Ever since eBay first became popularized back in the 1990’s, we’ve seen a variety of interesting items go up for sale. Sports memorabilia has always been one of the more interesting and controversial product categories that are often sold on the site. On the one hand, fans have the potential to get their hands on incredibly rare items that have a place within sports history. But on the other hand, many people (athletes included) condemned the sale of certain items, specifically autographs. Well it has recently come to our attention that an authentic, New England Patriots AFC Championship players ring has been put up on eBay, and it is obviously generating a considerable amount of buzz.
Now items of this particular nature are usually not seen at auctions. You have to wonder, who would give away something like this? These rings are obviously given to the players, so it originally came from a team member of the New England Patriots. Luckily we do know who this ring used to belong to: none other than Brandon Spikes, as “SPIKES” is inscribed on the side. But we will get back to that later.
The seller, known as “andyr2108” has listed the ring on his personal eBay page and the item is listed as “used”. The seller provides a few pictures of the ring, including a legitimate certificate of appraisal that confirms its authenticity. As I am writing this article, the auction for the ring will close on Friday at 7:14am and the current asking price is $19,499 dollars. That’s certainly a lot of money, but when you considered the rings significance, what it’s made from, and how rare it is, suddenly that price makes sense.
According to the certificate of appraisal, this ring is from the 2011 American Football Conference. The ring obviously features many precious and expensive materials, given its significance. The base of the ring is constructed from 14-karat white gold, and there are many, many diamonds. On the front we see the Patriots logo that is surrounded by diamonds, 32 1/50 solitaire cut diamonds to be exact. In the background we then find seven .07 marquise cut diamonds, and four solitaire cut diamonds. Additionally there are 30 smaller solitaire cut diamonds that line the inside border of the ring. The ring weighs 59 grams in total and is a size 15. It was manufactured by Masters of Design and Herff Jones. According to that appraisal, the ring is valued at $18,000 dollars.
Based on andyr21o8’s name and seller information, it does not seem as though this is Brandon Spikes himself. The seller has been an active user since 2006, has a positive seller feedback, and has sold a variety of other items on the site that don’t relate to football or Brandon Spikes at all. So did Brandon Spike initially sell the ring to this mysterious seller, or maybe the seller is acting for Spikes himself? Who knows, but the ring is definitely for sale. So why would Spikes sell his ring? Maybe to cover the recent legal trouble he currently finds himself in? Awhile back, Brandon Spikes crashed his expensive Maybach into the back of an SUV. He then fled the scene of the accident, and claimed that he “hit a deer”. There’s no evidence of a deer being hit, and he was recently charged four times in relation to the accident. The charges include operating a motor vehicle negligently to endanger, speeding, failure to stay within the lines, and leaving the scene of a personal injury crash. The incident caused minor injuries to the passengers of the car that he hit, and Spikes will have to pay a visit to court.
So there’s no indication that Brand Spikes is the personal seller behind the ring, or that he’s selling the ring to cover legal costs as the ring was appraised back in February, before any of this happened. Regardless the ring is up for sale, but the real question is whether or not anyone would actually buy it for that insane price. To see the ring for yourself, check out the current eBay listing. I guess we will know in two days if someone buys it.
*we reached out to user AndyR” for clarification and he did not reply to our email (yet). So as of right now until there’s proof we don’t think Spikes made this listing.
Photos from eBay/andyr2108
