2017 WSOP Marathon Bracelet Pops Up on eBay with $3,000 Asking Price
Winning a World Series of Poker tournament isn’t the only way to get your hands on a coveted gold bracelet. Every once in a while, one appears on the second-hand market such as the one currently listed on eBay for $3,000.
According to the listing, the 56.1-gram, 10-karat gold bracelet is from Event #23: $2,620 Marathon of the 2017 WSOP. If you recall, that tournament saw Venezuela’s Joseph Di Rosa Rojas top a field of 1,759 entries to win $690,469 and the bracelet.
“Has been checked out by a local jeweler in Las Vegas it is real deal,” the listing states. “Still has its 5,000 dollar price tag on it. He said it's in overall good shape does have in his words, ‘some light wear from wearing it here and there but nothing bad at all.’”
PokerNews' attempts to reach Joseph Di Rosa Rojas were unsuccessful, but we did receive a message from the eBay seller, forloveofthegame.
“It was sold to a jewelry store near the strip in Las Vegas,” a representative of the store said via eBay message. “I buy a lot of electronics from his brother. He came to me said his brother took this in. I thought it was pretty cool and I had a couple guns he wanted so we traded. He couldn’t discuss with me who sold it to him as it would be a violation of confidentiality.”
They continued: “I couldn’t tell you if it was [Joseph Di Rosa Rojas] in fact who sold to them or who it was. I took it to Pawn Stars in Vegas and their jeweler looked at it. He said he has seen numerous WSOP bracelets. He said everything looked correct and it looked genuine in his opinion. He said they pop up semi-often in Vegas with the amount of events at the WSOP now and it being an annual event. That was good enough for me. I figured if anybody knew it would be those guys.”
The auction is scheduled to end on Nov. 16. The “Buy It Now” option for the bracelet is $3,000, but interested parties are also able to “Make an Offer.”
Bracelet Bought But Not Won
This is far from the first bracelet that has appeared on the secondary market. Last year, 1983 WSOP champ and Poker Hall of Famer Tom McEvoy listed his Main Event bracelet, along with some other memorabilia, on eBay for $13,500. It was also last year that four-time bracelet winner Max Pescatori listed one of his – from the 2015 WSOP $10K Seven-Card Stud H-Low Championship – on eBay to help raise money for earthquake relief in his home country of Italy.
Back in 2010, 1991 WSOP Main Event champ Brad Daugherty listed his gold bracelet, and while someone bid $30,100, it didn’t meet an undisclosed reserved price. Another former Main Event champ, Peter Eastgate, famously auctioned off his hardware for $147,500, all of which went to the UNICEF charity.
Another bracelet that came up for sale was one from 2005 won by TJ Cloutier, which sold for $4,006 after being listed by a Texas pawn shop. The bracelet was won by online poker site Cake Poker, which then returned it to Cloutier.
Likewise, a third-party seller from Ireland sold the late Paul “Eskimo” Clark’s 1999 WSOP razz bracelet for $4,050.
However, just because a bracelet is listed doesn’t mean it’s going to sell. For instant, Hassan Kamoei’s 1999 WSOP $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet was listed on eBay for 10 days with a $3,800 starting prize. It received no bids.
