02x02 - Rookie Moves

[bunniefuu]

[tense music playing]

[Ken, deliberately]
This is ten million dollars in cash,

and this represents a cash advance.

Now, this is showing you I am committed
to get you the highest price.

-You're out of your mind.
-I've been told that before.

Think about it.

Ten million dollars
with the potential to hit 35, 40 million.

Who knows once it goes to auction?

If you're Steve and you have this card,
you've got two options.

You can put it up for auction
and let the whole world bid,

and maybe it goes beyond
your wildest expectations price-wise,

or you can shop it around
to a couple small individuals,

find one buyer who wants to pay
your price, and you get your price,

but you might never know
what you left on the table.

[Ken] Here's what I wanna do.

I want to get the card
to a worldwide audience.

Not just the few 200,000 people
who use the web and buy at auctions,

but the whole world.

You want to maximize it,
give it to Goldin,

and we will get the most money possible
for anybody to get for this card.

Look, I appreciate you doing this,

but I want a better guarantee.

You were here last time, you told me
the card was worth 25 to 40 million.

Well, the possibility
at auction is limitless.

I get it, but I need to know
I have no downside on this.

-Why would I take a risk at auction?
-[Ken] No...

-Look...
-[Steve] You know the people who want it.

You've got the people that want it.

[Ken] I know the people that want it.

I know the people that will buy it.

But for me to put myself in a position

for my company to guarantee,
say, $30 million...

Then you're wasting my time.

[dramatic sting]

[Steve] Ken, it's not gonna happen.

I will not auction this card.

[tense music playing]

Wow. [sighs]

Aaron.

[Steve] Ken figured that he would
come down here and razzle-dazzle me,

but this is
a once-in-a-lifetime collectible.

It's going to take
a once-in-a-lifetime offer

to pry it out of my hands.

You will never find
somebody more committed

to getting you the maximum price.

[Ken] Rejection sucks.

I did not get the Wagner today,

but I'm gonna find a buyer who's
willing to pay Steve the price he wants.

And in the meantime,

I'm gonna go out and conquer
the rest of the collecting world.

Any collection that's out there,
I'm coming for you.

[dramatic music playing]

[hip-hop song playing]

♪ Turn it up
We finna get it ♪

-♪ Turn it up ♪
-♪ Every play counts ♪

♪ Once you start, you gotta finish... ♪

The Orioles haven't been good
since Ripken, right?

-No, we've been good. We were good in '14.
-Yeah, '96...

I'm talking the last ten years.
Like last place, right?

-[Robbie Jr.] Yeah.
-What's up?

-[Alex] What's up, Dave?
-Hey!

-[Dave] Thank you all for coming.
-[Robbie Sr.] We did it for the money.

-[all laugh]
-[Dave] That's why we're all doing it.

So at least we all got
the same goal in mind.

Speaking of goals,
got some news Ken wanted me to deliver.

We've got a very,
very lofty pop culture goal this year.

We've got an initiative from Ken.
It's $30 million in pop culture.

-[Ryan] Jeez.
-Sheesh.

Last year we did a bit under 20 million,
this year we're going to 30 million.

If we wanna be the best,
we've got to grow in every category.

We're not gonna continue
to hit hundreds of millions,

if not billions of dollars,

if we don't do what we did in sports
in many other categories.

We get goals, we hit goals.

We can't go back to Ken and tell him,
"Hey, sorry, we couldn't get it done."

We gotta figure out a way to get it done.

It's a lot of pressure. As head of team,
head of auctions, head of revenue,

when the revenue doesn't equal the goal,
it's my neck on the line.

We got some awesome pop culture items
that just hit the door.

We've got a Paul McCartney signed
Yesterday and Today.

This is a controversial cover.

It was an anti-w*r statement actually,
and it was pulled off the shelves.

So it's impossible to find.

And then this right here,
this is a really cool one.

This is actually a letter
that was written by Tupac in prison.

-[man] Wow.
-He actually says,

"If you can do me this solid and pass me
some trees. Here's some cigarettes."

So I don't... I don't know
what he was referring to there, but...

-[team laughs]
-[Dave] You know?

I mean, look, people know we're sports.

So they're gonna come,
they're gonna bring their sports items.

They're not just gonna hand over
big comic books, music items.

We've gotta go out. We've gotta show them
why we can handle it.

One of the big ideas we have is attending
New York Comic Con in a few weeks.

-Maybe we can source big deals there.
-Okay.

The Robbies are here.

We're down with it,
can't quit it, up to it, and gonna do it.

That's what the Robbies are about.
You send us out, we're gonna get it done.

See, guys, that's the attitude we need.

Look, when Ken gives us a goal,
we're gonna have to hit it.

And it's not gonna be easy,
but I know you're the team to do it.

So I need every one of you guys 110%
all the way through. You guys in?

-Yeah!
-Let's go!

-[man 1] Thirty mill.
-[man 2] Let's do it!

[energizing music playing]

-[John] Hey there.
-Hey, John.

-[John] Hey, Ken.
-John, how's it going?

Good. How are you? I gotta show you this.
This is unbelievable.

[John] My name is John Reznikoff,

and I'm the chief authenticator
here at Goldin.

