Goodwill Wilt Chamberlain jacket sells for $89,600 at Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s said a Lakers warm-up bought by 19-year-old reseller Quinn Brown for $3.07 was photo-matched to Chamberlain’s 1972 Finals run.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
A Los Angeles Lakers warm-up jacket picked out of a Goodwill bargain bin in Portland, Oregon, for $3.07 has just sold at Sotheby’s for $89,600, including the buyer’s premium, ESPN reported.
The jacket has “CHAMBERLAIN” across the back, and Sotheby’s said it belonged to Wilt Chamberlain, one of the NBA’s most famous giants and a centerpiece of Lakers history.
According to ESPN, the thrift-store find began in January with Quinn Brown, a 19-year-old who had spent three years buying vintage clothes and flipping them online. His biggest sale before this one had brought in $250, ESPN reported, citing details confirmed by Sotheby’s.
Brown had noticed someone put a jacket into a discount bin that looked like it carried Lakers colors, according to ESPN. He went looking for it, bought it, and later searched online for similar sales.
There was not much to compare it with, ESPN reported. Brown told a local news outlet he had seen a Wilt Chamberlain warm-up sell for five figures around 10 years earlier.
The story picked up speed after Brown posted a photo of the jacket. Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of modern collectibles, contacted him and persuaded him to consign it with the auction house, according to ESPN.
Sotheby’s then brought in SIA Photo Match to authenticate and match the jacket to historical images, ESPN reported.
The result turned a thrift-bin gamble into a serious piece of basketball memorabilia. Sotheby’s lot description said photo-matched Chamberlain items are “exceedingly rare,” according to ESPN.
Sotheby’s said the jacket was likely worn during the 1971-72 NBA season and was definitively matched to the 1972 NBA Finals. That series gave Chamberlain his second championship and delivered the Lakers’ first title in Los Angeles.
Chamberlain also won Finals MVP in that series, ESPN reported. It was his first Finals MVP award, because the honor was not introduced until 1969.
The jacket was also matched to the 1972-73 season, Chamberlain’s final NBA season, according to ESPN. That year, he set the single-season field goal percentage record at 72.7%, a mark ESPN said stood until the 2019-20 season.
ESPN said an attempt to reach Brown was unsuccessful. Sotheby’s confirmed the details of the purchase and consignment to the outlet.
For Brown, the numbers do the talking: a $3.07 Goodwill purchase became an $89,600 Sotheby’s sale.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.