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mar etwatCh s C C BladeRun nersThink you’re a bad girl? Then doncha need a pair of Tonya Harding autographed ice skates?
Imagine skating on Deering Oaks Pond in a pair of skates signed by risti Yamaguchi or Michelle wan. For you bad girls out there, how about lacing up some signed Tonya Hardings?
The Smithsonian Institute displays a star-spangled collection of skates used by Olympic stars, including speed skater Apolo Ohno’s. More easily obtained, however, are skates signed by the champions, and the results are not what one might guess. On eBay, a pair of skates signed by Harding can be yours for a mere $ 9.9 , practically what you might pay at Play It Again Sports for a previously-owned pair. Harding may have grabbed more headlines in her day, but Yamaguchi can claim that skates signed by her sell for a heftier $1 9.9 .
As with baseballs, the more signatures, the better. A pair of ice skates signed in 2002 by si gold medalists carried an eBay purchase price of $1, 00.
If se uins aren’t your style, check out hockey skates. There isn’t a lot of original Bobby Orr merchandise out there, but if you find a pair of his game-used skates, e pect to pay $ ,000-10,000.
Collectors are more interested in the autograph and whose foot perspired in the skates during that critical triple lut than the uality of boot and blade. It’s unlikely that all those buyers of celebrity-autographed skates are taking them for a spin instead, they’re bagging them and watching them increase in value. Included in this group are Olympic collectors, a big group that focuses on sports e uipment associated with the Olympic Games.
Skates worn by the athletes are more valuable than ones merely signed by them. And the circumstances under which they were worn can be a difference of several thousands of dollars. Skates worn at a ma or competition trump gameused skates in other words, pairs cast aside during minor events
Run ners
or everyday use.
The Smithsonian collection also includes the skates Brian Boitano wore when he won the gold medal at the 19 Lake Placid Olympic Games. They are unsigned, but evin Johnson, appraiser and owner of Sports Artifacts in Portland, Oregon, estimates they’re worth upwards of $10,000. “Olympic collectors remember that e act moment he threw up his arms,” he noted. “It’s all about the gold.”
“If they are to have any value in the future,” warns Johnson, “you need ironclad proof the skates were used by the athlete. A letter from the player it can’t get better than that.” He recommends purchasing skates and other sports memorabilia at charity events where the players themselves have donated the items with letters of authenticity and sometimes appear themselves.
If the visually beautiful is more to your liking, prices for anti ue ice skates run from $2 for manufactured or “common” clampon skates to $2,000 for a pair of rare handwrought 1 0 swan skates, which feature e aggerated swan silhouettes for the curl. Most 19-century, hand-wrought skates run in $ 0- 00. “They’re works of art,” said Russell Herner, the author of nti ue Ice Skates or the Collector and the country’s premier skate collector. ■
Sarah Cumming Cecil, a principal in the interior design firm Rose Cumming (www. rosecummingdesign.com), writes frequently on art, antiques, and interior design. Her work has appeared in ARTnews, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Connoisseur, and The New York Times.
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