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Simeon Lipman
An Interview With

Appraiser, Collector,

Entrepreneur

imeon is a lifelong pop culture, film, music, art, history, science. They used to go to garage sales and flea markets, and that was
and sports enthusiast, who has been appraising collections, my favorite thing to do – go with them and they would let me explore.
That was in the 1970s and 80s – a different time. They would let me
Scurating auctions and exhibitions, and coordinating culturally
go for a few hours and then meet back up at a certain time and place.
relevant events for over 30 years. That freedom that they gave me allowed a curious kid like me to
His insatiable thirst for history and knowledge, coupled with the really discover a lot of interesting stuff – and I was taking it all in,
possible discovery of untapped treasures at flea markets and garage starting to acquire knowledge about the past and building context
sales, sparked his interest in collectibles, in particular those dealing in
sports and popular culture (autographs, entertainment, music, comic Wintrust Business Lunch
art, etc., etc.). 9/26/2016 | Simeon Lipman
He has written extensively on collecting and collectibles, and appears (Sports and Pop Culture
regularly on PBS’s top-rated Antiques Roadshow. And while you may Specialist on the Antiques
think of him as the “tall sports guy,” his background allows him to Roadshow TV Series) and Steve
pinch-hit on any number of categories. Plus, his passion for trading Bertrand hold onto historic bats,
cards pulled him into the business by establishing G.A.S. Trading Cards including Shoeless Joe Jackson’s
with the mission to “create highly collectible physical cards to honor the around each collectible.
most iconic names in music, culture, the arts, and entertainment.” This What year was it? What was
business allows Simeon to flex his visionary muscles by putting out going on in the sports world
trading cards that honor not only individuals, but musicians, pop icons, at that time? Who were the
artists, and more. key players? What makes
When it comes to curating auctions and events, one of his most this card, bat, or picture worth having? What gives it value? My search
notable events include the groundbreaking Punk Sale held at Christie’s for those types of details drives my love of the business.
Auction House in New York City, in 2008. This event celebrated the
Punk aesthetic, and its cultural significance as both a historic music What do you collect?
genre and a valid and extremely influential art movement with its
distinct attitude, design, and ephemera. My favorite thing is to collect trading cards. It’s what brought me
into the business in the first place.
Today, I am building my collection of photography. I love photo-
graphs of famous people before they were famous – original photos I
can hold in my hand and take time to really look at them.
To me, that kind of stuff is fascinating, and it also kind of dovetails
into what I’m currently kind of passionate about collecting, which are
ticket stubs. Primarily, I love Broadway ticket stubs, featuring some of
my favorite actors and actresses from over the years. One of my favorite
things in my collection is one from October 19th, 1944. A play opened
on Broadway called I Remember Mama and it featured a 20-year-old
actor from Omaha making his Broadway debut that evening … his
name was Marlon “Bud” Brando. This
is a ticket stub to that very night’s
I ran into Simeon by chance when he was in Sturbridge,
Massachusetts filming an episode of Antiques Roadshow at Old performance! The professional Broad-
Sturbridge Village. We followed that up with an interview over the way debut of perhaps the greatest actor
phone where he shared his story, his thoughts on collecting, and what of all time! This was the very, very
he is collecting now. beginning of his career, you know, and
Here is what he shared with us. here is the ticket stub that was there in
the room with him that night, and
What got you into collecting? that’s the kind of thing that’s always
driven me – as a collector and as an
I was born a collector. I grew up around antiques. My father collected appraiser. It’s that direct connection
scientific instruments and other things in that genre, and my mom is with the past.
an art teacher so I grew up learning a lot about art and art history and

24 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles