February might be short on days, but was it short on available to buy Hull City memorabilia? NOPE! Mikey Carter describes the Auction Action…

‘Holy grail’ is a term that’s been hideously overused in recent years by collectors of everything from trainers to programmes to autographed stickers and trading cards, which of course includes match-worn shirts. This overuse has got to the point where it now seems to mean ‘the next thing I want to buy that might cost more than £150’ rather than ‘legendary item that almost never becomes available’. Imagine how rubbish ‘Indiana Jones and the not even that rare third shirt for sale on Vinted‘ would be.

Anyway, if you were to make a list of Hull City match-worn shirts that qualified as Holy Grails, then I reckon a 2007/08 Championship Play-Off final shirt, worn at Wembley in the game that saw us clinch our first promotion to the top flight would be on that list, especially if you specify it’s a shirt worn by Dean Windass, who scored the only goal of the game.

Well, one became available in February, and it was being made available by Dean’s son, Jordan, who ostensibly wanted to raise funds to go to any dementia care for his dad. Deano, in his inimitable style said on Twittex “if Jordan wants to sell it and get the money it’s up to him I don’t want it”, which inspired a lot of hand wringing about how the club should buy it for posterity etc.

What his post did do, however, was verify that this is a legit shirt up for grabs. The shirt Windass wore for the first half of the Play-Off final was auctioned off some years ago and is believed to have been sold to an E. Allam Esq. for £15,000.

So this one then must be the spare, which if Deano changed shirts at half time, would have been what he had on when he lifted the trophy along with team mates after the game, and during the champagne soaked on pitch celebrations soon after.

At some point this shirt had been framed, though the images of it going round on social media showed it out of a frame, and the front was personalised with ‘To Jordan, Love you loads’ above an oversized Deano autograph, though the social media messaged talked about “the writing being professionally removed”, which is a tricky, nay, scary prospect.

Then the shirt appeared on eBay, being sold via a well known local publican, and though initially listed for £2,000 with the promise that Deano himself would deliver the shirt to the winning bidder, we’re led to believe that the new owner of the shirt paid £3000 to secure it.

If the first half shirt went for £15,000, though some shill bidding may have occurred, then £3000 is fairly reasonable for the second half shirt. What do you think?

While we’re asking, what other City shirts would you consider a ‘Holy Grail’? We’d include one of the plain amber, no crest, no sponsor Avec shirts used in pre-season in 1999, and the yellow and blue no crest adidas third shirts from 1981.

Elsewhere, there were relative bargains to be had. The seemingly never ending increase to the cost of living might have seriously dented the shirt collecting community’s spending power. For example the 1999/00 home shirt by Avec used to consistently sell for £50 or more, but this one sold last month in size large sold for just £22. The lowest sale value we’ve seen in nearly five years.

This 2016/17 third shirt by Umbro in size XXL was available for an absolute steal, it went for just TEN ENGLISH POUNDS STERLING! Naturally it didn’t hang around long after the seller ostensibly sold themselves short on this listing. Every example we’ve covered in the past has gone for considerably more.

Goalkeeper jerseys can be a bit like Marmite, but if you love Marmite then this 2017/18 Coral coloured top by Umbro in size XL may have been right up your street. It was available for just £17.99, a great price for a shirt with added competition patches.

Ulsterman Stuart Elliott recently returned to Hull as the club’s guest of honour for a Championship fixture ahead of his inclusion in the Hull City Hall of Fame. 2004/05 home shirts by Diadora with ELLIOTT 7 on the back were popular in our centenary year, and this one in size medium sold for a very reasonable £25.

The man whose name everyone should regret not getting on the back of the 2009/10 home shirt is Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink! Shirts carrying the 20-letter surname of the Dutchman have been plethora this last year, and it seems sellers are printing up old shirts with newly printed numbers in many cases, but with this one it’s hard to tell. Tiger Leisure only stocked the velvety player issue numbers in 2009/10, they didn’t use the shiny plastic and slightly smaller retail lettersets for a reason known only to them, but it does give a clue to whether a shirt was printed up some fifteen years ago in the club shop or has been done in a shed in Gyor, Hungary, where this listing was placed. This shirt in medium sold for approximately £78.92 – taking into account the exchange rate as this shirt was listed in Euros.

Another shirt that sold for an offer was this 2012/13 home shirt by adidas with the surname and number of Jack Hobbs. It was listed as an auction with a start price of £15 so we can only assume the winning buyer paid something close to this.

Lastly for February’s round-up, we have this 2016/17 third shirt by Umbro printed with (Oumar) Niasse and the number 24. The size isn’t listed, and the heat pressed size applique has faded beyond legibility. It doesn’t have any competition patches, but it does look like it may have pro-sized letter and number appliqués… It could be, but it likely isn’t player-issued. £45 was enough to secure this shirt.

As ever, we’ll be back next month to discuss this months offerings. Never forget… Caveat Emptor