My area of expertise is
authenticating documents, manuscripts,

signatures, art, technology.

I worked for a lot of different people,
but recently,

when I got the call from Ken Goldin,
I knew it was a match made in heaven.

This is a stuffed donkey
from the Democratic Convention in 1960.

-[Ken] Ooh, pretty.
-And check out this.

-It's signed by none other than...
-[Ken] The nominee himself, JFK.

And that is a really early
legible signature.

I've seen a lot of presidential documents
he signed and it's more of a scribble.

But let me show you what makes it greater.
So right here...

See that signature?

-[Ken] Harry S. Truman.
-[John] Right.

Truman did not like Kennedy.

Too young, brash,
not his kind of politician.

But the second he got the nomination,
Truman endorsed him,

and that was a key and pivotal part
of him getting the presidency.

So this is a really important
piece of history.

-Give him his own chair, he deserves it.
-[chuckles]

[Ken] Okay, there we go, much better.

Here's the really big play
that I wanna make.

As you know, at Goldin,
people think we specialize in sports,

but we really need
to be considered in that upper echelon

of all the other categories
we want to tackle.

I have people during
some of these elite auctions,

with intellectual background
in the hobby, says, "Wait a minute."

"Why am I paying $750,000 for Tom Brady,

and $15,000 for Thomas Jefferson?"

So they say,
"The Jefferson, to me, seems cheap."

I get those calls, and I always tell them,
"I think historical is undervalued."

I'm seeing a great overlap.

I'm seeing people who are buying
six-figure sports cards.

Once they realize they can own

a George Washington
or Abraham Lincoln, they want it.

I think there's a great overlap

and we've gotta kind of press that
a little bit more and get more historical.

I see a boom coming
in historical documents and artifacts.

I know a tidal wave of nostalgia is coming
as we get towards 2026,

the 250th anniversary of the signing
of the Declaration of Independence.

I want to be the industry leader
in historical documents and artifacts.

And that is where John Reznikoff comes in.

He is the world's leading expert

and most admired
individual in his business.

What I wanna do
and what I want you to help me with is,

we have to start building key items now.

We have to get great pieces
and work our way up.

And if you're able to do that,

you're gonna be the greatest thing
I've got going here.

I can do it.

["Go Hard For Mine" by Alboom playing]

♪ Yeah, go hard for mine
Put in that work, put it on the line ♪

♪ Keep goin' in like all the time ♪

♪ Haters gonna hate
Won't stop my shine... ♪

[Carlo] All right, let's go.
Ron Acuña day.

-All right, breathe. Breathe deeply.
-[Carlo exhales sharply]

-We'll do breathing exercises.
-Excited, anxious.

-I did a few push-ups.
-[Ryan] You think we should clean this up?

-It kind of looks messy.
-[Dave] You haven't met Acuña, have you?

I have. I'm a bit anxious.
I'm not like a starstruck kind of guy,

but he's a stud.

Ronald Acuña Jr. is an all-star
outfielder for the Atlanta Braves.

He's a former Rookie of the Year.

He was the 2023 MVP,

and he's the only player
in the history of baseball

to hit 40 home runs
and steal 70 bases in a single season.

Recently, he consigned some
of the best items from his career with us

because he wanted
to give back to his fans.

And just another reason I love my job?

He's coming in today to Goldin
to promote the items himself.

Carlo, you speak any Spanish at all, man?

[speaking Spanish]

-That's all you need.
-That's all we need to know, right?

["Top Of My Game [feat. DJ $crilla]"
by Chris Harris & Jonathan Reilly playing]

♪ I can say you did it wrong ♪

♪ I do not complain ♪

♪ We are not the same ♪

♪ I'm at the top of my game... ♪

-[Carlo] Welcome to Goldin.
-What's up?

-Pumped to have you here.
-[Ronald] How you doing?

We're excited to show some of your stuff.
Come on.

[all chanting] MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

[cheering]

Obviously so excited to do this.

I mean, such unique items.
It's incredible, man.

This is a big deal for us at Goldin.

Venezuela.

[Carlo] Venezuela,
the World Baseball Classic.

[Ronald] All-Star.

[Carlo] Ron, what do you think?
Rookie-year glove.

Probably brings back good memories.

[speaking Spanish]

-He's saying he was still a little kid.
-[Carlo] Still a little kid then.

At Goldin, we've sold players collections,
a lot of time after they've retired.

Hall of Fame stuff,
you know, much later on in their life.

But Acuña, he's still rising.
I mean, he's at the pinnacle.

So for him to take the time to come in
and go over the stuff he's consigned,

it shows a lot about him.

It's a big deal.

This is Ken Goldin and his son, Paul.
He's the owner of the company.

-How are you doing?
-Nice to meet you.

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

Anything you want to ask him
about baseball? About, um, your travel?

Um, do you have any tips on hitting
or backflip celebration?

[all laugh]

When you hit a homer,
do whatever you want.

[all laugh]

[Ken] We deal with a lot of athletes.

In some cases,
they will literally come to my office

and help me promote the item
and make it a really big event.

-Here, for you.
-[Carlo] Oh, boy. Look at this.

Oh my God.

[Ken] The public wants to know
the athlete cares about the item.

So when they get to see the athlete
holding the item alongside me,

they realize, "Hey, this is not only
the real thing, this guy cares."

