SHINY THING$ 0142 🌲

On Thursday of this past week, the National Sports Card Convention, known as “The National,” opened to the public in this year’s host city of Cleveland, Ohio. Each year, sellers, buyers and spectators come together under one roof amongst some of the rarest and most valuable sports & culture collectibles on earth. This year, we’ve already seen some “unique” items to say the least - including an original sealed Twinkie from 1976 that can be yours for low price of $1,000 👀

What makes an item like that interesting to the masses? Is it worth the price? Is it nostalgic enough to excite the casual collector?

These are some of the questions we ask ourselves at Rally when we consider any item for the platform… and WAY less items find their way into the app than those that don’t make the cut. In this, the 142nd edition of Shiny Thing$, we’re going to open the books and give you the story of some of the most unique assets that didn’t make it, and a little story about why…

But first, a word from our friends at Robert Edwards Auctions…

…and now, the story of “the ones that got away.”

With each and every asset on Rally comes an acquisition checklist - a set of qualifications for any offering that we work through well before the IPO. It includes some of the obvious points like authenticity, asset history, rarity, and investment-worthiness, but it also includes a relevance score - a measurement of an asset’s appeal based not just on the past, but on current social and cultural factors that paint a picture as to whether or not that asset will be important to the next generation of collectors.

It’s extremely rare to find an item that checks every box.

Of the 10,000+ assets that we’ve had the opportunity to acquire and IPO, less than 3% total have made their way to Rally. Todays story is about a few that didn’t make it, but came really really close. 

1: The Yankees

The dream of every sports fan is to own a team. That dream has always been way out of reach to the average fan, and even billionaires can’t just buy their way in… but just before the pandemic, that possibility almost became reality. Without giving away any of the NDA details, what we can say is that one of the original members of the group assembled by George Steinbrenner in 1973 to purchase controlling interest in the Yankees was looking to exit. While several high net worth investors were able to acquire pieces of that equity slice, the owners intention was to avoid having the equity sold to a PE firm or hedge fund. Rally was given an opportunity to participate, and started the process internally, but ultimately was not able to make the deal.

Why it didn’t make the cut: While the available equity slice was small, the valuation was solid and the dividend is apparently very consistent. There were some questions around how our portion would trade and how that trading price would affect overall asset value considering the slice was small relative to the entire value of the team, the broadcasting network, and the hospitality group associated with the team. During the diligence process, another investor supposedly took the entire remaining allocation, and unfortunately, the Yankees did not wind up on Rally. 

2: Kendrick Lamar Diss

“Section .80,” the 2011 debut album from Kendrick Lamar, was the Los Angeles rapper’s statement to the world that he was here to take the throne. 13 years later, it seems everything he predicted on that album came true as he became one of the biggest stars in music while also becoming one of the most respected lyricists of all time. One of the standout tracks from that album was “Rigamorits,” an aggressive ballad over a Willie Jones jazz sample letting the entire music industry he was ready to take on any one in his way. 

In the video that accompanied the song, shot in NYC, Kendrick can be seen holding a roadside hand-drawn sign reading “Please Help!!! Will kill your favorite Rapper for Money!!! Tryin to get back to LA!!!” Scribbled in the moment and added to the treatment last second, it would become a core part of not just the video, but of Kendrick’s persona in rap. Over the last year, Kendrick has been wrapped up in a vicious feud with Drake, bringing the song, the video, and the prop full circle. 

Why it didn’t make the cut: Impossible to price, and potentially a bit more niche than the majority of the assets on Rally, it’s something that didn’t make as much sense a year ago when it was presented - but might make way more sense now. 

3: A Redwood Forest

In 2019 we got a call from the manager of a multi-billion dollar fund here in NY that had access to something wild: an entire west coast Redwood forest. This particular forest was earmarked for sustainable harvesting, allowing for regrowth and new growth without adversely affecting the ecosystem or the soil beneath the trees. The purchase came with energy credits and tax benefits, along with the potential to monetize multiple ways while contributing to the preservation and environmental impact that comes with saving a significant portion of forest - forest that has remained mostly untouched for thousands of years. 

Why it didn’t make the cut: It was still early in Rally’s expansion into intangible asset classes, and the userbase was still growing. The proposition was extremely unique, but ensuring investors would understand the mechanics and fund an asset that was extremely hard to comp forced us to pass. Interestingly enough, late last year 400 acres of Sonoma county redwood land were actually crowdfunded as a charitable cause from around 2,000 individuals to make a $6.5M purchase for preservation. 

4: A T-Rex (with a Gold Tooth)

Dinosaurs are the best. They’re a real piece of history that has the ability to draw the interest and attention of every type of collector, in every age group, from every walk of life. When we first began the diligence process of “finding the right dinosaur” for Rally, we could have gone several different directions. We wanted to make a splash, so our initial process lead us in the most obvious direction: Tyrannosaurus rex.

Working with an incredible group of geologists in Arizona, we were presented with options. The one that stole the show was “Roosevelt,” a specimen that was fully mounted and had one incredible differentiator from all others… a solid gold tooth in place of one that was missing from the initial excavation. 

Why it didn’t make the cut: The platform wasn’t ready for a multi-million dollar t.rex, plain and simple. We wound up acquiring and IPOing Deaton, one of the most complete and pristine Triceratops skulls in the world, in its place at a fraction of the cost. Logistically, we also had nowhere to put a T.rex. Finding a secure temperature controlled dinosaur warehouse for a 20 foot tall skeleton isn’t as easy as it seems. 

5: Biggie’s Crown

We hinted at this asset in last week’s Shiny Thing$, but its worth some details. Long story short, in September of 2020 the plastic crown worn by rapper Notorious B.I.G in the last photoshoot prior to his death was auctioned via Sotheby’s. The crown, which originally cost $5 and was purchased just prior to the photoshoot, wound up selling for $595,000 all-in. Signed by Biggie after the shoot, the initial estimate was $200-$300K. After passing through that estimate during the live auction, there were two bidders left - Rally, and a mystery buyer.

After surpassing $450K, we set a stop for ourselves at $500K. Our last bid was $510,000, which was outbid almost instantly. We bowed out, and the mystery buyer won the auction. 8 months later, a photo emerged on twitter of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s daughter, Blue Ivy, wearing what appeared to be the crown in a similar photoshoot, sipping a drink our of a grammy. 

Why it didn’t make the cut: The crown scored extremely high on the cultural relevance scale, and there would have certainly been a market for it on Rally, but the highest internal valuation that we could justify was under $500K. Sometimes, you really want something and you’ll stretch the budget, but in this case, knowing the initial cost was $5 made it that much harder to go much further. Our loss, Jay-Z’s win.

Until Next Week…