Hold the phone. Bidding on 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Peter Eastgate’s bracelet has crossed into six-figures. With just less than a day remaining before the witching hour strikes on the bidding, the asking price stands at a balmy $100,100. Buy it now.
This morning, the price of Eastgate’s bracelet ballooned from $82,000 all the way to over $100,000. The bidding could escalate considerably further from here and whoever strikes gold may receive their bracelet just in time for the holidays, as the estimated delivery date is between December 24th and January 6th.
On TwoPlusTwo, posters were trying to rationalize the astronomically high asking price for Eastgate’s heirloom. One poster recalled an Olympic swimmer who took the same approach as Eastgate, who is donating all proceeds to UNICEF: “In a similar move to Eastgate’s, back in 2005 swimmer Anthony Ervin auctioned off his Olympic gold medal for charity. Obviously his medal’s not as valuable as one from Michael Phelps or Marc Spitz, but it still brought $17K. Any true Olympic medal would bring a decent amount at auction. I think a WSOP ME bracelet, the most valuable piece of poker memorabilia ever on the market, would certainly fall into that category.”
Meanwhile, posters were guessing how much Eastgate’s bracelet would ultimately sell for. Estimates from $102,000 to nearly $150,000 were tossed out, which seem like strong possibilities now. One poster explained, “There have been only 41 WSOP ME bracelets won. 41 in the whole world. Yes, a lot of collectors would love to have this bracelet to put beside their other collectibles from baseball, boxing, tennis, golf, football, and auto racing… Good for you, Peter.”
Then there’s Tony G. The PartyPoker pro told the world that he was entering the frenzy for Eastgate’s bracelet in order to give his dog a shiny new collar. Interestingly, Tony G seemed to have predicted the going rate for a 2008 WSOP Main Event bracelet in a blog when bidding first opened: “Carry on bidding, this bracelet is going to go for six-figures. I respect Zasko too much to not pay what it takes, but I do have limits. For $2 million, I could buy him his own private jet!”
As to who could land the bracelet in the end, an online poker site like PokerStars or Full Tilt would make sense. Each could put the bracelet in their respective points stores or give it away through a tournament. When T.J. Cloutier‘s bracelet was put up on eBay in January, Cake Poker came away with the hardware and promptly returned it to its rightful owner. Word also broke this week that Eskimo Clark is selling his 1999 WSOP bracelet.
In case you’re still in the running, here’s the full description as given on eBay’s auction site: “Stamped 18 k, white gold ‘World Series of Poker 2008’ Main Event winner’s medal bracelet. Consisting of 291 small ‘Brilliant’ cut diamonds set on a center medal, which is held on an 18k white gold wristwatch style bracelet. Carat: Total Diamond. Weight: 2.81ct. Clarity: VS. Color: Colorless. Total gold weight: 168 grams. Manufactured by Corum.”
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the results.