And those types of items
are commanding an amazing premium.

[Dave] Cool.

-Guapo hermanos.
-[chuckles]

-[Dave] Nice. Thank you.
-[team applauding and cheering]

["Legends" by Noize Factor playing]

♪ Gimme some obstacles
And I'm still countin'... ♪

[Carlo] I had a potential seller
reach out to me.

She had something kinda controversial.
I don't really know much about it.

She wants to send
a third party out to meet me.

So I agreed to meet with them
at a local spot.

-Hey, Tammy, how are you?
-Hey, love muffin. What's shaking?

-[Carlo] Good to see you, friend.
-[Tammy] You too.

I have no clue what I'm walking into,
but we want the best items,

so we gotta get outside the comfort zone.

We gotta swing big and...

It's cool. It's... It's exciting, you know?

-[Tammy] Here you go.
-[Carlo] Thanks, Tammy.

-[man] Carlo.
-Alejandro.

-Great to meet you, man.
-Glad to meet you.

-[Carlo] Please.
-Glad to be here.

[Alejandro] My name is Alejandro.
I'm from Medellín, Colombia.

I'm meeting with Carlo from Goldin
to show him a very special book.

I'm selling this book
for a friend back in Colombia.

They want me to get
as much money as possible.

[Carlo] Obviously excited
to have you here.

When you contacted us,
I was curious to see what you had.

To fly in from Colombia,
it's gotta be something good.

[Alejandro] Yeah, so I have
this rare book. It's very special.

This book was order-made
by Pablo Escobar when he was in prison.

-Wow. Okay.
-[Alejandro] Yeah.

This is a book
of political cartoons from Pablo Escobar.

PABLO ESCOBAR GAVIRIA IN CARTOONS


[Alejandro] It has his signature
and fingerprinted in gold dust.

[Carlo] What?!

[Alejandro] It has the signatures
of the lieutenants, sicarios,

and associates of Pablo Escobar inside.

Wow.

[pensive music playing]

[Carlo] Pablo Escobar started a life
of crime in his youth,

and quickly graduated

from selling fake high school diplomas
and stealing cars,

to creating one of the largest
drug cartels of all time.

Although Pablo has been called
a Robin Hood to the poor...

[shutter clicks]

...he was responsible
for k*lling about 4,000 people,

and he was eventually sent
to a prison he constructed,

coined Hotel Escobar.

It's here that Pablo created a book
that he personally curated,

with news clippings
and political cartoons about himself.

He commissioned cartoons of his associates

to be put in the book as well.

After his death,
many books are said to have been burned,

making this signed Pablo Escobar book
a notoriously rare find.

-[Carlo] So he was in jail.
-He was in jail.

Gathering this, pictures, news articles
about him, political cartoons and...

It was like his hobby.
This book was a gift to Nevio.

Nevio was a bodyguard
of Pablo Escobar's son.

Did your friend know the bodyguard
or... I mean, how did she get it?

[Alejandro] From a money loan.

She lent him money
and he never paid the money back.

-So he gave her the book. [chuckles]
-Yeah. As a collateral, you know?

That's insane.

So this is a very special book because
when Nevio was in La Catedral prison,

Pablo was playing soccer
with his lieutenants and associates.

-Nevio waited until the end of the game.
-[Carlo] Right.

-So he made it, uh, signed by Pablo.
-[Carlo] Wow.

By all the lieutenants
and all his sicarios, you know?

-So they're playing a soccer game in jail.
-Yeah.

[Carlo] His son's bodyguard
is waiting around to the end.

He has the book, and when they're done

he goes up to each one
and they start signing it?

[Alejandro] Yeah.
This is the cartoons he used to collect.

This is the Metamorfosis of Pablo Escobar.

[Carlo] So him outside of jail,
and this is him when he was in jail.

-[Alejandro] Yeah.
-[Carlo] Wow.

[Alejandro] This is one of his sicarios,
called the Angelito.

-So a lot of cartoons and characters...
-[Alejandro] Yeah. He made...

He was like, "Let's do cartoons
of all my friends," you know?

This one is Popeye.

Popeye was another sicario of him.

This guy has his own series on Netflix.

Here in the back,
we got the letter he made to Nevio

when he gave this book as a gift to him.

This says, "For my friend Nevio,
companion of cause."

-"With great appreciation, Pablo Escobar."
-[Carlo] Yes. Wow.

Alejandro, obviously in America,
love him, hate him...

-Everyone's interested in Escobar here.
-Yeah.

But what's it like being from Colombia?

You know what? For us, it's normal.
It was history, you know?

-[Carlo] Yeah.
-But we don't talk about Escobar nowadays.

Uh...

-It's in the past, you know? Because we...
-[Carlo] Right.

-I... I lost family in the '90s also.
-[Carlo] Oh, jeez.

-So, uh...
-Sorry to hear that.

[Alejandro] But it is interesting
for us also.

Alejandro, how many of these books exist?
Do you know?

So, they say they made
nine volumes of the book.

-[Carlo] Okay.
-Some say they made 50, you know?

And what happened was
that some of them were burned.

-So there's not many left in the world.
-[Alejandro] There's not many left.

