September! Oh the things that happen in September. The kids are going back to school, there’s Harvest Festival, it’s Urology Awareness Month, there’s Scarborough Jazz Festival, and frankly we don’t give a solitary hoot about any of that. This is HullCityKits.co.uk, not TrumpetersWithBladderInfections.org…

We care about Hull City shirts, and maybe jackets and tees, that’s our bag, and we feverishly search eBay and other sites so we can top up our collections. So here’s Mike Carter, walking us through what has gone under the virtual hammer in August…

We start with player specification shirts that have been issue for or worn in games, and in particular a shirt that has been listed for the best part of a decade! This 2013/14 away shirt with poppy appliqué worn by Ahmed Elmohamady against Southampton on 9th November 2013 finally has a new home after being listed by United States auction house Nate D Sanders. 

There is more to this, and it’s a story we’ve told in the past, but we believe the auction house picked up all of these in late 2013, and listed them at astronomical prices. This one was listed at $1800, but we assume a much lower offer will have been accepted on this item. This is the last shirt left that Nate D Sanders has as far as we can tell, so this could be the end of the story, many years after it was first told.

In the last year or so, the final prices for player shirts have been surprisingly low, with many going for less than £100. A bittersweet trend, as it offered up some bargains but could also put people off parting with player shirts they have tucked in a house crevice. Then, this one came along… A 2019/20 away shirt worn by Ryan Tafazolli, likely in the catastrophic defeat at Wigan, sold for £290! One notable point is the NHS chest appliqué, something added when football returned after a Covid-19 lockdown pause. A collector’s piece for sure, as there hasn’t been many of these seen on the open market.

Could this be a turning point? With player shirts fetching a decent price as standard? Well, this 2022/23 grey goalkeeper jersey worn by Chelsea loanee Nathan Baxter. The jersey sold for £182, with two bidders pushing up the end price in the final moments of the auction.

Moving into the replica market now and the fondly loved 1995-97 kit set makes a double appearance in this edition of Auction Action. A home shirt in size XL sold for £100 and an away shirt, also in size XL fetched £122.

Another shirt that hit the three digit mark (let’s not quibble over a penny) was this 1997/98 home shirt by Super League in size large which sold for £99.99. The shirt is in very good condition and it’s no surprise that it didn’t stay around for long!

The 1999/00 home shirt by Avec is one of the most common shirts covered on Auction Action. There seems to be several available every month. This one in size XL sold for £51, a very similar price to that of a modern replica. What would you rather have? 

The 2000/01 home shirt by Avec is a beauty*. It features a brilliant combination of black, amber and white, all in one shirt. This one, in size medium sold for £37, and is the cheapest shirt we’re going to cover this month.

*highly subjective view

It clearly pays to be skinny, on this occasion anyway, as this 2000/01 home shirt by Avec in size XL sold for £69.99. Almost twice the price of the medium. We’ve noticed a pattern in resale XL shirts selling for more than smaller shirts, that’s middle age spread for you!

The black 2003/04 away shirt by Patrick is memorable for supporters as the one worn in a promotion sealing performance at Yeovil Town. This one in size XXL was available for £49.99, or a best offer.

A shirt that doesn’t crop up as much as you’d expect is the 2013/14 home by adidas. Other than the bog eyed tiger on the crest size issue, the sub-optimal sponsor and it being a template shared with West Brom, it’s a splendid shirt. This one in size large was available for £40 or best offer.

Third shirts from the 2014-2023 Umbro era had largely retained their value in the years following their release, being items ordered by the club in low numbers relative to home and away shirts. But in the last few months we’ve seen them go for as little as £20, which came as a surprise. This 2018/19 third shirt by Umbro in XL was listed at £45, but had the best offer option active.

We’ll close with a couple of printed replica shirts, the first one being a strange one. This 2002-04 home shirt has been printed with Windass and the number 15. If it refers to Dean, well he wouldn’t return to the club for a further four years, so maybe it’s just the name of the original buyer instead. Either way, it didn’t stop someone paying £36 for it.

The last shirt we’ll cover is this 2007/08 away shirt by Umbro in size large, printed with Okocha and 44. Jay-Jay’s stay in Hull was short lived, but his cult status will be forever remembered. Once again, a Jay-Jay this replica sells for more than it would have cost back in 2008, at £65.

That’s your lot. See you in October, and remember… Caveat emptor!