02x08 - The Pop Culture Auction

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music playing]

[in Spanish] We wait for the final.

[Ryan] I promised the Barrios family
that the Messi sticker would hit 100,000.

This is brutal.
This is a brutal position to be in.

Big finish coming, guys.
Big finish coming.

[suspenseful music continues]

[beeping on screen]

[Ryan] Come on now. Come on now.

[dings]

This is good.

-Let's go. Let's go.
-Come on, we got this. All right, guys.

The majority of the action happens late,
so when you see bids coming in,

it's jumping 10K, 20K, in the last hour,
that's a great sign.

It means we might get
that bidding w*r we're hoping for.

[beeping on screen, dings]

-[Ryan] Ninety-six thousand, let's go.
-[speaking Spanish]

-Come on, guys. Here we go. Here we go.
-Almost. Almost.

-Let's go, come on.
-We're right about there, guys.

Anytime you're on these auction closes,
there's a lot of emotion involved.

You're not just watching numbers
or a sale price of an item,

you're relating it to that person
selling that item with you.

-[beeping on screen]
-[Ryan] Here we go.

-Cross the fingers. Cross the fingers.
-[beeping]

[Ryan] Come on now.

-[dings]
-Let's go! [applauds]

[Carlo] Let's go, baby.

Big Krups, baby. Big Krups.

-Come on.
-Big Krups.

-We got there. Come on.
-Yeah.

[Carlo] Come on, Henry, let's go.

My heart was racing. Twenty seconds left.

-Here we go. We got another one.
-[beeping on screen]

Come on, be up there. Be up there.

-[dings]
-One-sixteen!

-Let's go!
-Oh my god!

[Ryan] Come on! Let's go, guys.

-[all] Five, four, three, two, one...
-[beeping on screen]

All right, 116, guys!

-Let's go!
-[cheering]

Well done, guys.

Let's go!

Congratulations.

Pumped for you, guys.
This is awesome. I'm happy for you.

$100,000, it helps a lot with my family.

Now, I'll buy a new house for my mom.

-Thank you.
-You deserve it.

I appreciate you trusting me.
It means a lot.

[Ryan] Right now, I feel like I'm on top
of the world. This is a huge win.

It genuinely couldn't have happened
to a nicer family.

They're getting a huge payday.

I'm getting a nice payday
out of this as well.

All is well right now, for sure.

And next time, I would definitely
not be inviting the family

to watch the end of an auction with me.

It's too stressful.

[dramatic music playing]

♪ I rise against the odds
And I place my own bets ♪

♪ Hard work, dedication
Y'all do the math ♪

♪ Do you want to be a champion? ♪

♪ I think I'm built to be a champion ♪

What I have in front of me

is one of the crown jewels
of our pop culture auction

taking place right now at Goldin.com.

It is a bass axe, concert used,
by KISS front man Gene Simmons.

[electric guitar playing]

[Ken] It comes with his personal
letter of authenticity.

Look at the axe blade right there.

And you see these little red marks?

Sorry, it might be a little gross,
but this is actual blood.

He spit blood out in the concert,
and there it is.

Now, this reads, "The God of Thunder."

This amazing piece
of rock 'n' roll history

can be yours right now
if you go to Goldin.com.

-Get your bids in right now.
-And cut.

-We good?
-We're good.

Thank you.

The reason I called you in
is I need to hear some results.

I need to hear how close we are
to the $30 million goal.

Still got an uphill battle ahead of us,
but we're getting closer.

This has been
our biggest year ever in pop culture.

We've had a lot of auctions.
We're getting close to our goal.

We've not hit it yet, but we're
at the final homestretch of auctions,

and hopefully,
these last sales can put us over the top.

All right. Couple big sales:

We had Tyson's Punch-Out!!, 115 grand.

[Ken] That's nice.

[Dave] Star Wars superfractor,
we got 32K for that.

Two Illustrator sales.
We got 372 grand for the PSA 8...

-[Ken] Mm-hmm.
-[Dave] ...and 579,000 for the PSA 9.

[Ken] Very nice.

The moped from Dumb and Dumber
that Jim Carrey traded for his van,

uh, a little over 20 grand.

-[Ken laughs] Does it run?
-[Dave] Barely.

The tires were flat. I think if it ran,
we'd have got 50 grand.

That's the thing, especially stuff
that do not have comps, they're rarities.

Something like that, literally,
could have gone for 5,000.

On the same token,
it could have gone for 50,000.

Yeah. That still puts us a bit shy.

And honestly, with our projections
right now, for the auction,

it looks like we're probably gonna land
like a million shy of the goal.

You know, pending we can't get
some crazy action on the last day.

[Ken] We missed the $2 million
at Comic Con.

That was more of a soft goal.

Thirty million is a hard line.

I mean, that is what is in my budget,
to do 30 million in pop culture.

That is what we need to do.

I cannot help with this close.
I got a call today from Ken Kendrick.

Okay. The Ken Kendrick?

The Ken Kendrick,
owner of the Diamondbacks,

the owner of the Diamondback collection
of trading cards,

the most prestigious and well-known
trading card collection in the world.

We've been communicating because
of the Phillies Diamondbacks series.

I said, "I rooted for the Diamondbacks
as long as I could."

Of course, his big card
has got to be the T-206 Honus Wagner,

the Gretzky Wagner, which became famous
because Gretzky was the guy who bought it

for, I think, like $450,000
way back in the day.

And it was like a crazy, crazy price.

Kendrick bought it years later
for 2.8 million.

And that was a record
for, like, the highest-priced trading card

that literally stood for, like, 15 years.

And, obviously, earlier in the year,

I didn't get my friend Steve's Wagner,
and this one's a better grade.

That card, today,
it's got to be over $50 million.

So I don't know if the stars are aligning
and he wants to do something with this,

but I'm visiting him at his stadium,

where he stores his collection
in an underground vault.

If I can walk away with something,

this could be the start
of a game changer for Goldin.