[Carlo] But this is the only one
that we know of

with Pablo and the associates.

-Yeah. This one... This one is a one-of-one.
-[Carlo] Wow.

So I mean, look,
we've seen Pablo Escobar's signature sell

for 15, 20, $25,000 alone.

So I think we authenticate this, I think
we could be looking at $50,000 plus.

Oh my God.
That would be good money, you know?

So we're gonna take it back in-house.
We're gonna have it authenticated.

Once that's done, we're gonna find
the appropriate auction.

-Maybe the appropriate buyer.
-Okay.

We're gonna get you
as much money as possible.

-Oh man, that would be great.
-[Carlo] Yes.

Thank you, Carlo.

["A Toast To The Winners"
by Jonathan James Johnson playing]

♪ Yeah
Let's make a toast to the winners ♪

♪ The wise who reign victorious
The conquerors, glorious ♪

♪ Let's make a toast to the winners... ♪

-By the way, congratulations.
-On what?

I do not think I transferred you
any money while you were in Italy.

-You d... You did not.
-Okay.

I did that whole thing myself.
I'm a working woman now.

So what did you do in Italy?

We went to a cooking class,
and we made, like, authentic pizza.

We went to a wine tour
and I was very drunk that entire day.

-Great.
-[Laura] And the Italian men loved me.

Philosophically, or in the biblical sense?

-[clicks tongue]
-[quirky music playing]

I don't think I understand the question.

Is that like an old person thing?
What do you mean, "in the biblical sense"?

-You said they love you.
-Yeah.

As in, enjoy your company
or screwed around?

-Oh, no, they all thought I was... [laughs]
-Okay, good.

-I guess not a lot...
-Not in the biblical sense, is the answer.

-Not in the biblical sense.
-Fine.

-[Laura] But overall, it was great.
-[Ken] And now you gotta get back to work.

And now I have to go back to work.
But are you, like, heartbroken,

devastated that I turned you down?

You turned us down
at the worst possible time,

only because
of everything that's going on.

We have got a big entertainment category
we're brewing with right now.

We've got some amazing
rock-and-roll pieces going right now.

Expensive handbags and things like that.

Well, if you had told me all of that
around the time that you offered the job,

maybe my answer would've been different.

Turning down the job from my dad
was definitely scary.

But ultimately, I'm glad
I took the job in New York

because I was able
to really figure out for myself

my strengths and weaknesses,
but who knows?

Maybe someday this will be the job for me.

One thing about Goldin is, we never know
what's gonna walk in the door.

We never know what's gonna be great
and what's gonna be garbage.

-Sounds like my Hinge dates.
-[Ken laughs]

-[Laura] What'd you use? Jdate?
-Yes.

[both laugh]

["Gettin That Money"
by Mikel Giffin playing]

♪ Gettin' that money ♪

Hey, Robbies, it's Brennan Sherman.

I just wanna thank you
for the amazing auction

of the Jasson Domínguez ball.

I just got the money in my account,
and I can't wait to invest it.

[Ryan] How are you, Dave?
What'd you do this weekend? Anything good?

-I had a yard sale.
-[Ryan] Okay.

I cleaned out my entire garage
in the 95-degree weather.

I raked in the total of $51.

-[Ryan] Oh, wow.
-[Dave] Yeah.

-I don't take you for the yard sale type.
-What'd you sell?

Well, like,
here's the problem with the yard sale.

It's a little intimidating
when you pull up, you see some things,

then you see me there,
sitting in the sun, shirtless.

Just like, "Hey, how you doing?
Let me know if you want anything."

-Oh my God.
-[all laughing]

[Myesha] Hello, friends.

-Ryan, you have a visitor.
-What's up Kim? How are you?

-[Myesha] This is Kim, this is Ryan.
-Nice to meet you.

[Ryan] Thank you for coming in.

Ken told me that the Victor Wembanyama,
one of one superfractor, was hit.

-[box breaker screams] Oh! Oh my God!
-[man] Oh my God!

[Ryan] And he basically tasked me on it,

that I have to make sure
I get this deal done.

This is the top
basketball card of the year.

The guy who owns the card is in Germany.

Whatever you gotta do
to get this deal done, make it happen.

Okay.

Ken's putting a lot of pressure on me
right now, but I'm up for it.

I flew in the owner
of the Wemby card from Germany.

Ken wants me to get this deal done
at all costs. That's what I'm gonna do.

-[Ryan] How was the trip, first of all?
-It was good. Thanks.

-[Ryan] How long of a flight was that?
-Twelve hours.

-[Ryan] I couldn't do it.
-From Germany to the US, yeah.

-I tried to learn German but got nowhere.
-I can teach you.

[both laugh]

[Kim] My name is Kim Budiman.

I'm 42 years old, father of three,
and married to my lovely wife.

I've pulled the one of one
Victor Wembanyama superfractor card.

The whole world
was searching for this card, and I got it.

Sorry to interrupt here. Can I, at least,
just see the card real quick?

I gotta see it before I get back to work.

You can show him.

[Dave] Wow. That's it.

I had a box of Bowman U. Inception
sitting on my desk.

-Oh, I'm so sorry.
-[all laugh]

But because of you,
it's now essentially worthless.

[Kim] Yeah, I'm sorry.

