Note: This is one of two 1969 SB III Yellow Full Tickets graded PSA GD 2 in this auction. Lot 316 is a separate ticket with a different seat number.
Presented
here is a rarity for ticket collectors: a 1969 Super Bowl III Yellow Variation Full Ticket graded PSA GOOD 2. The fact that it received a grade by PSA is a luxury as only thirteen have even been encapsulated. The iconic game was
played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami between the AFL
Champion New York Jets and the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts. A brash,
young “Broadway” Joe Namath predicted victory, then led his Jets to a
stunning 16-7 win over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts to give the
AFL it's first ever World Championship. Namath claimed MVP honors
despite not throwing a touchdown pass in the game, or even attempting a
pass in the 4th quarter.
The
$12 face value ticket to football's biggest game in '69 is laughable compared to the current price of entry. This full, unused ticket has some brown spotting on the front and more severe on the back, but the colors remain fairly strong on the front. Corners are quite rounded as one would expect from its given grade, but aside from a minor surface scratch over the Lombardi trophy and the beginnings of an indentation near the bottom middle edge, it looks in better shape than most GD 2 ratings. This is one of three examples in the PSA registry with such grade, and only
seven are graded higher (one of those is a qualifier).
PSA
does not provide its SMR "blue book" value for tickets graded GD 2 or
VG 3. They currently have a VG-EX 4 in the '69 yellow version at $15K,
but that seems way off when you consider a FR 1.5 example sold at
auction for $23,900 in 2016. We sold an EX-MT 6 (pop 3) for $59,098 in
our 2017 Winter Auction to set the all-time record price for any
individual sports
ticket. And last auction we sold an EX 5 (pop 2) for just under $45K.