I was at my neighbor’s house on Saturday night to watch the Canelo Alvarez v. Alfredo Angulo fight, which is the normal gathering place for any moderate to big boxing match. As the fight went on and I became less interested with every massive shot of Alvarez fist on the pummeled Angulo, my eyes began to wander around my neighbor’s property. I’d been to this place for fights and cook outs hundreds of times before but there was something that caught my attention, hanging on the inner wall of my neighbor’s garage.
Taking the open garage door as an invitation to walk closer I begin to see why it piqued my interest. It’s an awesome Miller Lite promotional poster with the main cast of the 80’s Lakers Showtime; Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Cooper and Byron Scott sitting around a pokers table. The title at the top reads “Best Draw in the West.” The 5 are all wearing their Lakers jerseys with some combination of old western gear, such as vests, cowboy hats and most impressive, a long brown leather trench coat donned by Micheal Cooper.
Being someone that buys Lakers memorabilia for my own collection and to resell, I’m befuddled by the fact that I had never seen this poster before. I delay in approaching my neighbor and expressing any interest in order to do a quick Google search on my phone, but find nothing. I get the same results from searching on Ebay and other sports memorabilia sites. I have to move forward with little knowledge of it’s worth.
I call over my neighbor to discuss the poster and he didnt have to many details about the item other than it’s been in his garage for longer than he could remember. I estimate the age of the poster of no earlier than 1983 which is the first year that all 5 played on the Lakers team, Byron Scott’s rookie year.
I take the fact that the poster is hanging in his garage as him not being that attached to it so I let him know I’ll take it off his hand for $50. He balks at the offer and lets me know he is not interested in selling the item. Wanting the item I quickly increase my offer to $150 and again he tells me that he’s not interested. Looking around his other items in his garage I see he doesnt seem to get rid of many things, almost like an organized hoarder of sports memorabilia.
I put my thoughts together before giving him my last and final offer, taking into account that most Lakers posters, even the rarest that I can think of, that are not signed, will sell for no more $300. Except, that this poster is extremely rare and would appeal to not only Lakers fans, but poker and beer advertising enthusiasts. The poster includes 3 Hall of Famers so its appeal would extend well beyond Lakers’ fans to fans of the NBA’s entire history. I offer him $350 and let him know that is it. Again, he turns it down and states there wouldn’t be an offer that he would even consider to sell it. While I highly doubt that is the case, I don’t have the bank account to test him. I’ll have to walk away but him being my neighbor if he ever reconsiders he just has to walk a few steps to knock on my door.
– Fern Rea
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