[Ken] Victor Wembanyama,
dubbed "The Extraterrestrial"'

or "The Alien,"
as LeBron likes to call him,

is originally from France.

Victor is a 7'4" power forward
with a wingspan of eight feet.

He's thought to be one of the greatest
basketball prospects since LeBron James.

[commentator] Turnover and oh,
mighty Wembanyama!

[Ken] He's been
on professional scouts' radars

across the globe since he was 15,

but he quickly brought
his talents to the US,

when he was selected
by the San Antonio Spurs

with the first overall pick
in the 2023 draft.

This card is super rare

because it's the first card
that Victor ever signed.

This university superfractor signature
one of one card,

is inscribed by Wembanyama himself
with the words "First ever,"

making the Alien's card
an out-of-this-world discovery.

Honestly, what was that moment like?
Did your son understand how big this was?

My son realized that immediately.

-He was running like, "Yeah! Mom!"
-[laughs] Awesome.

-"I told you Dad would make it."
-[Ryan] Awesome.

Yeah. That's so great.

Kim, I gotta be honest, this is one
of the greatest pulls I've ever seen.

Do you box break a lot?
Is it something you do often?

I got a story, um...

[emotionally] It's hard for me to tell
because it's emotional.

-[Ryan] Sure.
-[Kim exhales sharply]

Two years ago, I was stressed out, and I...

I had a burnout
and I was in a hospital for one year.

Oh my God.

It was a tough time.

I never gave up
because of my kids and my wife.

When I was a kid, my mother...

If I was a nice kid,
she bought me an Upper Deck pack.

One day, a friend of mine
brought me some trading cards.

I opened them,
and I felt joy and everything again, so...

-Sorry.
-No, I appreciate you sharing that.

Honestly, I think we've all been
where life gets so crazy sometimes...

I had depression and everything.

Cards kind of brought you back, in a way.

-Yeah, and now this happened, so...
-It's unbelievable.

You gotta keep believing.
That's why this card means a lot to me.

Of course, and I don't see
why this card couldn't do 50,000-plus.

I would love to hold it,
but I got three kids, wife.

-[Ryan] Of course. Yeah.
-It's a lot of money for me.

[Ryan] Right.

Wembanyama is a huge prospect now,
but with any huge athlete like that,

there's always the potential
that they underperform,

and their market goes down with it.

So it's very crucial
that Kim sells this now.

[Ryan] I understand
how big of a decision this is.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to sell something like this.

-You have a family to think about.
-Why should I consign with Goldin?

We are the number one,
and it's... it's not even close.

First of all, our marketing reach,
it's global.

We reach almost 200,000 people a post.

-You can't do that with our competitors.
-They tell me the same.

-[Ryan] Okay.
-[Kim] They're the biggest, the best.

-They do all the marketing and everything.
-There's only one Goldin.

-Goldin can do more, even more.
-[Ryan] Okay. I mean, look.

Now we have players
all the time coming in and doing videos,

consigning their collections
because they trust us.

Guys like Mike Tyson,
we've had Joe Montana.

I mean, I'll be honest, I think Wemby
might even want to do a video on this,

because this is such a special card.

If you really can get Wemby
to make a video,

and put it in the contract,
I'll consign immediately.

So a video of Wemby gets this deal done.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I don't see why not.

-Let's do it. Let's do it. I'm excited.
-Great, man.

This is gonna be great.

[Ryan] When you have a guy
like Wembanyama,

everybody wants a piece of this guy.

So to just assume he is going
to stop everything he's doing

to do a video on a card in our auction
is a huge risk, I'm not gonna lie.

[Ryan] Our people will call Wemby
and figure something out.

But Ken put it on me.

He trusts me with this.
I'm gonna get it done.

-[Ryan] Soph, is Ken in there?
-[Soph] He's in there.

-[Ryan] Perfect. Thank you.
-[knocking on door]

-[Ryan] Ken?
-What's going on?

-You told me to get it done, I got it.
-[Ken] Awesome.

Let's go. Look at this beautiful thing.

How nice is that?

[Ken] Victor Wembanyama.

"First ever."

Most anticipated rookie since LeBron,
when you were still in diapers.

Congratulations.

I told you, nothing to worry about.
I knew... Look...

I wouldn't sit down.
I got a meeting, but...

It was a tough deal, obviously.

There's a lot of competition
on a card like this.

I told him maybe we'd probably
do a video, maybe with Victor.

Promoting the card, maybe.

You told him that
we will get Wemby to make a video?

He brought it up. He was...
That was the big sell point.

-Is this is the contract?
-It is in the contract.

Do you know Victor?

I don't personally,
but you could probably call his agent,

or him, or something...

You do realize if we go to auction,
and he's not happy with the price,

and we do not get Wemby to make a video,

that he technically can sue us
for default on the contract?

[tense music playing]

I just don't understand
why you would do that.

Why you wouldn't call me, text me and say,

"Hey, Ken, this guy's got
a really off-the-wall request."

"Do you think
I can guarantee this to him?"

"I'm going to guarantee the most
in-demand person coming into the NBA

is gonna come to Goldin and make a video
to promote this trading card."

This is not what I'd expect from you.
This is a rookie move.

You should know better.

