It was recently reported by espn.com’s sports business writer Darren Rovell – Cubs World Series title rings doing big business for Jostens – that interest in the Chicago Cubs’ World Series championship rings have been a grand slam.
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In the article, Jostens’ college and sports division representative, Chris Poitras, says that in the first full week of champion jewelry sales, the Cubs items have doubled any previous championship team’s title jewelry. There is a variety of different options available ranging from a $299 silver metal with CZ stones to a $10,800 ring from a run of 108 that has 65-70 grams of gold compared to the 100 grams of gold, on the rings given to the players, making it about 30 percent smaller.
Long-suffering fans are buying replica jewelry, but there is also a thriving market for authentic World Series, Super Bowl, NBA and NHL championship and college football championship rings. Fans of the University of Alabama can grab split end Chris Brown’s 1992 Crimson Tide National Championship ring for $7,500 that features 10-karat yellow gold and one center stone diamond and 33 additional sparkling CZs around the crimson-colored “A.”
Other college sports fans can make a run at Harold Thompson’s 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack NCAA Basketball Championship Ring (est. $20,000+)
Or a 2003 LSU Tigers National Championship Ring, (est. $6,000+)
Or a 2001 Miami Hurricanes NCAA Football Championship Ring, (est. $4,000+).
NFL fans can grab an old-school Jerry Kramer Super Bowl I Championship Ring (Replacement) with a large, genuine diamond in the center of the ring face (est. $40,000+), which Green Bay Packer head coach Vince Lombardi demanded to be precisely 1.00 point, not a fraction more or less, a tribute to his exacting nature. It is set into a silver oval reminiscent of a football and a globe, and framed by raised text reporting, “1966 World Champions Green Bay Packers”
Or they can pick up a 1996 Super Bowl XXXI Championship ring that was presented to running back Calvin Jones (est. $30,000).
For almost a century the Cubs were sharing a life of misery with the Boston Red Sox before the boys from Beantown captured World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and most recently in 2013. For the first time, Heritage Auctions has a ring from the most recent Red Sox championship season: Brayan Villareal’s World Series ring (est. $20,000+). On the opposite end of the futility spectrum sit the New York Yankees with an impressive cross section World Series championship rings from their decades of dominance represented in the Sports Collectibles Catalog Auction.
Bronx Bomber fans have found it is easy to highlight success when their team has won 27 World Series titles since 1923. Covering five decades, from the 1950s to the ‘90s, four different rings are available in mid-May including the 1956 New York Yankees World Series Championship Ring Presented to Yogi Berra in 1999 (est. $4,000+),
The 1958 New York Yankees World Championship Ring Presented to Bill “Moose” Skowron (est. $20,000+), the 1977 New York Yankees World Series Championship Ring Presented to Yogi Berra (est. $20,000+)
And the 1996 New York Yankees World Championship Pendant Crafted into Ring (est. $4,000+).
There are more than 60 rings available in the May 11-13 Sports Collectible Catalog Auction at estimates well below the retail price of the 2016 Cub World Series replica ring. These are rings that were presented to players, coaches, staff member and sometimes even wives. The market for authentic championship rings has never been stronger and passions from sports fans never has been higher.
For more sports items, check out our sports department to see upcoming auctions or past auction lots.