PC P RO F I LE S
Good Fortune Is in the Cards Robert Lifson OPC ’78 by Jennifer Raphael
When at Penn Charter, Robert Lifson’s sports were ping pong and bowling. This wouldn’t be so unusual were it not for his current profession – which is the auction of high-end baseball cards and sports memorabilia and collectibles. Lifson founded and runs Robert Edward Auctions. The auction house has overseen the sale of some of the most valuable items in sports memorabilia – including Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech uniform, which sold for $306,000, and numerous Honus Wagner Babe Ruth rookie cards, which have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Robert Edward Auctions, headquartered in Watchung, N.J., holds the record auction price for a Babe Ruth rookie card, which is $517,000. That was 2008. “If a nice one was offered today, I am pretty sure it would bring in more than a million dollars,” Lifson said. The auction house – a leader in the field today – grew out of Lifson’s boyhood hobby. He began collecting at the age of five. When he started, baseball cards were not as valuable, and as he grew older, he amassed cards by placing newspaper ads and canvassing his Rydal, Pa. neighborhood. “Fortunately, everyone humored me,” he remembered. “By 1970, when I was 10, my hobby became a business as I found I could sell cards to make money and buy new cards.” Lifson had amassed more than 50,000 cards by the time he was 15, gaining media attention in local papers, National Geographic World and Sports Collector’s Digest. “The nostalgia
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craze was just starting to take off, and while prices were modest by today’s standards, it was a great introduction to the history of baseball and the business world,” he said. “My parents let me travel all over the country to baseball card conventions, before I could even drive. I was not motivated by money, but by an interest in learning and a love of collecting.” The auction business evolved from these roots. “I found it was much more enjoyable to help others sell their items. I could handle more material and learn more.”
Lifson was enjoying the infancy of his future career while enrolled in Penn Charter’s Upper School. “The good humor and understanding of the teachers really stood out to me,” he recalled. “Mr. [Richard] Pepino was like having a mad scientist or the Michael Keaton character from Beetlejuice teach us chemistry. He really made science fun.” Besides baseball cards and crazy chemistry, the mid to late ’70s were a time of enormous social change in America, a time that Lifson said
made a school like Penn Charter, which had a more progressive worldview, a good place to be. “Respect for all walks of life, encouraging activism to create positive change by speaking out, being sensitive to others and having compassion for those in need – these are values that have certainly been reinforced by the Quaker education that I apply to my life and family every day,” he said. Another one of his favorite subjects at Penn Charter was history, which is not surprising given his passion for rare collectibles. “What I love about collectibles is how every item tells a story. In one way or another, I have learned just about everything I know about history from collectibles,” he said. “As an auctioneer, I consider myself more of a researcher. My interest is in learning about and teaching the history of baseball and the history of America through objects.” And there are still more objects out there that Lifson would love to have the chance to sell at auction. “I’d love to auction Jackie Robinson’s 1947 player contract and 1947 Dodger’s uniform, but that’s not likely to happen, although it would be a thrill!” he said. However, there are some Holy Grail items that are more plausible — such as a newly discovered Babe Ruth rookie card. “I’d love to see one of those cards break the million-dollar mark. Over the years, we’ve handled the sale of just about every known example out there, but we never know where the next one will come from. If anyone out there has a card, let us know!” PC