[Ryan] Ken saying "it's a rookie move,"
doesn't sit well with me.

It definitely puts doubts in my head
that maybe I did something on this deal

that could potentially even ruin
the entire deal as a whole.

[Ken sighs] I'll see
if I can fix this for you.

Okay, and look, I can try
to DM him too, um, if that helps, or...

[Ken] Like, just you'd, like,
blindly jump in his DMs and...

[Ryan] I might... I mean, I don't know.

I'm in my head right now
and definitely trying to backtrack,

and see kind of where
I went wrong on this one.

[Ken sighs deeply]

How are you doing?
You're doing better than Ryan.

["Godly" by Lionel Fabert
& Louis Lepine playing]

♪ I let it all out
Let the cappers loose ♪

♪ I bet they know me in my city
Like a capper do ♪

♪ 'Crazy is all around
But trust me in a robbery ♪

♪ Spirits been inside of me
The devil right beside of me ♪

♪ I'm godly... ♪

-Oh my God, Laura!
-[laughs]

Holy cow, that turn. Do you know...
I'll answer, you don't know how to drive.

I do know how to drive.

[Ken] How can I talk you
into letting me drive to this place?

Driving is not where you excel.

[hip-hop music playing]

[Laura] ♪ I'm just looking ♪

-[Ken] So let me ask you.
-[Laura] ♪ Ask away ♪

-Miss singer. Let me ask you a question.
-♪ What's your question? ♪

-How did you find out about this deal?
-I was going through my DM's, um...

There was a business DM
in the middle of all the muck?

-Some people take me seriously!
-Okay, great.

I saw this DM. The guy seemed very nice.

I looked him up. His name is Rob.

He wanted me to meet him
at this recording studio.

[Laura] My dad says there's potential
in the music memorabilia market,

but modern music
is definitely more my thing.

So this guy, does he know
that you're bringing your dad?

No, he does not know I'm bringing my dad,

so that means you have to be
very nice, very respectful.

My usual professional self
is very, very nice.

Let me explain something to you.
You don't get it, your mom doesn't get it,

but people in this industry
find me charming.

What do you think is better?

The, like, women in your life,

finding you charming and nice
and thoughtful and respectful,

or the middle-aged men who want to be you?

I am aware of my strengths
and I'm aware of my weaknesses.

Put it that way.

-Oh, really?
-Yes. [chuckles]

["Boss" by Jonny Gorenc
& JASPER ROSS playing]

♪ I'm a boss
Came up from the bottom ♪

♪ Made my way up to the top
Something like a god ♪

-♪ Sayin' with me, I'm a boss... ♪
-[knocking on door]

-Johnny Rez.
-[John] Hey. What's up?

-How's it going, brother?
-Good. [clears throat] This is amazing.

Yeah, I mean, so can... can we sell it?

So, I'm comparing it to one
that sold not so long ago,

and one of the things that I heard

is that the inside covers
are made out of coca leaves.

-[Carlo] Wow.
-[John] It's not ill*gal.

It's not processed
or anything like that, but...

-Guy's got some guts.
-[John] Look at this picture.

So here's him and his son
in front of the White House.

The guy thought he was a Marvel superhero,

and in some ways, I guess,
to some people, he was.

He built playing fields
and schools and things like that,

and tried to create
this reputation as a Robin Hood.

But meantime, he k*lled a lot of people.

I think when you're dealing with things
that are the darker side of history,

there's a little reverence that's required
when you're presenting it,

and you have to put it
in the right historical framework

so people understand what you're offering.

I've been offered things
that I just won't touch,

like Jeffrey Dahmer's silverware.

You know, there's a line,
and there's a tasteful line.

History has its dark side,
it has its bright side.

This is a dark side,
but we have to tell the full story,

and this was, you know,

the wealthiest drug dealer criminal
in all of history.

I'd given it a really good look over
and compared it to one I sold a while ago.

-Okay.
-[John] Take a look at a couple things.

So, first of all,
this of course is printed.

The thumbprint, not real.

And the way you know, I mean,

if you look at this,
it exactly matches this.

[Carlo] Got it.

One of the things
that makes me really paranoid

about signed books
when there's a facsimile,

if the questioned signature looks too much
like what's printed in the book...

Right.

...they use that as the beta,
they use that to do the forgery.

And you look here,
and it's very, very different,

but it matches a known example.

So there's a couple of things I looked at.

I can often spot a forgery
within a few seconds.

There's just a few select authenticators

that can make a decision
on an authentic signature that fast.

I've made a study of it my whole life.

So, you know, the way
the P hooks around is consistent,

and this unusual capital R here.

When I look at lines on a paper, I don't
really see the lines of the signature.

I see the white spaces
that are around the lines.

And then my brain,

it scrolls through thousands of examples
of that person that I've handled,

and if there's something wrong,
kicks it right out.

Here's something forgers miss a lot.

-The connections and letters.
-Okay.

[John] Look, he goes E-S,
and then separate, C-O.

-And the end of the name here. Yeah.
-Spot on.

[John] I believe it's 100% authentic.

-This book is signed by Pablo Escobar.
-[Carlo blows out forcefully]

This almost looked too good to be true.
This is exciting news.

I can't wait to let him know.