I mean, he's got to want to consign
if he's got you flying out there.

I've got a flight out today
to go out there and see him tomorrow,

so I'm gonna go catch that.

You gotta get the team rallied,
get everybody on the phone.

It is a hard number I need to hit,
which means you need to hit it.

Do whatever we gotta do.

I thought I was gonna be there
with Dave and the team

to help them get across the finish line
on pop culture, $30 million,

but it's time for Dave to step up
and show me why he's number two.

-I will hit the phones.
-Okay.

["Ready" by Raphael Lake,
Aaron Levy, Dumi Maraire playing]

♪ How can you blame me?
I was born for this ♪

♪ The game chose me ♪

♪ Now I've been training
For this my whole life ♪

♪ Carpe diem, seize the moment right ♪

♪ Ready, ready
My whole click since '06 ♪

♪ Was on the bottom now we running this ♪

♪ Grind hard when the load gets heavy ♪

♪ The money was slow but now it's ready
You boys is not ready ♪

Hi, Mr. Goldin. I'm Nicki.

-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.

-Mr. Kendrick's expecting you. This way.
-[Ken] Great.

-[Nicki] Hi, Ken. Ken is here.
-Hello, Nicki.

-Hey, Ken.
-Great to finally meet you in person.

-Absolutely.
-Likewise. You know Tom Harris.

-Hi, nice to meet you, Tom.
-Hi. Nice to meet you.

So we meet, finally.

Well, it's been a while,
but done a lot of things together.

-Absolutely.
-But not ever seen each other in person.

So I'm glad you're here.
Thanks for coming.

My name is Ken Kendrick,

and I'm the managing general partner
of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Over the years, I bought cards from Ken,

and I think Ken has sold some cards
from the earlier days,

when I was kind of getting my hands
around what I wanted to do.

But I think Ken already knows
that I'm not a seller, I am a collector.

Couldn't meet you in Philly
during the series, but you were busy.

-This isn't a bad spot to meet.
-No. Exactly.

You're now at the home
of the National League champions.

-You gotta rub that in.
-[all laughing]

Why wouldn't I?

I mean, why do you win
if you can't hold it over someone?

Exactly.

[laughing]

But, in any event, maybe what we can do
is ask Tom to go get my vintage cards,

-which I know you want to see.
-Okay.

-Okay. Sounds good to me.
-I'll go get them. Go grab them.

Thank you.

I know it's a near-impossible task

to get Ken to part with his collection,
but you know something?

If Goldin was the one
to sell Kendrick's Wagner...

it's a game changer.

["Live Fast" by Liquid Cinema playing]

♪ Live loud ♪

♪ To the max speed of sound ♪

[beeps]

♪ Live fast, live loud ♪

♪ Live fast, live fast, go fast ♪

[Kendrick] Go back here and look
at some baseball cards.

[Ken] Sounds good to me.

What do you got? What did you bring?

[suspenseful music playing]

Here are some that you may want to
take a look at, and we can talk about it.

Right off the top,


This is the highest graded in the world.

1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie card,
one of two, PSA 10.

This is probably
in the 9-to-12-million-dollar range.

Here's the guy, I think,
is the most undervalued guy in sports,

at least in baseball, Willie Mays.

'52 Topps, PSA 10.

And that's a one of one.

1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle rookie.

PSA 10, the only one in existence.

Finally, what some people will call
the granddaddy of cards.

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, PSA 10.

One of only three.

I've offered $28 million for this card,
turned down.

I would have to start
at $30 million and up for the price.

This is just an exceptional,
exceptional collection.

One of the cards, of course,
that I'm most proud to own,

it has its own carrying case,

and it has its own little
first edition book that houses it,

so let me... Uh...

Well, I'm very proud to own it.

-Here he is.
-[Ken] Oh, man.

[Kendrick] The highest-graded-of-all-time
Honus Wagner card.

[thrilling music playing]

-Oh, man.
-[Kendrick] The Wagner's...

[Ken] You realize that this is
the Mona Lisa of trading cards.

Unbelievable.

This is a card...
Honestly, I'm taking a selfie with this.

This is, uh... Actually,
I'm going to take that right now.

-[chuckles]
-Do you mind?

No. Take a photo of you holding my card?

[Ken] Yes!

I think today's a first.

I can't recall a specific time
I literally interrupted a consignment

to take a selfie with the item.

I mean, this guy's collection
is just incredible.

This is, to me, the single greatest
trading card in existence.

The purchase price was 2.8 million.

-Yup. I...
-The highest I've ever paid for a card.

[Ken] This is just unbelievable.

I would be doing myself a disservice
if I at least didn't ask you. Um...

Do you ever have plans to...
to sell this card?

About four, five years ago,

there were people that are willing
to pay over 30 million for this.

I'm gonna guess, since the boom,
it's got to be over 50 million by now.

[suspenseful music playing]

Man, I'm looking at these houses,
I got high hopes. This looks good to me.

-Let's hope there ain't no Beanie Babies.
-Please, no more Beanie Babies.

Today, we're going to meet someone
who has a huge basement collection.

Sometimes we go out and find items.

A lot of times, people just find us,
and call us on the phone,

and get us to come out.

[knock on door]

If the house is any indication,
I can't wait to see who's behind the door.

-[Robbie Sr.] For real.
-This is the spot right here.

-Hey.
-Hey, fellas, how are you?

-John. Robbie. Pleasure.
-Robbie. A pleasure.

And you must be Robbie Sr.
Come on in, guys.

[Ladyzinsky] My name is John Ladyzinsky.

I saw the King of Collectibles show
on Netflix and said, "I have that stuff."

And my wife and I were watching it,
and she said,

"You know we should call them
and see if they'll take a look."

My collection is 50 years in the making.

I have had people try to buy,

and they've always looked
at one particular item or another.

But it's a collection.
I wouldn't want to break it up.

So my wife will only let me have
my sports memorabilia in the basement.

