sotheby’s sold Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals game-worn jersey, featured in The Last Dance, for $10.1 million. Last month, Sotheby’s also sold Kobe Bryant’s Staples Center locker for $2.9 million.
Pick Your Passion - But Oh, The Pricetag!
Let’s be real - we all have passions, and many of us would love to own an instrument used to record our favorite song, game-worn sneakers from our favorite athlete, or a prop from our favorite film. And yet, the majority of us don’t possess the requisite financial means to invest in these types of assets.
Enter aShareX, the world’s first and only fractional auction platform. Fractional bidders can now compete against traditional 100% bidders for ownership of these unique and desirable artifacts. When fractional bidders win an auction, they receive shares via an SEC-qualified securities offering, evidencing their ownership of the item while aShareX stores, insures and maintains the asset. By democratizing access, everyone can finally get their share of assets they love - and by the way, these assets can be attractive investments!
Now we know there’s a mechanism whereby we can get our share of these collectibles. The next logical question is, how do we know that we aren’t overpaying? Given that aShareX is an auction-based platform, the market - a.k.a. bidders - determines the value. You’re getting the current market price. This is very different from a money manager acquiring ownership of the asset, maybe marking up the price, and re-selling it at their arbitrary valuation.
As a fractional investor, how do I know what my investment is worth? Is it appreciating in value? aShareX provides all fractional shareholders with third-party annual appraisals, and you can track the value of your shares. And true to aShareX’s democratization mantra, fractional shareholders get to vote each year (by simple majority based upon the number of shares held) whether they want to sell the underlying asset.
Get Your Share
Market-determined prices with investor-controlled liquidity. Investors - not an intermediary - determine when to sell the asset. Finally a win-win proposition.
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