Collecting Daily April 25

Good morning collectors. It’s Saturday, April 25, 2026. We have Norman Rockwell’s humanity, the many faces of the US Constitution, and a day for Babe Ruth. For everything a collector needs to know sign up for free here.

Breaking News

Generous and curious like his art, Norman Rockwell gave this drawing to a young fan. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Norman Rockwell gifted drawing to make $420,000?

Norman Rockwell was a kind man, and when 14-year-old Jane Bennett (now Perkins) wrote to him in 1952, asking for advice on her own artistic ambitions, the artist invited her to his studio.

The result of that visit is now for sale with a $150,000 opening bid.

As she left, Rockwell said: “Here, I’ll give you a souvenir of your visit” and picked up a drawing from the floor. It was a preparatory sketch for his soon-to-be-finished painting Cheerleaders.

Rockwell, whose work was largely published in newspapers and magazines, is now highly regarded and very valuable. The finished Cheerleaders painting auctioned in 2015 for $4.5 million. Another study was listed in 2021 with a $250,000 to $350,000 estimate. No sale was recorded in that auction, but the present study is listed for sale online with a $420,000 high estimate.

Not all popular art becomes fine art and achieves such prices. Spotting the artists who will be reappraised is a great skill for an art collector to have.

Old Trafford cleaner sells Man Utd shirt collection

A dressing room cleaner at Old Trafford is selling some of his collection.

Tony Heywood was a familiar figure and a friend to many United players before his retirement in 2022. And, he collected memorabilia. Some was discarded – including the Cristiano Ronaldo boots in this sale – and some was given to him, like the Eric Cantona shirt from Ryan Giggs’ testimonial. Much of it was stored in a bin bag under Tony’s bed.

A black shirt match-worn by CR7 for a win over Liverpool in 2005 is expected to make up to £15,000. A pair of gold boots worn by Ronaldo have the same top estimate at the Made in Manchester Auction at Budds on April 28.

Personal connections are gold dust in collecting, and the Tony Heywood Collection is testament to someone earning trust. It marks an interesting new tie-in with Cult Kits, an online shirt reseller, who are bringing the 28 shirts to auction. Will the auction model work well enough for them to expand its use?
London Film and ComicCon 2026 cancelled

War, uncertainty and travel costs have cancelled one of the big cult fan events of the year.

The June 13-14 event at London’s Olympia will now be held in August 2027.

A statement opens: “After lengthy discussions with the team and exploring other possibilities, we have come to the unfortunate conclusion that it simply isn’t feasible in this climate to bring you the quality of event that you expect from us for over 30 years.”

Will more events be forced to follow suit?

In the Know

Selling This Week

Car time: Monaco sales this weekend include a 1961 Ferrari California Spider with a $19 million top estimate.

Rare records: The sale of the Korda Marshall collection at Ewbank’s next Wednesday is a great opportunity for record collectors. A Bowie selection is already at £240.

Sold Last Week

Bowie’s Jean words: A working draft of David Bowie’s lyrics for 1973 song The Jean Genie has sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $153,600.

Titanic run continues: A watch from Titanic victim John Jacob Astor sold at Freeman’s in Chicago for $1 million, doubling its pre-sale top estimate.

Events & Exhibitions

Elton’s piano: A piano from Caribou Ranch studios used by Elton John among others is due to sell at Bonhams in May. It’s on show now at the auction house’s New York premises.

Signing sessions: Noah Schnapp from Stranger Things is the headline signing guest at Liverpool’s ComicCon next weekend. You’ll need to book to guarantee autographs from a big roster of guests. Some sessions are already sold out.

A-Z

Art: A Rothko is selling at Christie’s auction of the Collection of Agnes Gund. There’s no estimate yet on Two Greens and Red Stripe by the artist, whose auction record is $86.9 million.

Film memorabilia/Toys: An example of the legendary Kenner Boba Fett toy is listed in Goldin’s Star Wars sale opening this weekend. The prototype of a design abandoned for safety reasons needs a $100,000 opening bid.

Music memorabilia: Julien’s Auctions’ sale of Grateful Dead gear in San Francisco was a far out success, with two Jerry Garcia guitars returning $256,000 each.

Music memorabilia: A sale from Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts’ Devon home will be held in Exeter on May 20. Watts and his wife, Shirley, had eclectic collecting tastes including militaria, sport, and art.

