Teen’s $3 thrift store NBA jacket purchase sells for $90K

An Oregon teenager hit the jackpot when he thrifted a jacket worn by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain for $3.07 and sold it at auction for just under $90,000. Quinn Brown told the Associated Press he spotted the bright yellow Lakers jacket after someone tossed it into a clothing bin at a Portland Goodwill in January. Brown, who sells used clothing online, researched the piece by comparing stitching details with photos of Chamberlain wearing what appeared to be a similar jacket. “I really just wanted to make sure, because it was so hard to believe at the time,” he said. After Brown posted the jacket on social media, Sotheby’s contacted him and dispatched an armored vehicle to collect it for auction. The jacket sold Monday for $89,600, below its original $150,000-$250,000 estimate. “I didn’t even think that finding something like this was possible,” Brown said. “I got very, very lucky.” Sotheby’s described the jacket as an “extraordinary piece of memorabilia” from Chamberlain’s final NBA season. Chamberlain played in the NBA for 14 seasons before retiring in 1973. He died at the age of 63 in October 1999 of congestive heart failure

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