A piece of basketball history discovered in a modest Oregon thrift store has reached a staggering price at auction. On Monday, a warmup jacket worn by NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain during the 1972 NBA Finals sold for $89,600. The item had been purchased earlier this year by Quinn Brown, a teenager who frequently resells clothing online, for just $3.07 at a Goodwill store located outside of Portland.
Brown, who has spent the last three years sourcing items for online resale, spotted the yellow, short-sleeved jacket in a large bin of clothing in January. He noticed someone toss the Lakers jacket, which featured Chamberlain’s name, back onto the pile and quickly grabbed it. His previous highest-value sale was a Sub Pop Records T-shirt that brought in $250, making this find a significant leap in value.
After acquiring the jacket, Brown began investigating its authenticity. He searched online and found a photograph of Chamberlain wearing such a jacket, which he then compared to the one in his possession. By examining the Lakers patch on the front, he noticed specific small stitching details that matched the photo. He also researched the measurements of a different jersey worn by Chamberlain, a towering figure at 7 feet, 1 inch (2.2 meters) tall, and discovered that they nearly aligned. Brown admitted he was initially skeptical, noting, “I really just wanted to make sure, because it was so hard to believe at the time,” adding that he had only ever read about such serendipitous thrift findings.
When he posted a photo of the jacket on social media, Sotheby’s contacted him about consigning the item. Brown agreed, and an armored van was sent to collect it. The auction house then conducted its own photo verification, confirming that the jacket was indeed worn by Chamberlain during the 1972 Finals, a series in which the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New York Knicks and Chamberlain was named the Finals MVP.
Sotheby’s, which had estimated the jacket's value between $150,000 and $250,000, reported that the item received a total of 48 bids before the auction closed on Monday. The auction house described the jacket as an “extraordinary piece of memorabilia,” noting that “photomatching a piece of game-worn clothing to a specific Finals series, for a player of this era, is genuinely exceptional.” They further stated that as such items become increasingly rare, the jacket stands as a significant piece of sports history.
Chamberlain, who played in the NBA from 1959 to 1973, is widely viewed as one of the all-time greats. He holds the record for the most points scored in a single game, netting 100 points in a 1962 match, and won two championship rings—one with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967 and another with the Lakers in 1972. This sale follows another major Chamberlain-related auction, where a game-worn jersey he wore during the 1972 series sold for $4.9 million at Sotheby’s in 2023, marking it as the fourth most expensive NBA jersey ever sold by the auction house.
Reflecting on the experience, Brown expressed his disbelief at the outcome. “I didn’t even think that finding something like this was possible,” Brown said. “I got very, very lucky.” Regarding the final sale, he added, “That was as good as it gets.”
