As the downturn saps fans’ buying power, Mastro Auctions will start selling art and antiques. On a sweltering night last August, more than 300 sports fans packed the House of Blues in Cleveland—partly to party, but mainly to bid on 83 pieces of sports history offered at Mastro Auctions’ first live sale. The opening item, a nearly complete set of Pirate Cigarettes baseball cards from 1912, sold for $960,000, an all-time high for such a collection. Douglas Allen, Mastro’s president and COO, was pleased but not surprised. After all, the company had been breaking price records on sports memorabilia through online auctions pretty much since it began. Click Here for full article in Business Week.
