Teen’s thrift store find earns him nearly $90,000 at auction

A Wilt Chamberlain warmup jacket that a Portland, Oregon, teen found in a suburban thrift store for $3 sold Monday for nearly $90,000. More than 45 people bid on the jacket, which the Hall of Famer wore during the 1972 NBA Finals.

Quinn Brown, a 19-year-old who sells thrift clothes online, was browsing the Goodwill Bins in Hillsboro, Oregon, this year, when he saw another boy consider, then reject the jacket. The auction house Sotheby’s authenticated his find and conducted the auction.

Chamberlain is one of basketball’s all-time greats. He holds 72 records, and he’s the only NBA player to ever score 100 points in one game. His Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New York Knicks for the championship the year he wore this jacket. Chamberlain was named Finals MVP.

With 30 seconds left in the auction, the bids had only reached $70,000. (An initial estimate by Sotheby’s put the value at $150,000.) But in a move basketball fans might call a buzzer-beater, someone placed a last-second bid for $89,600 and won the jacket. Brown said he plans to take a cheap vacation to Vietnam with friends, then he will save or invest the rest.

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