[thrilling music playing]

-[Robbie Sr.] Wow! Man!
-[Robbie Jr.] Look at all this stuff!

Woo-hoo!

[heroic music playing]

[Robbie Jr.] This is the
most organized collection I've ever seen.

He's got stuff
going from the floor to the ceiling.

We had an idea of what we would walk into,
but it's way beyond what we hoped.

"Miracle on Ice."

Gretzky.

NBA 50.

Yankee Stadium chair signed by Mantle.

LeBron, 16 by 20.
You've got everything down here!

[heroic music continues]

[Robbie Sr.]
John hadn't sold any items before,

but when he sees
the passion that we have for his items,

hopefully that'll give him the opportunity
to give it to us on consignment.

You know what?
We'll also make him a lot of money.

Us too.

[both laugh]

That's right.

If you notice on this one here,
the NBA 50,

these signatures are never gonna fade
because they signed them in pencil.

-[Robbie Jr.] Uh-huh.
-You know, so they're gonna last.

Over here, I have a lot
of hockey stuff, as you can see.

[Robbie Sr.] This is amazing.

[Ladyzinsky] Both my boys played hockey,
so I was very much into it.

This is a game-used hockey stick
signed by Wayne Gretzky.

-[Robbie Jr.] The Great One.
-He used this stick in the '85-'86 season,

-when he scored 215 points.
-[Robbie Jr.] Wow. That's amazing.

We have the "Miracle on Ice" team,
signed by everybody, including Brooks.

-[Robbie Jr.] Got Herb Brooks on there?
-Absolutely.

They're just that much sweeter
when you get Herb Brooks on there.

It was an underdog team.

And they still do get together
to do autograph signings.

Obviously, Herb Brooks is not alive
anymore, so you got one before.

Yeah. I also have,
and it's another one of my key pieces,

is a signed Babe Ruth baseball,
on the sweet spot.

And I don't think you're gonna find a ball
whiter than that.

[Robbie Sr.] We saw a Babe Ruth baseball,

at a collector's house,
nowhere near like that.

-The Babe.
-[Robbie Sr.] Babe Ruth.

There it is, man.

[Robbie Jr.] You could take anybody
and they know who Babe Ruth is.

[Robbie Sr.] That ball looks like
it was signed yesterday.

[Robbie Jr.] I'm focused
on these Olympic torches.

These are three Olympic torches that I got
that were used in the Olympic relay.

[Robbie Jr.] Wow.

These are another one of my key items.
Note I got these custom stands for them.

How'd you get them?
How does somebody end up with these?

-Well, I hip-checked one of the runners.
-[laughter]

They dropped it, I ran.

-[Robbie Sr.] Man!
-No one said a thing.

The Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Torino Winter Olympics in 2006.

And, finally, the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Um, I also happened to get
a gold medal here.

-Signed by Usain Bolt.
-[Robbie Jr.] Love it.

[Ladyzinsky] Usain Bolt was the man
at the Olympics.

[Robbie Jr.] How could anybody forget?

John, what made you bring us here today,
though, is what we really want to know?

-All these years collecting these things...
-Yeah.

...and you pick today as the day

to have us come in,
come look at this stuff.

What does that mean?

It's getting to be time,
because we're going to be moving.

And we're moving down to Florida.

But it's my collection. It's...
You know, I put most of my life into this.

Basically, I wanted you to come by,
to look at the collection,

and give me an idea
of what it's worth, just as...

[Robbie Jr.] I see a lot in here.

I'd like to make this our inventory
and sell off this for years.

That's really what I want to do.

John is emotionally attached
to his collection.

The goal here is to get him to trust us.

With the Olympics coming up,
the torch is a hot collectible.

Now is the time
to get that item in our possession.

These Olympic torches, that's something
I would like to have at Goldin,

I'd like to be able to market it
for you now.

The good thing about these,
the Olympics is coming up.

These things would be great.

Well, that's sort of the reason
why I wouldn't want to sell.

We get together as a family and friends,
and watch the Olympic Games.

Having stuff like this sets the mood,
if you know what I mean.

You'll still do that.
You'll just have the money now

instead of having the torches.

That's exactly what I was gonna say.
It'd be nice to sit around with a check.

Uh...

I'm just a little, um...

You only get a short period of time
to be able to sell these things.

It comes up, you have Winter Olympics,
Summer Olympics, every four years.

You've got to strike while it's hot,
when it's there.

Let us move the torches on for you.

And we get that big fat check for you,
and who knows what's down the road.

-Today is the day. It really is.
-Today.

-It really, really is, John.
-Yeah.

I want Robbie Jr. and myself
to be right there, holding that torch,

just like they did in the Olympics.
At the top! I want to do that.

We're gonna help you and your wife
get to Florida and get rid of all this.

We gotta start somewhere, and this is
where I want to start. The three torches.

What do you think, John?
Can we move one from those?

[tense music playing]

You guys are good salesmen.
You really are.

-Yes, we can.
-My man.

-Thank you. Thank you.
-[Robbie Jr.] My man.

-Pleasure.
-Thank you.

All right. You did the torches.

What about the Babe Ruth ball?

You know, you guys wouldn't be here at all
if they had basements in Florida.

-That's right.
-Let's hold off on the Babe Ruth baseball.

-You can't blame a guy for asking, right?
-Absolutely.

-We'll work with these first.
-Yeah.

I guarantee you, once we make you happy,
you'll think harder about that ball.

We'll see how it goes.

That first sale
is like a crack in the dam.

And once you reach that first sale,
the rest is history.

[Robbie Jr.] We've seen this
time and time again with collectors.

They're passionate about their items.
They have an attachment. But money talks.

At the end of the day, once they start
seeing them dollars, they start to let go.

For real.

[light music playing]

-[Ryan] Konnichiwa.
-Hi.

[Ryan] How are we doing?

I'm meeting with two Japanese collectors
to discuss top-tier Pokémon cards.

