The Attic Update Vol. 21 - Thor's Hammer, Correlations, and The 1955 Mercedes Coupe
Beyond Alternative Assets
Thanks for reading The Attic Update, a weekly look at the exciting world of collecting and investing in alternative assets.
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The Latest -
Most relevant stories in collecting and investing in alternative assets over the past week.
1 - Fractional Ownership -
“…that community has grown organically around the investments and we think that’s what we’re good at.” - Rally CEO George Leimer discusses collectibles as an asset class.
A buyout offer for the Rally 1993 Ferrari 348TS at $147,500 would return shareholders a 41% gain from the latest traded price and 7.3% since the IPO.
$22 million was raised from over 7,600 individual investors on SeedInvest for NowRX, the largest funded company on the platform. NowRX provides same-day pharmacy prescription delivery.
2 - Memorabilia & Collectibles -
Thor’s hammer and 1,400 more pieces of Hollywood history headed to Julien’s Acutions in Beverly Hills.
Scammers are everywhere: More on the massive 15-year memorabilia, art, and autograph fraud—signed baseballs and bats by Gehrig, Ruth, and Cy Young. ‘Straw sellers’ resold the faked autographed memorabilia to not just individuals but auction houses and galleries. My advice - Be safe. If you didn’t see Sugar Ray Leonard sign those boxing gloves with your own two eyes… assume it’s a fake.
The biggest white diamond ever auctioned sold for $21 million. The 228 carat stone named “The Rock” fell short of the record, which was $33 million for a 163 carat gem in 2017.
3 - Sports Cards -
Year to date, 18 sports cards have sold for $1 million or more. The two highest sales of 2022 so far? The ‘Sweet Caporal’ Honus Wagner for $3.1 million, and the 2000 Tom Brady Contenders for $2.3 million.
Alt’s 7-day Market Trends: Rising - Shane Bieber, Bryan Mountcastle. Falling - Brandon Clarke, Shawn Kemp.
4 - Rare Books -
First edition, first printing of Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ sells for $19,000.
A presentation copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ sells for $67,000.
5 - Crypto & NFTs -
FTX founder Bankman-Fried steps up to the plate with a 7% stake in Robinhood.
Correlations between Bitcoin, S&P 500, and Nasdaq at all-time highs. It’s basically all the same trade for now.
Michael Saylor loses billionaire status with MicroStrategy stock plunge. Could Bitcoin bring down Saylor?
6 - Watches -
Rolex Daytona ‘Jack of Diamonds’ sells for $1.6 million at Christie’s Geneva.
The Paul Newman ‘Tropical Lemon’ Daytona sells for $1.2 million.
Chrono24’s top investment watch ideas - The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Vacheron Constantin Overseas, and the F.P. Journe Elegante.
7 - Markets & Investing -
Dip buyers experience ‘meat-grinder’ bear market pain. Even Apple stock is officially in ‘bear’ territory. Down $200 billion in market cap value just this last week alone.
Over $7 trillion of market cap value lost in stock market year-to-date.
Twitter stock is $9 billion below Elon’s purchase price. The deal is far from secured.
‘Tiger Global & Softbank Bet the Farm’ Check out this awesome rundown of the sudden and grim state of two giants of the hedge fund universe.
8 - Collector Cars -
Did a 1955 Mercedes 300SLR Coupe just sell for $142 million?! Hagerty Insider has the scoop on the secret auction.
Bring-A-Trailer sells a 2017 Ferrari LaFerrari for $5 million, breaking the record for most valuable vehicle ever sold online.
Formula 1 racing legend Michael Schumacher’s 2009 Ferrari California is heading to auction.
9 - Art -
The big art news of the week - Warhol’s ‘Marilyn’ smashes auction record with $195 million sale at Christie’s.
Houston entrepreneur Bill Perkins wins Christie’s $15 million bidding war for ‘The Sugar Shack’ painting by Bernie Barnes.
Fine art photography from ‘First Man Photography.’
Featured Article -
Global markets are making headlines over the last few months, dipping down to multi-year lows. Some of the best performing and high-flying Nasdaq stocks of 2021 are now down 60% to 70% - or more.
Hear me out for just one minute. One of the most unique approaches to risk management comes from hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel. His ‘crash-protection’ insures that his fund won’t suffer from giant, unexpected losses.
He summarized his thesis to massive loss avoidance in his 2021 book, “Safe Haven.” Here’s a quick summary on Spitznagel, his previous book, “The Dao of Capital,” taking the ‘Roundabout Path,’ and why he’s one of the most original thinkers I’ve stumbled across in the investing world.
Quote from the Legends -
“The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.” - Seth Klarman
Featured Pod -
Sometimes you just need to hear a few new ideas. The Cashflow Ninja goes deep on cash flow businesses and money making side hustles.
What I like best about the pod is the outside the box approach, and almost limitless number of strategies and alternative asset investments included in their episode library. Idea, after idea, after idea…
This week, host M.C. Laubscher interviewed David Morgan, an analyst in the precious metals industry and publisher of ‘The Morgan Report.’ Check it out!
Featured Video, Part 1 -
This is the car that might have just secretly sold for $142 million. The 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR. Some estimates valued the car at over $300 million last year, so maybe someone got the deal of a lifetime…
Only two of these cars exist. Both owned by Mercedes - at least up until this last week. Maybe.
Supercar Blondie breaks it down for us in the video below.
Featured Video, Part 2 -
As long as we’re talking about market swoons, we might as well take a quick look at the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash.
Here’s a brief look, including original footage, on the build-up and financial crash of 1929. Yikes!
Question for You -
What alternative assets would you like more discussion about next week? Let’s hear your favorites.
Leave your comments, I’d love to hear them -
Thanks for reading, and have a great week!