Check Your Yard — You Might Find $6M Dino Bones

You asked, Collectors, and we’re delivering.

Yesterday, a new episode of “Mantel Quality Stories” hit the site – and this one’s a gem. 

Gary Vaynerchuk (AKA, Gary Vee) joined Buster Scher to discuss five favorite items from his personal collection. If you know a thing or two about Gary, you might not be surprised to hear that he proudly presented an item from Super Bowl III. But the story behind it is must-watch material.

We’ll be dropping new episodes each week throughout the summer, so make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel, so you don’t miss a thing.

Now let’s get into it.

A $6M Fossil for a Birthday Present

Two years ago, amateur paleontologist Jason Cooper spent his birthday doing what he loves most: digging for dinosaur bones. Cooper owns a 100-acre property in Colorado and has found prehistoric relics there before, but nothing could compare to the 11.5-foot Stegosaurus skeleton he found on his 45th birthday. The find triggered a two-year professional excavation, and when all was said and done, 247 bones – about 75% of the full skeleton – were uncovered and handed over to Sotheby’s. The final price tag could exceed $6M, bolstered by 3D prints included in the sale. This dino appears to have lived an exceptionally long life, and its future owner will have inside access to new research (plus, a badass living room display … 12-foot ceilings required).

Rafa Watches – 14,000 Gs Cost One Big M

On the heels of what could be his last Roland Garros appearance, Rafael Nadal has unveiled a new Rafa Series watch with Richard Mille. Despite its weight of 0.4 ounces, this model packs a punch. It can support 14,000 Gs of force (as if the 11,000 Gs his previous model supported wasn’t enough?). This new watch also features gold coatings with hand-drawn and hand-polished finishes. If you’re interested in purchasing one of the 80 available, get your checkbook ready – these cost $1.15M a pop. And sure, these watches are branded as the “final” release of this series, but when it comes to both tennis and watches, we have a feeling Rafa has a bit more left in the tank.

Mystery of the Stolen Golden Ball

Last week, it was announced the 1986 Golden Ball awarded to Diego Maradona was headed to auction, with a sale likely to net millions. The late soccer star’s family immediately called foul, stating the trophy had been missing for decades and had been stolen. However, French courts initially gave the sale a legal “OK”. The family filed an appeal, and under intense scrutiny, auction house Aguttes officially postponed the sale. Shortly thereafter, the French government ordered the trophy to be handed over to judicial authorities. A legal battle awaits to decide the Golden Ball’s true owner, and this case is far from simple – Maradona himself never filed a criminal complaint for the trophy theft before passing away in 2020. 

Courts to Decide Fate of Jackie Robinson Contracts

The original contracts Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers to break baseball’s color barrier aren’t in either Cooperstown or the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York. Since 2019, they’ve been in the custody of the US Marshals, as a result of an ongoing criminal investigation into the media exec who purchased them back in 2013. According to the IRS, Mykalai Kontilai purchased the contracts for $2M and then touted the purchase to attract investors in other purported businesses, ultimately “misappropriating $6.1M” in a massive spending spree. Amidst several years of fraud claims and litigation, Kontilai was arrested in April 2023 with a court date for this upcoming July and now owes $50M in damages. But the future of the contracts he possesses remains unclear and may be up to the courts to decide. 

Rally to IPO Lebron James

Tomorrow, fractional investing platform Rally will IPO The King Collection, “comprised of meaningful photomatched shirts from LeBron (James’) Lakers tenure - 10 jerseys from moments that will help shape LeBron’s legacy.” Among the highlights are jerseys worn during the week James scored his 40,000th point, as well as jerseys worn in games against stars like Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards. The jerseys have a pre-IPO market cap of $500,000, with shares going for $10.

MJ Card Sets Record In Week’s Least-Surprising News

Remember the 2003 Jordan card that was predicted to set the all-time record for MJ cards? Well, shocker, it did just that with a price tag of $2.928M. It’s the latest high-priced sale in a strong Jordan memorabilia market, and comes on the heels of a record-breaking sale for a 1984-85 Star #101 MJ rookie.