So I'm finally making a name for myself
in the Pokémon arena, which is huge,

not only for myself, but for Goldin.

We have a $30 million goal we have to hit.

With the pop culture goal,
this could not be better timing.

You guys want to have a seat
right over here?

I actually have
your business partner, John, on.

-John, can you hear us?
-[Yang] Yes.

-Perfect.
-[Yang] Hello. Hello.

First of all, John, thank you so much
for helping us setting this all up

and translating for us.

We're excited. We love bringing clients
from around the world, especially Japan.

Some of my best and biggest clients
come from Japan, so this is an honor.

[Yang] Yes, I know.
We have a lot of cards in Tokyo, so...

Exactly. Exactly.
Let's start diving in, I'm excited.

-[Yosuke] Let's go.
-[Issei] Yes.

Thank... Oh my gosh.

[Yosuke] Oh my gosh. [chuckles]

-[Ryan] Wow. I mean, this is unbelievable.
-[Issei] Yeah.

[Ryan] This is the Pokémon trophy set.

One of the hardest sets to complete
in the entire game.

Last year, I sold this exact set
for over half a million dollars,

but these are even higher-graded.

You made a convincing argument.

We'd like to sell them as a set.

-[Ryan] Amazing.
-Thank you, Ryan. We're on board with you.

-[Ryan] Oh my gosh, dude.
-[Fung] Oh, yeah. I'm getting goose bumps.

This is incredible.

Oh my gosh.

This set is all graded PSA 8's,

which is a huge upgrade
from the previous set.

This trophy set
is the gift that keeps on giving.

This set is so highly chased
around the world,

and the fact that you completed the set,

you're probably one of maybe three people
in the world to have ever done this.

So this is incredible. And there's more!

-Next.
-[Ryan] There's more.

I don't know if I'm ready for it.
I'm ready. Let's do it. Let's do it.

[Ryan] Oh my gosh,
you got me nervous right now.

[tense music playing]

Are you kidding me?

[chuckles]

[hip-hop music playing]

[Dave] "Untitled with Tiny Tree,"
here we go.

[Carlo] I'm watching
the pop culture auction.

The world's gonna want this piece.

To see Goldin selling a Bob Ross,
that appeals to everyone.

Pop culture, it's Americana,
it's a big deal for us.

All Carlo's commission on this one.

-[Carlo] Here we go.
-[Dave] Gonna be closing.

-[Carlo] All right, 33,000.
-[Dave] Hey. Wow.

Thirty-three is strong on this.

First time we're selling a Bob Ross.
Obviously, some risk there.

We want to be number one.
And we're motivated by success.

It never ends. You know, we never sleep.

We gotta keep on going. And, hopefully,
we don't just get to the goal.

We wanna beat the goal.

[Carlo] Hey, Eric.

I wanted to connect with you. I'm happy
with the result. What'd you think?

It's more than what I expected.

I'm super happy with the results.

You guys will be, for sure,
the first I call next time I sell one.

It's been a pleasure. Talk to you soon.

[hip-hop music playing]

When I got this card,

-my son was 11 years old.
-[Ken] Mm-hmm.

I sat him down, I said,

"This card may be the most important card
that I will ever own."

Yup.

"And my collection is what, I believe,
will become a legacy in our family."

Mm-hmm.

"When Daddy is gone,
these cards will belong to you."

-[Ken] Yup.
-He says, "Hey, Daddy."

"I just want you to know something."
And I said, "What's that?"

And he says,
"I'll never sell these cards."

That's your answer.

They won't be sold in my lifetime.

I can't say I'm disappointed because
it's what I'm doing with my son, Paul.

I can't say I went to Ken
with expectations

that I would walk away with the Wagner.

I mean, hell, there's no way
I'm gonna walk into that office

and not take my shot
at the Gretzky Wagner.

Simply not gonna happen.

But I had tempered expectations.

I'm slightly disappointed.

I understand
what he wants to do with his family.

It's similar to what I'm doing
for my family.

And, um, we'll see what happens
in the future.

But I am going after
the rest of his collection.

I'm sure there are people in the past,
and even recently,

-that try to buy this card or other cards.
-Yes.

I am trying to find a high-end buyer
for a high-end Wagner.

-Let's call it the Wagner community.
-Yup.

-I've helped with a couple of sales.
-[Ken] Yup.

-I've made some introductions.
-[Ken] Mm-hmm.

I'll be glad to talk to you about friends
who would love to own their own Wagners.

Great.

If Steve thought I'm done
going after his Wagner,

he forgot I'm Ken Goldin.

So, listen, you're not gonna let me go
back to New Jersey empty-handed.

There's gotta be something
you can consign to Goldin.

Well, I do have these.

-I'm a set builder.
-[Ken] Yup.

And as I get a higher grade,
you know, I now have a card to sell.

-There's a nine...
-Why do I have a nine?

-Because I got a ten.
-You got a ten.

Anything that I do with selling,
goes to a foundation.

Okay, that's amazing.

To get any consignment
from the Ken Kendrick collection,

trust me, is a big deal,
whether it's $20,000 or $20 million.

It's a big deal,

and I am honored to be selling
a small part of the Kendrick collection,

and even happier
that this is going to go to charity.

-[Kendrick] This is Chase Field.
-[Ken] Nice.

You got us on a kind of unusual day
because, as you can see,

we have this flooring
laid over our normal turf

because we had a lunch event
here on the field today,

and they're cleaning up.

The most famous thing here
is way out in right field.

There is a swimming pool.

When our team has a victory
in a playoff series,

that's where they go to celebrate.

[Ken] Okay.

[Kendrick] Twenty-five-year-old ballpark.
Nearly 50,000 seats.

Actually, one of the larger parks
in the MLB.

It looks a lot nicer in person

than it looked to me on TV
in late October.

-Well, your team was losing.
-That's right. There you go.

You were not looking
through the right kind of glasses.

Exactly.