Numismatics: Coin collectors hoping to cash in on the extraordinary silver price boom may have missed their chance. A January crash followed by a spring rally has seen another crash down to around £55 per ounce

Numismatics: An Edward VIII pattern half crown has a £200,000 to £300,000 estimate at Noonans Mayfair on May 26. Edward’s abdication produced rare, cancelled coins. Noonans say just two examples of this are in private hands.

Pokémon/Sports memorabilia: LA Dodgers pitcher (and well known Pokémon collector) Will Klein has been given a glove with his favourite card, Tyranitor, embedded in its exterior. Should he ever sell it… start a queue.

Sports memorabilia/Ephemera: A new auction house has opened dedicated to sports ticket sales. Front Row Auctions plans to hold its first sale later this year and is focusing on the summer’s National Sports Collectors Convention to pick up consignments.

Stamps: Spink’s China sale in Hong Kong saw some over-estimate prices (and some below) including a unique small dragon trail surcharge that jumped its low estimate to make $8,295.

Trading cards: A 2003-04 Upper Deck LeBron James rookie card with signed patch has a $750,000 starting bid at Goldin for sale from May 28.

Watches: Big lots continue to appear in the spring watch sale catalogues. Phillips now has a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon with a $5 million top estimate. It sells on May 9 – 10.

In an age of Total War, no avenue was spared in the information battle. See below for more on propaganda stamps.

The Long Read

Looking at an autograph? Are you sure it is what you think it is?

How to spot a fake autograph in 30 seconds.

Whatnots

A Quick Dip Into…

US Constitution copies

An evolving document

The Constitution of the United States is among the most celebrated documents in history, and at $43.2 million for one copy, the most valuable. This is its history:

The Articles of Confederation predate the final constitution. The document was drafted, adopted and ratified in much the same way as the later document. A copy sold for $1 million in 2024.

The Constitution started life as handwritten working documents from 1787.

A first draft was printed by Dunlap & Claypole in August 1787 for the Constitutional Convention.
A second draft was printed in September.
The adopted Constitution was prepared as an “engrossed” or handwritten parchment by September 16, 1787.
The approved text was then printed as a broadside (a poster edition basically) by Dunlap & Claypole on September 17 – 18, 1787. This edition was given to members of the convention.
A “public” broadside was printed on September 17, 1787.
More broadside editions were then printed to spread the document to the people of the 13 states.
From September 19, 1787 newspaper editions began to appear. The first is the Pennsylvania Packet edition.
Editions were printed for the state congresses and for public consumption in support of the document’s ratification by these bodies. These include newspaper, broadside, and pamphlet printings.
In 1789 the “correct copy of the Constitution of the United States” was printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine as a master copy.
All of these versions of the Constitution are incredibly rare, Most are known, catalogued and in public institutions.

In 2024, a 1787 ratification copy was found in the former home of the Governor of North Carolina. It made $9 million at auction, 133 years after the last sale of a similar document.

Inside World Cup soccer cards

Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 Adrenalyn XL Trading Cards will contain nine limited edition cards showing Golden Ballers. Look out for high price resales as soon as they’re found.

They are:

• Lionel Messi of Argentina
• Vinicius Junior of Brazil
• Mohamed Salah of Egypt
• Harry Kane of England
• Kylian Mbappe of France
• Son Heung-Min of Korea
• Erling Haaland of Norway
• Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal
• Lamine Yamal of Spain

Quirky: The two world wars of the last century were fought on every front, including the philatelic. Alongside legitimate jingoistic and fund-raising national issues are so-called Cinderella stamps, often forgeries with a sinister propaganda message. The Nazis produced a long line of supposed GB issues, usually aimed at countries in the Empire and using overprints to suggest Jewish or communist control of the Allied war effort.

Anniversary this week: On April 27, 1947 Americans came together. In particular, just shy of 60,000 people packed into Yankee Stadium in New York for Babe Ruth Day. The Sultan of Swat had retired in 1935. This was a day to wish him well: “to unite in a prayer for his recovery” as one appeal put it. Ruth was terminally ill and would die just over a year after this outpouring of love for him. His frail appearance shocked the crowd gathered for him, a sportsman known for his power and vitality. Ruth’s “called shot” jersey is the most valuable ever sports collectible, selling for $24.1 million in 2024.

“ I had unlimited funds, wall space and storage, I would collect a lot more things, like Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, science fiction stuff, autographs, and prop guns and weapons. I have to draw the line somewhere.”

Kirk Hammet

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