PHOTO GALLERY
CHICAGO (WBBM) - If you want a piece of the World Championship Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, your chance is coming. But it won't come cheaply.
Former Bulls guard Randy Brown declared bankruptcy after being fired as a Sacramento Kings assistant coach. A federal bankruptcy judge in Sacramento has given West Auctions, of Woodland, Cal., the job of auctioning Brown's 1996, 1997 and 1998 NBA championship rings.
West said it will take a big man to wear the jewel-encrusted rings. The first two are size 12-1/4, and the last is size 12-1/2.
"Very big," said auctioneer Daniel West, one of the firm's co-owners. "If you can palm a basketball you have to have pretty big fingers."
The bidding will begin May 19 at $19,000, a price that West said is far below the rings' value in every sense of the word.
"They were appraised -- just the jewels and the precious metals -- at about $40,000, and that's not the collector's value," he said.
Despite the depressed market for collectibles of all kinds, West said he expects each of the rings to fetch $75,000 or more.
West Auctions is charged by the bankruptcy judge only with selling Brown's rings, not his other basketball memorabilia. Bidding is on the Web only and will run for 48 hours, concluding at noon Chicago time May 21.
Brown is a Chicago native, played his college ball at New Mexico and played five seasons for the Bulls after being signed as a free agent in October 1995. He also played for Sacramento, Boston and Phoenix during his 12-year NBA career.
More information at http://www.westauction.com/auction/index/id/207
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