This business is all about relationships.

Even when people say they're not listening
about selling, they are.

They hear the numbers.
It's always in the back of their mind.

And when the time comes to sell,
he will be thinking of me,

and I will get my crack
to get this card to Goldin.

[Kendrick] You know,
you could smack it out of here, I'm sure.

[Ken] I couldn't.

-Maybe my son could, but I couldn't.
-That one...

[hip-hop music playing]

[music ends]

If we had a dollar for every time they say
they're downsizing and going to Florida,

we'd be in Florida.

I'll tell you what, though, man,
that was a hell of a collection.

-That's gonna be a great, great haul.
-We'll do a good job. We're coming back.

[phone ringing]

Oh, man. It's John, man.

Hey, John, we weren't expecting
to hear from you so soon.

[Ladyzinsky] Listen, could you come back?

I'm having second thoughts, and having
a discussion with my wife about them.

-All right, John. We're on the way, buddy.
-Yep.

-Bye-bye.
-Oh, man.

-We just got this stuff.
-I know.

Man, I was patting myself on the back.

We've had sellers who want their items
back because of emotional ties before.

That has happened.

But we were hoping
that that was not the case.

When people have buyer's remorse,
you don't do anything special.

You have to sell yourself again
on why they want to get rid of the item,

because they've already established
that they want to get rid of it,

and you gotta hit that common denominator.

-[Ladyzinsky] Hey, thanks for coming back.
-[Robbie Sr.] No problem.

[Ladyzinsky] Have a seat.

Okay, so I had a discussion with my wife,
uh, about this, and...

So, um...

[Ladyzinsky breathes deeply]

[tense music playing]

Well, I told her that I was letting go
of the three torches,

giving them to you to auction off.

And she asked me what I was waiting for
for everything else.

That, sort of, had me thinking
about what you said,

about finding the right time.

-And we are gonna be moving.
-[Robbie Jr.] Mm-hmm.

And also wanting to make sure
that the grandkids want for nothing.

-Sure.
-The best schools, things like that.

Well, that all costs money.

So, um...

I'm thinking that maybe it's time to...

consign some additional things.

-All of this?
-Everything?

Everything.

-Everything in here?
-[Ladyzinsky] Everything in here.

-Oh, man. Oh, man. Hoo-hoo!
-Give it up. Come on. Come on.

-Come on.
-[Robbie Sr.] Man.

My man. [laughs]
I love the way you think, man.

[Robbie Jr.] That's what I wanted to hear.

We're expecting to hear the worst,
and we hear the absolute best we can hear.

-That's a nice Babe Ruth baseball.
-Yeah, it is.

-Wanna look at this one more time?
-[Robbie Sr.] It's leaving here.

-The last time you're gonna see it.
-Yup.

This full collection of John's
was the perfect way to wrap our year up.

And they're gonna be
a wonderful consignment for Goldin.

What in the world
are we gonna do next year?

I mean, we've done historical,
we've done Beanie Babies,

we've done sports memorabilia.

The way it's going now,
Ken could have us going to the moon.

I mean, who knows? But I can't wait,
so we can do it all over again.

That's right. That's right.

When we sell these things,
there's a lot of money at stake.

All you have to worry about is how
you'll spend it and who you'll give it to.

That's all you have to worry about.
We're gonna do the rest.

♪ Like a champion, champion, champion ♪

♪ Champion, feeling like a champion ♪

Are you kidding me?

[chuckling]

[hip-hop music playing]

Yesterday.

[speaking Japanese]

-You just got this graded?
-Yes.

Guys... Are you kidding? h*...

[Ryan] Oh my gosh.

The Pikachu Illustrator
is one of the rarest cards ever produced,

with only 38 or 39 copies in existence.

These cards truly never come up for sale.

-Can I take it out?
-[speaking Japanese]

[Yosuke chuckles softly]

There's mo...

[chuckling]

[Ryan] Two Pik... This is insane.

Oh... I'm, like, shaking.

There are two.
Are you kidding me right now?

This is shaping up to be one
of the biggest deals of my entire career.

To have two PSA 9's
in front of me right now is like...

This is a once-in-a-million,
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This is one of my favorite moments
of my entire career here at Goldin.

And for you to even come in and trust me,

to show me these cards,
after you just got these graded...

I'm... I'm speechless.
And this does not happen often.

So obviously,
this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

And you guys are 100% on board,
and ready to do this.

-Correct?
-Okay.

I just locked up a deal
worth over $5 million.

And the only reason I got it
was because of my reputation.

I'm so excited, guys.
This is... This is unbelievable.

-Yeah.
-Thank you so much. Seriously.

["Feelgood Crowd"
by Alt-Life Music playing]

♪ You can do it, you can do it ♪

♪ Eyes on the prize, let's do it
And then people say ♪

♪ Good, better, best
Never let it rest ♪

♪ Till your good is better
And your better's best ♪

♪ And the people say ♪

[Ryan] Obviously,
I always come to you first

because you've been an amazing client
of mine for a long time. I appreciate it.

So, we have a PSA 9 Illustrator
in-house right now.

And when I tell you it's one
of the finest examples I've seen

of any Illustrator, um...
I... I am not exaggerating.

I think this is one of those
you really have to consider.

The thing with the pop culture auction
is just like a sporting event.

Any time you have a really big sale
or a really strong consignment,

you can celebrate it
only for a couple minutes.

You have to keep the bigger picture
at the forefront of our minds.

At the end of the day, it all has
to add up to that big goal in the end.

That $30 million goal.

-Carlo. Ryan.
-[Ryan] What's up, Dave?

-You guys got a sec?
-Sure.

Yeah, what's up?

I gotta show you something
I've been working on.

[tense music playing]

[Ryan sighs]

[Dave] You are gonna like this one.

Ken is always pushing us
to do different stuff.

He went out to Reggie Jackson
and got sports cars.

I've got probably the craziest consignment
to ever come through Goldin lined up.

