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WorthPoint Adds to Its List of Specialists!

Welcome “Clean Sweep Auctions” Sports Collectibles

Clean Sweep Auctions is a vintage sports mail order company that runs online and telephone sports memorabilia auctions. They auctioned this 1887 Old Judge Cigarettes McPhee baseball card for a little over $7400.

At WorthPoint, we are continuously adding to our database for researching and valuing antiques, art and collectibles by forming partnerships with the top experts in the business. We’ve already built a wealth of current value and pricing listings for close to 500 million antiques and collectible items. But dry numbers can only tell you so much.  To learn about what to look for in terms of industry trends, buying tips, reproductions and other nuanced information that a price list doesn’t tell you, there is nothing better than having access to experts with years of experience in the field.

One such specialist is Steve Verkman, from Clean Sweep Auctions of Port Washington, NY.   Clean Sweep Auctions is a vintage sports mail order company that runs online and telephone sports memorabilia auctions. Steve opened the business in the early 1990s, but he has been a collector since 1979. His company specializes in high end, single item and full estate auctions, as well as appraisals and asset liquidations.  Steve specializes in pre-war rare cards and autographed pieces.

“Business is excellent,” says Steve. “2018 looks to be our best year ever!  The market is very strong for high end items.”

Out of curiosity, since he’s been active in the hobby for three decades, I couldn’t help but ask if there was a most memorable find or memorable collection.  Steve has a business to run, but still loves the sports memorabilia hobby.

“A favorite collection I was happy to handle was an enormous collection we obtained in 1994, which contained 3,500 T206 cards,” he says. “ There have been many great finds over the years. I retain a great passion for rare, interesting and unusual items. I still collect to this day, in addition to my auction / sale business.”

Clean Sweep auctioned this autographed Jackie Robinson baseball for over $11,000.

Clean Sweep Auctions also handles high end paper documents and autographed memorabilia.  It’s an exciting market to handle, as both sports and history change constantly, create brand new marketable items, and add value to related items already out in the marketplace.  In some fields of collecting you can gather enough reference materials so that you can bet to the point eventually, where you can pretty much “know it all.”

But collecting autographed sports memorabilia is dynamic, with new items created daily, and headlines in the daily newspaper that can suddenly change the value of an item already in our collection.  When you’ve built a reputation of success in the field of sports collectibles, you’ll have the opportunity to handle high-end pieces that bring prices that are just unreal!

Take a look at a couple more of the latest auction prices realized just this year at Clean Sweep Auctions (listed prices include commission):

This Bobby Orr 1966 TOPPS USA test card recently sold for over $11,000.
Clean Sweep Auctions also handles other collectibles, documents, and autographed items.  In October 2018, this 1778 George Washington document brought $11,366.00!

We welcome Steve and Clean Sweep Auctions to the WorthPoint family, and we hope that 2019 brings continued success!  Information about Clean Sweep Auctions can be found at CleanSweepAuctions.com.


Bram Hepburn collects 19th-century New England bottles and glass, having spent the last 30 years digging and diving for bottles in New England and upstate New York. He has just founded an estate liquidation company and auction house, Hepburn and Co. Antiques in Eliot, Maine. 

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