Yeah, so I mean, the other signers,
I... I can't authenticate.

-We don't have examples of these people.
-[Carlo] Yeah.

[John] But it doesn't matter.
What matters, Escobar.

So, compared to the one you sold,

how does this stack up,
condition, quality, signatures?

-The one that I sold was around $30,000.
-Wow.

[John] And this is a little cleaner.
Like, look at this.

-It had staining on the page, everything.
-[Carlo] Oh yeah.

This is a really, really clean signature,
and I think it could go for more.

-The other thing is...
-Wow.

[John] ...I've seen three or four of these.

Never have I seen the case
that it comes with.

It seems not important. It's important.

Okay, so you think the case alone's
gonna add value to the whole...?

-A ton.
-[salsa music playing]

[Carlo] Is this the most complete one
you've seen?

It's probably the best-condition one
I've ever seen,

and that's because you have
the slipcase that protected it.

[Carlo] I'm pumped for Alejandro.
He's a great guy.

Considering all the trauma,
pain, and suffering

that Alejandro and his family went through
at the hands of Pablo Escobar,

it's fitting he's the one with this book,
that he's gonna benefit from this sale.

I'm really excited for him.

He's gonna be pumped,
we're pumped. It'll be a big sale.

-Absolutely, man. Good score.
-I appreciate it as always, my friend.

-Thank you.
-[John] No problem.

["I'm Ballin'" by Ty N. Frankel,
Chris B. Harris & David J. Walker playing]

♪ I'm ballin'
So check it 'cause they respect it ♪

♪ What I touch is perfected
From my wits to my necklace ♪

♪ Can't help if y'all reckless
I sizzle like breakfast ♪

♪ And all I did is bread
And I stack it like Tetris... ♪

-[Rob] Yeah, definitely, man. Hey.
-Hi. Laura.

-[Rob] What's good? Rob.
-Nice to meet you.

-Ken, nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, sir.

-So thank you for coming out.
-Yeah, thanks for having us.

I won't waste a lot of your time.
I got something special to show you guys.

-Sure.
-Let's see it.

I reached out to Laura to get her excited
about this Eminem piece.

It is sealed. It is rare.

It's a huge opportunity.

[Rob] So what I have here
is Eminem's 1996 sealed Infinite album.

-[Laura] No way. You're lying.
-[Rob] Signed by Eminem.

This is the promotional copy.

You could hardly ever,
ever find this thing sealed.

-[Ken] Yup.
-It was from Paul Rosenberg's collection.

-His personal manager.
-[Rob] Yes, sir.

And he's been dealing with Em forever.

[Laura] So I would consider myself
quite an Eminem fan,

but I have never heard
of this album before.

Well, this is before The Slim Shady LP,
and it was a complete commercial failure.

So how do you know it's a promo copy?
It has the 8 Mile address

on the bottom of the label.

-[Laura] You're joking.
-[Rob] That's how you know.

-I can recite that movie word for word.
-[Ken] Incredible.

[powerful music playing]

[Ken] Infinite is rapper Eminem's
debut studio album.

He sold only about 1,000 copies,
many out of the back of his car.

The Infinite album is a far cry

from the more expl*sive edgy lyrics
delivered by his Slim Shady alter ego

on his second LP just three years later.

Even though the fledgling rapper
was disappointed by the album's failure,

it may have been the impetus
for owning his artistic style

in an uncompromising way,
ultimately catapulting him to success,

making this nascent album
a precursor to legendary stardom.

Eminem is a very difficult autograph.
He doesn't like to sign.

I've not seen
a lot of these out there, period,

let alone with a signature.

I'm going to need to have
the autograph authenticators

take a look at this,
and make sure this is Eminem's signature.

I could do you one better, Ken.

I asked Paul Rosenberg
if he could send me this.

-Oh, wow.
-You're lying.

[Rob] Well, all right.

-Straight from him.
-That's this?

-[Rob] Yeah.
-Look!

-[Rob] He's left-handed.
-[Ken] I know, I'm looking at that.

[Laura] No way.

[Ken] That may have been a first for me,

literally seeing somebody as high-powered,
well-known as Eminem,

signing the actual item that somebody
wants to consign with me.

I honestly just didn't realize
that he wasn't naturally blond.

[Laura chuckles]

Let me take a peek. That is...

[Laura] It looks the same.

[Ken] That is the album. There's no doubt.

Amazing.

Honestly, we're trying to get,
you know, heavy into music.

This has everything going for it.

It's graded, it's autographed,
it's Eminem, and it's a very rare piece.

I mean this, like,
literally could go $50,000-plus.

[hip-hop music playing]

Laura is the gateway to hip-hop, then.

-[Ken] There we go.
-[chuckles]

I don't understand
why he DM'ed you instead of me,

but hey, I'll take it. Congratulations.

Well, I think most would say I'm probably
more approachable than you are.

[laughs] I can't argue with that.

-Not at all.
-[Laura] Thank you all.

I'll be waiting for my cut.

[music ends]

[Rob] I have one slight stipulation,
though.

And Paul Rosenberg asked me to say this.

All proceeds of this album need to go

to the Marshall Mathers Foundation
in Detroit, which is for at-risk youth.

Here's what I'll do, then.
I'll do you one better.

