![]() ![]() They also want to open a Hall of Fame and conduct traveling exhibitions showcasing the items once the coronavirus pandemic subsides and people feel comfortable traveling again.įor Joel Platt, showing off his collection and celebrating athletes, coaches and others in sports are natural extensions to what he set out to do 77 years ago when he survived the fire in his uncle’s garage. The Platts plan on creating digital apps and games showcasing the memorabilia and producing documentaries about the items and the people behind them. The partnership with Collectable represents Joel and Jim Platt’s efforts to expand the Sports Immortals brand beyond the collectibles and the museum. “But if you ask my Dad the value of the collection, he likens it to the value you place on a family member, so to us that’s pretty much priceless.” “We don’t like to put a value on the collection mainly because the collectibles market fluctuates all the time,” said Jim Platt, Joel’s son and the Sports Immortals’ president. Still, most of Platt’s collection sits in three vaults that fewer than 200 people have ever accessed. He has more memorabilia at the Sports Immortals museum, which is housed in a 16,000-square-foot building in Boca Raton, Fla. Those items represent a tiny fraction of what Platt has collected through the years. Platt plans on offering more items for sale via Collectable next month and beyond, including a game-worn and signed jersey that basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan wore during his rookie season in 1984-85 and a game-worn and signed jersey that football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas wore in 1965. Platt will retain a 51 percent interest in that item, as well. On Thursday afternoon, Collectable will begin selling a stake in a uniform that Wilt Chamberlain wore in 1954 at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. Platt is looking to sell 7,250 shares at $16 apiece, representing a 49 percent interest in the item. Investors bought 1,000 shares at $48 each, giving them a 49 percent stake in the bat while Platt still owns the remaining 51 percent.Ĭollectable is also offering investors an opportunity to buy a stake in a UCLA warmup jacket from the 1968-69 season worn by All-American Lew Alcindor, who would change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The other item that Platt sold a stake in was a bat that baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson signed commemorating his 1949 season when he won the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. Platt retained the remaining 75 percent interest. ![]() Investors bought 12,800 shares at $10 apiece, giving them a 25 percent stake in the belt. This fall, Platt decided that the first item he would post on Collectable would be the World Boxing Council belt that Ali won in 1974 during the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire when Ali knocked out George Foreman. “Ali was the nicest individual, the greatest human being I’ve ever met.” “From that point on, every other time I met (Ali), as soon as he’d see me, he’d say, ‘My man, the museum man,’” Platt said. Platt recalls telling Ali about his desire to curate a museum with rare, valuable sports memorabilia from all of the world’s top athletes. The next day, Dundee invited Platt to watch Ali work out at the famed 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, Fla. Several years later, Platt met Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali’s trainer. Sure enough, he was able to connect with Mathewson’s widow and obtain some of Mathewson’s items through that relationship. Mathewson had died in 1925, but his widow was still alive, so Platt wanted to see if he could find her telephone number and address. He remembers in 1961 stopping by Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson had attended college. ![]() In the sports memorabilia world, Joel is the godfather.”Īfter starting out collecting baseball cards and other small items as a kid, Platt took it to another level in the 1960s and 1970s when he bought large collections from others and began getting to know superstar athletes and their families. Levine added: “The Sports Immortals brand may not be a household name to sports fans all across the world yet, but it will be. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |