Kobe Bryant involved in lawsuit with mom over planned auction of $1.5M worth of memorabilia

When news circulated earlier this week that
New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions was about
to open bidding on a cache of heretofore
unavailable Kobe Bryant memorabilia — rare
game-worn jerseys, high school trophies and
awards, rings commemorating a slew of
achievements and more — it seemed like a
cool opportunity for collectors. I mean, who
wouldn't want to shell out a few shekels
bidding on the surfboard Kobe won at the
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards? That's right:
Nobody. Everyone wants those things.
As it turns out, though, it's unlikely that you're
going to get your chance to bid on any of the
stuff in that 100-plus-item lot — because
apparently, Kobe didn't think his mom would
actually get rid of it all, and he's not OK with
selling it off. From Jane M. Von Bergen of the
Philadelphia Inquirer :
For years, Pamela Bryant kept asking her son:
Do you still want all this stuff that I'm keeping
for you — your old basketball jerseys, your
sports awards, your high school trophies?
And for years, according to a lawsuit filed in
federal court in Camden on Thursday, the son,
now 34, was content to let it all sit around at
the house.
Until ...
Until Pamela Bryant, Kobe Bryant's mother,
wanted to auction it off for an expected $1.5
million so she could use the money to buy a
house in Nevada.
A-ha. More from Geoff Mulvihill of The
Associated Press :
According to court filings, Pamela Bryant
struck a deal in January with Goldin Auctions
in Berlin, N.J., which earlier this year sold a
rare Honus Wagner baseball card for a record
$2.1 million. [...]
In its court filings, Goldin says Pamela Bryant
told the auction house that she asked her son
five years ago what he wanted to do with the
items that were in her home.
"Kobe Bryant indicated to Pamela Bryant that
the items belonged to her and that he had no
interest in them," the auction house's
attorneys wrote. So she put them in a $1,500-
per-month New Jersey storage unit.
Apparently, Kobe changed his mind — after
auction-house owner Kenneth Goldin began
publicizing the upcoming auction earlier this
week, Kobe's lawyers sent him a cease-and-
desist letter. That didn't sit too well with
Goldin, who's already shelled out a $450,000
advance that Pamela Bryant reportedly
intended to put toward the purchase of that
new home, and responded by filing suit in U.S.
District Court in Camden, N.J. on Thursday to
allow the sale to proceed as scheduled.
"Mr. Bryant's personal property has ended up
in the possession of someone who does not
lawfully own it," his lawyer, Mark Campbell,
said in a statement. "We look forward to
resolving this legal matter through the legal
system. There will be no further comment at
this time."
It sure seems like there's more to this story
than meets the eye. As Von Bergen notes in her
Inquirer story , relations between Kobe and his
parents haven't always been quite so sunny,
and ESPN reported Friday that the auction
came in kind of a weird way:
A source told ESPN that Kobe Bryant offered
to pay his mother up $250,000 toward a home
she wanted.
She refused, saying she wanted $450,000.
When Kobe Bryant turned her down, the
source said that unbeknownst to Kobe Bryant
she struck a deal to get the $450,000
advanced through the auction company.
The source said Kobe Bryant was unaware that
his memorabilia was being auctioned until
hours before the auction company released the
news of the sale.
More on the weirdness, from Sarah Flanigan of
Yahoo!'s omg! blog :
[...] a source close to the Lakers player told
"omg! Insider" co-anchor Kevin Frazier that
the real reason behind the auction is a family
dispute over a second home that his mother
wants to purchase: "Bryant has given his
parent millions of dollars in financial
assistance throughout his 17 year career. They
decided to sell his high school memorabillia
without his consent to purchase an additional
home." According to the source, when Kobe
balked at buying a larger home than initially
agreed upon, his mother struck the deal to sell
his memorabilia.
Where this goes from here remains to be seen
— Kobe's lawyers have until Wednesday to
respond to Goldin's filing, and a hearing on
the matter has been scheduled for May 20 —
but for now, it looks like Kobe's treasures will
remain off limits. Kind of a bummer for those
of us who are unlikely to ever win a Kids'
Choice Award of our own.
Also: Mother's Day dinner might be a little
rough. Yikes.