If he hadn’t done some research after reading an article in the press, Mike Cole would have missed out on a fortune. To understand this, you have to go back a long way, more than 37 years ago. This university admissions director had been a student for a few weeks, in October 1984.
A friend of his family works for the Bullets, ancestors of the Wizards, and offers him two tickets for the start of the Washington season, October 26, 1984 in Chicago. No one seems interested in accompanying Mike. It must be said that at the time, even if a rookie named Michael Jordan had just arrived, the Bulls did not dream.
Mike Cole therefore decides to go alone. He collects the two tickets at the entrance to Chicago Stadium. He uses one of the tickets to enter, then throws it away and places the second in his shirt pocket. Then he keeps what will become a piece of history in a folder, along with other sports tickets.
Years and decades pass, as the banknote travels through the moves. Then, last December, Mike reads that a ticket to Michael Jordan’s first game sold for $264,000. He remembers that he owns one, which is quite unique, since it has never been used and remains intact.
“I’m a huge sports fan and always keep the tickets as souvenirs from the good old days”, he tells Yahoo! Sports. “Before that day, if I had been offered $500 for that ticket, no doubt I would have accepted. It was not a strategy to wait that long. I didn’t know a market existed for such tickets. »
Mike Cole then sends emails to several auction organizations, telling his story with a photo of the ticket. Obviously, in the minutes that followed, he received phone calls.
A sale is then organized and this amateur collector can follow the auction live. As soon as he refreshes his page, he sees that the price has gone up even more, sometimes by several thousand dollars. Finally, this little piece of paper he thought, why not give in for 500 dollars is sold… 468,000 dollars!
