foolish club

I’ve been involved in sports memorabilia for my entire life.  I got my first box of bubble gum cards from my father at the age of five, and I have been collecting ever since.  Over the years I built an impressive collection of American Football League-related memorabilia that was very important to me.

If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know that in the Summer of 2014, I consigned a large portion of that collection to an auction house in an effort to raise funds to open a business based on my other passion – lacrosse.  In essence I tried to use one passion to help fuel another.  Unfortunately, my dreams did not come to fruition, and the area where I live is without the lacrosse store that would have so benefitted our community.

There were several ways that I could have parted with my collection, but I decided to consign with a new auction house that is run by friends.  They are a trustworthy group who has been an asset to the collecting community for many years via direct sales, and recently decided to open a similarly-honorable auction house.  That group is BST Auctions, and their first auction is now open to the public.

BST’s Spring 2015 auction is loaded with high-quality AFL memorabilia (admittedly, a good portion of which came from my collections).  Many of the items have been written about in Tales from the AFL.

  • The first piece is The Foolish Club 5th Anniversary Collage that was given to AFL owners by Lamar Hunt.  This is a historically significant piece that came directly from the founder of the AFL.  In terms of AFL quality, it doesn’t get much better than this.
  • The 1960 Los Angeles Chargers Counter Top Display is a beautiful piece that dates back to the Chargers lone season in Los Angeles.  This piece has a museum-quality frame job, and is a visual stunner.
  • Collectors of AFL trading cards will immediately appreciate this piece.  This frame contains the original image used for Lance Alworth’s 1963 Fleer rookie card, as well as the card itself.  Both items have been autographed by the legendary hall of fame receiver.
  • 1960 AFL Championship Game Program – This program is always hotly-pursued when one comes up for sale.  The first AFL championship game program features many of the greatest name sin AFL history – Blanda, Cannon, Gillman, Davis, Noll, Kemp, Mix and more.  This program is an all-time classic!

I will admit that it is difficult to see so many of my once-treasured pieces now up for sale.  But a good collecting friend of mine once told me that we do not own the pieces in our collections.  We merely hold onto them until the next person comes around.  It comforts me to know that another collector will be able to enjoy them, and with any luck, will try to share them with all AFL fans as I did with this site.