And I'm thinking,
"How can I take that next big swing?"

And I think I finally found it.

-Okay, what? Give us some...
-What I'm working on is bigger.

[Ryan] No hints. No nothing.

It's pretty big.
Unlike anything we've ever sold.

-What does it look like?
-Right there.

[Carlo] Yo, what is that?

-[Ryan] Oh my God!
-Let's go. What?

That is a Limo-Jet!

-Are you kidding me?
-[Dave] This is the Limo-Jet right here.

Boom!

[funky music playing]

It looks like it's about to take off
and fly away.

-Wild.
-Where did you find this?

[Dave] Oh, man, here it goes.

-[Carlo] Oh! Let's go!
-[Ryan] The fog machine!

-The fog machine!
-[Ryan] Oh my God, dude! Come on.

[Carlo] How did you
not tell us about this?

-[Ryan] I know!
-[Dave] Guys, yeah.

[Carlo] Imagine pulling up to the club
in this thing.

[Ryan laughing] My God, dude.

What's up?

My name is Frank DeAngelo.

My name is Dima Kashevatsky.

[Frank] And we are the creators
of the Limo-Jet.

[Dima] I reached out to Dave
at Goldin Auctions

after I saw the first episode
of King of Collectibles, and I'm like,

"This is outrageous. So is our Limo-Jet."

We can build crazy things, but it's gonna
take a certain type of person

to find the buyer
to get them to believe in what we built.

I mean this looks like a legit jet
you would see on... This is unbelievable.

It is a legit jet.
Yeah, so it's a retired fuselage.

You know, Lear 35.

And then we integrated it with a vehicle.

It took us quite a bit of time,
but we made it happen.

One of the biggest tricks on building this

was getting aesthetically
everything to look proper.

So these cowlings are all
custom-made by hand to fit the wheels.

A big visual is what's going on,
because there's no engines in here.

So we said, "Well, what better use,
we'll make some 12-inch subs."

-That's so cool. So cool.
-Oh, man!

[Frank] And then we added strobe lights,
disco lights, LED lights, the works.

You see this thing coming
and you hear it coming.

-[Dima] Like a mobile nightclub.
-Right.

[Dave] As cool as this is,
we need to be aligned on the price.

As much as we'd love to put it on auction,
but if it doesn't have a chance to sell...

At the end of the day,
we want to make money. I know I do.

So, really that dollar amount, though,
is really what it's going to come down to.

-Seven figures.
-Seven figures.

Okay.

Are we talking one million,
two million, five million?

The goal would be
to get it for at least five.

I don't think we would go
any less than one.

I always wanna be low on opening bid,
because if it sits there...

Let's say we start at a million,
it sits at zero for three weeks,

and the last week comes,
everyone's gonna follow the leader

and they're not gonna jump in.

We usually like to start things
like 10-20% of where we think they'll go.

Here's what I'm thinking.

If we want to get the bidding going,
we gotta be like 250.

No way. [chuckles]

-You gotta get early offers...
-[Ryan] That's the worst case!

-Guy's crazy!
-[Dave] You gotta get them in!

Two-fifty?

You wanna get multiple bids, though.

You don't want just one guy coming in
hitting it at a price and it sits there.

You don't sell it for the opening bid.

He wants a million.
And as much as I love a million,

we gotta be realistic here
and find the real number.

-You blew my mind, Dave. Two-fifty?
-I know. Look...

We don't want to talk you out of this.
We gotta be at a better starting point.

They're selling it now
because they want to go bigger and better,

so they can use the proceeds
to fund their next project.

Where he's going with this,
there's hundreds of thousands of dollars

that we would have to meet
to at least recoup.

I can respect that.

Two-fifty would be
a perfect scenario for us

because there's no chance
it doesn't get multiple bids,

but I probably wouldn't have any issues
going to 500 grand.

This is a big investment for you.
We don't want to cost you too much money.

-We want you to win, right?
-[Frank] We get it. We're flexible.

Not too flexible.

Can we do it at $750,000 reserve?

-Um, it just feels a little high.
-A little high.

To me, it's all about
early and often, still.

If it's up there for a week with no bids,
it starts to turn people off, right?

That's the only fear there.

Seven hundred?

Look, I want to be at five,
you guys are at seven.

We do 600, we get this thing on the block,

and I'm gonna blow 600 out of the water.

-If you can take 600, we got a deal.
-Only if you blow it out of the water.

-[Ryan] It's all we do.
-That's all we do. Six hundred?

-[Dima] Let's do it.
-All right.

[Ryan] That's great, man.

It's not every day
that I just go out on a whim

and make a $600,000 reserve deal
on a vehicle like this.

And to do that without Ken's consent
is even more nerve-racking.

But sometimes,
when you feel something's right,

you just gotta make that deal.

-One of the coolest things I've ever seen.
-I mean, hands down. Out of this world.

[Carlo] Let's go, Limo-Jet, baby!

[Ryan] Limo-Jet, let's go!

[rap song playing]

♪ This is a curse, stay outta line ♪

♪ Start to make 'em align ♪

♪ Don't stop till you speak your mind ♪

♪ This is a page, this is a chapter ♪

♪ Give the issue ♪

♪ Better read out these words ♪

♪ Make sure you speak your mind ♪

-[Alex] One more time.
-She needs to take a photo.

-John, one more time.
-[Myesha laughs]

-All right.
-Hold it. Hold it a little longer.

Carlo! Sit behind it.

-Show me that a*s. [laughs]
-Go right behind him right now.

Yo!

-That's really impressive, man.
-[John] One hand.

[Alex] Good job. That was impressive.

So how's the team doing?
Are they getting nervous? I mean...

I put a big-a*s number in front of them.

I said, "$30 million
is what I want to do in pop culture."

And they've been marching all year
to try and hit that number.

What happens if they don't hit 30 mil?

Ever hear of Henry VIII?

Uh... Yes.

-Off with their heads.
-[Laura] Who would you do first?

