Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values based on prices I find on the web, not appraisals for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.
Today’s question is about The Ring and other boxing magazines.
Question:
I have a large boxing collection I’m looking to sell. Includes the Ring, Boxing Illustrated, World Boxing and various others from the 60’s and up. Maybe you know how or who I might sell them to.
Answer:
Of all of the magazines named, The Ring was the only one I had heard of. I came across about 30 issues at auction two years ago after my auction buddy Janet asked if I’d seen all of The Ring magazines with Muhammad Ali on the cover. He was on the front of three of them, including a 1970 issue with a bright red cover and a headline in bold yellow lettering that read:
“The Heavyweight Champion – Clay or Frazier???”
He was still known as Cassius Clay, even though he had changed his named to Muhammad Ali in 1964. There were also cover illustrations of Joe Frazier and Floyd Patterson.
The Ring – considered “the Bible of Boxing” – has been around for more than 90 years, founded in 1922 in New York by sportswriter Nat Fleischer with assistance from promoter Tex Rickard and other investors. It is still being published today.
The copies at the auction sold cheap: The lot of three Ali covers sold for $15, while other Ring magazines sold in lots of five for $5 to $17.50. Four with Frazier on the cover went for $20. Most were bought by the same bidder.
I was not familiar with Boxing Illustrated and World Boxing, but I would suggest that the reader first try to determine the value and the market for all the magazines. I always suggest eBay and Google as a start, and then perhaps an auction house near where he or she lives. Keep in mind that most folks go to auctions to buy cheap, so the reader should not expect to get top dollar for the magazines.
The retail site boxingtreasures.com was selling The Ring and Boxing Illustrated. The Ring magazines dated back to the 1930s; several of the 1960s magazines were selling for up to $40. The company says on its website that it does consignments, but it didn’t mention how much it charges for the service.
The site Boxing Collectors News noted that the value of The Ring magazines can depend on both the condition and the publication date. The first copy from February 1922 is the most valuable, along with others from the 1920s. In the succeeding years, the value dropped, according to the site. Magazines from the 1960s were worth about $3 to $4 each.
To find out what someone is willing to actually pay for them right now, the reader should check eBay’s “Completed listings,” which shows what sold and for how much, as well as what didn’t sell.
On the eBay site, 99 bound copies of The Ring from the 1930s sold for $900. A framed copy that had been autographed by Ali sold for $305. Six issues from 1927 sold for $297, and six from 1926 sold for $259. A full year of magazines from 1979 sold for $240. In fact, full years of the magazines seemed to be among the best sellers.
Single copies from the 1960s sold for much less, from about $5 to $40 each or not at all. Sales of Boxing Illustrated and World Boxing were dismal. Most of the magazines went unsold.
I would suggest that the reader spend some time on eBay to determine which ones to unload or consign them to an auction house. Most auction houses hold sports memorabilia sales pretty often, and the bidders are not only on-site but also online and on the phone, thereby providing a larger buyers pool.