Typically, we take a consignment,

we charge a consignment fee
to our sellers.

I will waive that,
so 100% of the high bid price

can go to the Marshall Mathers Foundation.

-Well, I guess we got a deal.
-Absolutely. Thank you, Rob.

[Rob] I'm so excited.

[Ken] Giving up my commission
is a small price to pay for a great cause.

And also, it can open up an entire world
of opportunity in music memorabilia,

in hip-hop memorabilia.

Because you make a success of one thing,

everybody comes
to where the success took place.

To me.

Yes, to you. Exactly.

So, now that we've worked this out,

do you have anything else
that I may be interested in,

and could also help him out too?

I got a jeweler who might have
an interesting Dre piece for you.

I'll send you his info.

Damn. Okay, well, thank you so much.

[Rob] Thank you, Laura.
You made this happen.

[Laura laughs]

["I'm On Go" by LeTreez
& Lionel Fabert playing]

-♪ Know what I came for ♪
-♪ I'm spirited Django ♪

♪ You better be careful
Dollar to wait for a minute... ♪

-[Ryan] Hey, Ken.
-[Ken] Hey, what's going on, Ryan?

I wanted to check. Have you heard anything
about Wemby? His people? Any luck?

-How are we looking?
-[Ken] Um, I have gone to everybody.

And, you know, the season's starting
and him being such a worldwide phenomenon,

I just can't make headway.

Okay.

Um, chill. Take a seat. Relax.

-[sighs is relief]
-[Ken] So, look.

I don't know what's gonna happen.
But the most important thing here is

to make sure we get a price
the client's happy with.

Typically, they say you want
to under-promise, overdeliver.

At this point, you've over-promised,
but let's overdeliver on the price and...

Right.

-You know who Jim Taubenfeld is.
-[Ryan] Of course, yeah.

He was actually
the first consignor I ever had.

In 2012, the friggin' front cover
of my catalog, I had his item.

-It was Pete Rose's banishment document.
-[Ryan] Okay.

I was so excited by this,

I said, "Jim, we gotta get
over a half a million for this."

"Gotta get over half a million."

Uh, because I was new,
I gave him a reserve of, like, 250,000

and said, "We're easily gonna blow this
out of the water."

Didn't get 500,000.

-Didn't get the reserve.
-Oh, man.

-[Ken] Didn't come close.
-Yeah.

But guess what? Here I am, 12 years later,

doing tens of millions of dollars
of business with him.

-Right?
-Right.

I was given the opportunity to show him,
"Hey, we might not have gotten the price,

but I did everything within my power
to get him that maximum price."

-Yeah.
-That is what you do with clients.

In all seriousness. You connect with them,

so I'm convinced that you will be able
to make this client happy,

and keep him
as a consignor for the future,

because that's why you're here.

You're a winner. People like you,
you know this industry.

You know the product. You know the market.

Don't beat yourself over it.

Wake up tomorrow, forget about it.

Come to me
before you make statements in the future

promising any type
of athletes' input, okay?

[Ryan] I'm definitely surprised.
I thought the meeting would be soured,

but it wasn't like that at all.

He really showed that human side,
and he's more like a father figure.

And I do feel
that reassurance of confidence.

That goes a long way
when you're doubting yourself.

I know I screwed up on this one,
so I wanna call him.

Kinda just own it like a man and say,

"I overpromised you something
I can't deliver on,

but I think we can knock this
out of the park for you."

-I'll make this right. Don't worry.
-Okay. Have a good one.

[hip-hop song playing]
♪ Mister First Place ♪

♪ Got the gold on my neck
Everybody move it today ♪

♪ Mister First Place
Got a goal in my sight ♪

♪ I'mma work hard all night
Mister First Place... ♪

This is a really bad spot to be in.

There's a high likelihood Kim can say,
"You know what? You lied to me."

"You didn't do what you said.
I don't wanna work with you anymore."

We have endless competitors

who are constantly gunning for us
every single day.

So I know he will walk out of here
and go right to a competitor

if I don't get the deal done right now.

[device beeping]

-There he is. Kim, how are you, my friend?
-Hi, Ryan. Nice to see you.

So good to see you as well.
Everything good over there?

Yeah, everything's good.
I'm still at work.

[Ryan] Okay, well, look,
I know you're a busy man.

I appreciate you taking the time today.

Um, first of all,
I do have to start off with bad news.

[dramatic music playing]

[Ryan] You know
when you came into our office,

how much trust meant to me.

You trusted me. You told me your story.

So I hate having to call you right now
and tell you that I messed up.

Victor Wembanyama obviously is
a very busy man.

Unfortunately,
he was not able to do the video.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[music ends]

["Godly" by Lionel Fabert
& Louis Lepine playing]

♪ I'm a god for the grind
Hey, yeah ♪

♪ If I'm alive
Then I'mma shine ♪

♪ I can't lie, man
It's time ♪

♪ Eyes on the prize
And try to put work ♪

♪ Stop the hands of time
to give them a sun ♪

♪ But I grind like Tony Hawk
Ride till the whizzer's off ♪

♪ Yeah, I'm godly ♪

♪ Yeah, I'm godly
I shine ♪

♪ They been waiting for the sun
Till they found me... ♪