I'm not necessarily going to can anybody,

but their bonus
is based on what they bring in

and how well the company does
in achieving their goals.

Every one of these guys
has a commission portion to their salary.

In addition to that, they all have ego.

Nobody likes going
into the weekly sales meetings

not at number one, or at least number two.

You're gonna get crap from me
at the meeting, and everybody knows it.

Am I included in the bonus?

You're my daughter.
You... You get the ultimate bonus.

Yes, I do.

[Ryan] We got a bid.
We got it coming in here.


I mean, already at 16,500?

-This is huge, man.
-And he has two of them?

He's got two of 'em.

[Ryan] I mean, these are super rare.
They don't come to market, obviously.

I mean, you know Sean's story too.

My mom,
who's pretty much raising me alone now,

has really been struggling
with all the bills, mortgage payments.

These trophies mean a lot to me,

but it means more to me if I could just
pay off my mom's mortgage completely.

Aw, I'm gonna tell my son
so he can do the same thing.

-[Robbie Jr.] Is it getting a lot of bids?
-[Ryan] Yeah, look.

-Damn, 16,500 for this?
-Everyone wants it.

-Two. He has two.
-What is it?

It's a trophy! It's a trophy!

-[Robbie Jr.] Of what?
-[Fung] A chunky Pikachu trophy.

[Ryan] You can't buy this.
I mean, you have to win it.

-[Robbie Jr.] That's pretty damn cool.
-[Ryan] All right!

Sixteen-five, baby. This is huge.

-[Fung] Times two.
-[Ryan] Yes, times two!

-This is big, man. This is big.
-[Fung] Yeah.

[Ryan] Congrats, man.

Does Mom know yet?

She does. It was a huge stress reliever.

A lot of weight off our shoulders,
so she's really happy about it.

It's unbelievable.

[Ken] So closing now,
we've got the Eminem album,

which, of course, you should remember
because it's your consignment.

[Rob] Eminem's 1996 sealed Infinite album,

signed by Eminem.

No way.

-[Rob] Straight from him.
-[Laura] That's this?

[Ken] There's no doubt.

-This is all Laura, right?
-Yeah. She went with Ken.

Closed the deal.
She got the deal too. I'm so proud of her.

-This is huge.
-And it's signed?

-Yeah.
-I remember that. '96. My senior year.

-That's your time period, baby.
-That's right. Old school, baby.

[beeping on screen]

[dings]

[Laura] Okay, 46.

This will be, actually, the highest-priced
modern album that we've ever sold.

Already is.

-[beeping on screen]
-[Laura] Ooh. Let's see.

[beeping on screen]

-[dings]
-[Dave] Oh, yeah!

[Robbie Jr.] I like that.
Hey, I like that.

[Alex] LG!

-That's a good album right there.
-It is.

Fifty thousand for an album
of a guy that's alive?

Know what I'm saying? Seriously.
Yeah, that's a big deal.

[Laura] Ooh! This feels like New Year's.

-[dings]
-[Ken] Auction closed. Okay.

Fifty-two thousand dollars is great,

and this will really help the team
get towards its goal.

I'm here for it.

Zac is actually selling this
so he could fund his superstore.

So hopefully, we can help him
realize that dream.

Great guy, floor-to-ceiling video games
in every room.

We found this one, though.
This was hiding behind one of the walls.

When he pulled that out,
we had to have this one.

Wow. I'm not even kidding.

Oh my God.

-Picked up a good one, man.
-Hang tab, 9.4.

-[beeping on screen]
-[Carlo] Here we go. Coming in, Dave.

Big number. Let's go.

-[Robbie Jr.] Down the stretch.
-Mario.

[dings]

-[Dave] Yes!
-[Carlo] Let's go!

[all cheering]

-[Alex] That's good!
-Nice, man. Who could be mad at that?

[Dave] That is a huge sale, guys.

[Carlo] Zac's video game,
they had a great sale. It's a big deal.

He's going to use that money
for his passion, for a superstore.

I think it's really
gonna kick-start his business.

[Dave] This is one of the biggest
video game sales of all time.

Guys, I haven't run the numbers yet,
but I think we're close to the goal here.

-Really?
-Thirty million?

Dude, I think we're close.

-Yeah.
-[cheering, applause]

Yeah.

[Ken] This is a huge piece.
Kate Winslet's screen-worn coat.

Look at that.

I learned from you. And here we are.

-You have no idea what this is?
-Honestly, it looks familiar.

This is the actual overcoat
that Kate Winslet wore

when she was running through water
in the Titanic.

Shipwreck scene. Titanic.
Yes, of course! I love that movie.

[Ken] First-ever consignment,
start to finish.

You found the item, you got the deal done.

[dings]

Nice number.

[Ken] That is a great price
for an item like this.

I guess I just got that Goldin Touch.

-I guess you do.
-[chuckles]

I really proved to myself
that I could take it from start to finish.

And, obviously,
I've learned a lot from you,

but most importantly,

I'm happy that I was able
to do Moira justice with her item.

You're playing with the big boys.
Even if you're a girl.

I didn't think it would go for this much,
but maybe I should have taken the job.

What would the commission be on this?

-Pretty decent.
-Well, I have a lot more in store.

Dave, how did we end up
numbers-wise? Good?

I don't know, man. It's gonna be close.

-Hey, everybody. How are we doing?
-Hey!

-There he is.
-Got to tell you, we had a great auction.

We had great results.
Everybody came through.

Dave, Carlo,
amazing video game collection.

Bob Ross, incredible.

[Carlo] This has been one
of my best years.

I really got out of my comfort zone.

I never thought I'd be taking in
paintings and action figures,

traveling to different states,
getting consignment.

I'm really proud of myself.

[Ken] Ryan, look, you're Mr. Pokémon.

I gotta tell you,

we just closed
on a $2 million private sale

of Ryan's Pikachu Illustrator.

Possibly will do $5 million
in Pokémon sales.

