In an auction that closed on Wednesday, the 1999 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet won by Paul “Eskimo” Clark in a $1,500 Razz event fetched $4,050. The auction attracted 15 bids after a starting price of $1,000 was established. The lucky winner was “n***x,” whose identity is not known due to eBay privacy rules.
The bracelet is located in Ireland, leaving many to speculate that Clark had already sold the bracelet. “anarcnub,” who had no previous eBay activity, was its seller this time around and the pre-owned item was numbered 220700037337. The bracelet contained 117.1 grams of 18k gold and was a little over eight inches in length. The description of the Razz bracelet reminded would-be bidders, “This is an exquisite piece of gold jewelry that rarely comes on the market.”
Due to the bracelet being located outside of Clark’s home country and the seller having no previous history on eBay, posters on TwoPlusTwo contemplated whether the auction was legitimate. One TwoPlusTwo member wrote, “The seller has no previous transactions and is from Ireland. I think it is safe to assume that Clark sold this years ago. So what are the odds that this is just a fraud?”
Another poster noted that the eventual buyer might have scored the deal of a lifetime: “If this is true, then by its gold content alone, it is worth more than $5,000. I may have to buy it and melt it down.”
Clark has over $600,000 in WSOP earnings to his name along with three bracelets. His first came in 1992 in a $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud event and was good for $122,000. His aforementioned Razz bracelet came with a bounty of $84,000 and saw Clark defeat a final table that included Ron Agar and Men “The Master” Nguyen. Clark’s final piece of hardware came in 2002, when he won a $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low tournament for $125,000. All told, he has 20 in the money finishes in WSOP events, but owns just two cashes since 2007.
In 2004, Clark was the runner-up to Mike Kinney in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) World Poker Challenge in Reno. He banked $310,000 for his deep run and has a total of four WPT cashes to his credit. According to the Hendon Mob database, Clark owns $2.7 million in career tournament winnings.
Clark’s bracelet sold for 1/36th of what Peter Eastgate’s WSOP Main Event bracelet auctioned for on eBay last week. Eastgate, who won poker’s most prestigious tournament in 2008, put up his bracelet to raise money for UNICEF and fetched a winning bid of $147,500. The Danish player, who retired from poker earlier this year citing financial independence, held the title of youngest Main Event champion ever until Joe Cada broke his record one year later.
The identity of the buyer of Eastgate’s bracelet is not yet known either. Some in the industry have suspected that an online poker site like PokerStars or Full Tilt would buy the bracelet for promotional purposes, but so far, no one has come forward to claim responsibility. When Poker News Daily asked Eastgate’s team for an interview, we were told, “At this time, he is not interested in doing any interviews regarding the sale of the bracelet. I am sure it will be made public who the buyer is in due time.”
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