So congratulations on that.

Listen, going into this year,
I put a big goal in front of you.

Thirty million dollars for pop culture.

Everything in the world
that has nothing to do with sports.

Thirty million is a big number.

I'm sure before this auction,
a lot of you were crapping bricks,

wondering if we're gonna get
to this number.

-I understand that.
-I still am.

Listen, with the close of this auction,

we absolutely crushed that number,
so congratulations.

[all cheering]

Laura, even you chipped in with the Eminem
and the Kate Winslet dress, so thank you.

I mean, it's a team effort from everybody.

I started this business, 2011,
looking for what to do next.

Came up with the idea of Goldin Auctions.

My goal was ten million.

If I can build this up
to a $10-million-a-year business,

I'd have a nice, relaxing lifestyle.

I've changed my mind,
I've changed my goal.

Before I retire,
there is one thing I want to say I did.

I want to be able to say
I built a billion-dollar business.

-Let's go, baby!
-[Ken] Okay?

Ken just dropped the B-word.
Billion-dollar business.

I'm all in. I want to be a part of that.

Only thing that sounds better
than a billion-dollar business,

is a billion-dollar Ryan Krupa.

Seriously, Goldin Auctions,
billion-dollar business.

All of you are gonna be a key part of it
and help the company get there.

This is a great start.

Everybody should be very proud. Thank you.

[John] Thank you.

[Ken] Thank you very much.

[thrilling music playing]

Billion dollars?
Who's ready for a billion dollars?

John, you're gonna have to dig
in the closet, man.

We're gonna need a half billion from you.

["King of This Game"
by Get It Done, Gallo Locknez plays]

♪ Can't slow that down ♪

♪ Show them how ♪

♪ I'll hold the crown ♪

[Ken] They said meet 'em outside.
They have to show us something.

-Can't wait.
-What do they have?

-Do you know what's going on?
-Guys better hurry up. I got things to do.

-[horn honking]
-Ken.

-Oh my God!
-Oh my God.

[suspenseful music playing]

♪ I'm a king in this game ♪

♪ Let it born, let it pay ♪

♪ I'm a king in this game
They're gonna all know the name ♪

-Where on earth did you find this?
-[Alex] No way!

-Ken, you asked us to go outside the box.
-Heck, yeah.

-We went outside the box.
-And into the jet!

-And got the Limo-Jet!
-[Ken] Can I go inside?

-[Dave] Please. Get on in.
-[Ryan] You like this?

-[Carlo] The king's in.
-[Myesha] Shout-out to y'all.

Y'all do some wild stuff.
But this right here, the wildest.

-What do you think?
-Insane.

-Some of my finest work, right here.
-I don't know.

-Tell me about it. What's the story?
-Ken, this is completely street-legal.

This is a totally custom-made limousine.

-The speakers sound like jet engines.
-It's a real jet.

[Dave] It's a true one of one.

This is gonna appeal to businessmen,
limousine companies, car collectors.

-It's marketing, right?
-Yup.

This is gonna get eyeballs.
This is gonna get media.

And this is gonna get us around too.

If we want to pull up to a show
or something like that, I mean, right?

Put Goldin on the side of this?
Come on. Right?

Let's go! What do you think?

It's cool!

-Yeah!
-Let's go!

Let's go!

[Myesha] Does it again.

Let's go.

Seeing the team celebrating
makes me feel like I've won.

And when I can do that without Ken
having to be the hero every time,

it just puts me one step closer
to being what Ken is for this business.

I wanna lead this team,
I wanna lead this company.

And I want Ken to be able
to sit back on the beach

because he knows I got it under control.

Guys, you earned the compliment.

This is impressive. Not what I expected.

This is how you get to the top
of the mountain.

Goldin Airlines, baby.
Goldin Airlines, let's go.

[Ken] If Goldin is to grow as a business,

I want everybody
to get out of their comfort zone.

They could have spent their time saying,
"I'm gonna go find some comics."

"I'm gonna find game-used bats and jerseys
and get guaranteed money. Not take risks."

But they really went out of the box.

So I'm thrilled that they are out there,

looking for the impossible
and trying to bring it to Goldin.

-[Alex] Let's christen the sound system.
-[Ken] It's got Bluetooth, right?

So let me do this.

So I've got a new client.

Uh, they recorded something.
Let me play something from them.

-[Ryan] All right. All right.
-Okay, Ken's got some fresh music.

[light funky music playing]

Thing sounds good.

[Ken] ♪ Came into the game as a player ♪

♪ Now I'm stacked in cash
From LA to Australia ♪

♪ The "Hobby Godfather" ♪

[all cheering]

♪ Put me in any room
I'm closing that deal ♪

Is this you?

Yes.

Oh my God!

[Ken] ♪ One number in they phone
Is "Ken Effing Goldin," baby ♪

[whooping, cheering]

Am I surprised they like it? No.

I'm Ken Effing Goldin, baby.

[Ken] You cannot be number one
without taking a chance.

You cannot rise to the top
without having risks along the way.

People say, "When will you be satisfied?"

Quite frankly,
until one day France calls me up and says,

"We need money.
We need to sell the Mona Lisa."

I will always be looking to top myself.

That's, honestly, what I'm made out of.

And probably annoys
the crap out of my wife.

[hip-hop song playing]

♪ Yeah, I'm on a new level ♪

♪ Watch out, I'm on a new level ♪

[song ends]

[Ken] ♪ Came into the game as a player ♪

♪ Now I'm stacked in cash
From LA to Australia ♪

♪ The "Hobby Godfather" keeps it real ♪

♪ Put me in any room
I'm closing that deal ♪

♪ "Ken Effing Goldin," baby ♪

♪ Who's the greatest
Auction house in the world? ♪

♪ Who started it from scratch ♪

♪ And built it to almost half a billion? ♪

♪ Me! Ken Goldin at Goldin Auctions ♪

♪ Number one, baby ♪