Ken Goldin on 30 Years of The National and Unlocking the Lakers Vault

At the 2026 National Sports Collectors Convention, few figures command the floor quite like Ken Goldin . With over 30 Nationals under his belt, the founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions has seen the hobby transform from a niche pastime into a global financial powerhouse .

I sat down with Goldin to discuss his wildest floor memories, his personal buying strategy, and the massive new multiyear partnership establishing Goldin as the Official Auction House Sponsor of the Los Angeles Lakers .

Which number National is this for you? And aside from the crowd size, what is something you never would have expected to see here 30 years ago?

Ken Goldin: Unlike a lot of people, I don’t count.  My first one was probably early 1980s, when I was a little kid in ’82 or ’83 . Then when I started my business, I was at every National from ’87 through ’98, took a few years off, and I’ve made definitely every National except one from 2012 to 2026—I only missed 2013 because my son Paul was being born . So I’m gonna guess over 30 .

Thirty years ago, it was all older men sitting behind their tables, not walking around, with a thinner crowd and mostly vintage cards with the exact same price tags they had from a year ago . Now it is much younger, much more vibrant, and everybody’s got something different on their table . What I would not have expected 30 years ago, 20 years ago, or even five years ago, was that my entire time here would be spent sitting inside the Goldin corporate booth with a roped-off line of people waiting to talk to me, take a picture, and have me sign an autograph . That I would not have expected .

Ken signs autographs and takes pictures prior to our interview.

Do you have a favorite National memory or pickup from those early years that you still can’t believe happened?

Ken Goldin: My favorite National moment is actually not a pickup . It was 1992 . I had signed Shaquille O’Neal to an exclusive deal for autographs and trading cards, and he was not going to appear on any NBA-licensed cards that year . It was crowded and jam-packed, and I went out to personally meet him out of his car with his agent, Leonard Armato .

When I walked him into the convention, everybody was packed, and it was like Moses and the Red Sea splitting . Everybody just split open and let him take a beeline right to our Classic booth, and it was just pandemonium . Nobody—nothing like that—had ever been done . They wouldn’t allow that today! They’d say, “Oh, you’ve got to be in an autograph booth,” but I had him right at our booth and it was absolutely crazy .

As far as a personal pickup, one of my best was probably a 1927 autographed Yankees team ball from Murderers’ Row .

The Goldin booth at the 2026 National is decorated with some of the most impressive pieces memorabilia and cards you’ll see anywhere.

If you had 10 minutes and $10,000 and could walk the floor freely, what’s something you would track down that you think is a good buy this year?

Ken Goldin: One piece of advice I’ve given people is try to find key rookies after their rookie season—the next year, after people are buying the new draft class . I always feel that’s when the shine comes off a little bit and you can get them for a little bit better prices .

For me personally, I honestly would be looking for things to fill my collection . I buy anything that looks cool that I can display on the shelf behind me—could be sports, TCG, an autograph, or a card . And then I also look for cards for my son, so I’d be looking for VJ Edgecombe or Tyrese Maxey, things like that .

You announced some pretty cool news today getting access to historic pieces straight out of the Lakers vault—game basketballs, nets, iconic game-worn gear. Can you tell us more about what was announced?

Ken Goldin: We announced that Goldin is the exclusive auction house, game-used partner, and live commerce partner of the Lakers . Typically, people do a game-used deal and they’re like, “Okay, we have this inventory, what are we gonna do to move it?” and try to funnel everything into a small, narrow pipeline . We said no . First of all, we’ve got 155 million customers if you add Goldin and eBay . But second of all, this is a full sponsorship deal . As a sponsor, we get in-stadium signage, on-air broadcasting, social media posts, and athlete involvement .

One of the big things we’re going to do that the Lakers really liked is leveraging eBay Live . A Lakers game ends, and guess what? We’re going to go up on eBay Live right after the game and sell items from that game . People in the stadium are going to get a QR code where they can download the app and go right to what’s being sold, with signage promoting, “Hey, go tune in, you’re gonna be able to buy stuff from tonight’s game.” We just think it opens up a whole new audience .

That’s really neat, selling game used memorabilia when the moment is at it’s absolute hottest. Is there a super surprising or single coolest item you’ve seen in the Lakers Vault that you’re allowed to talk about?

Ken Goldin: Look, all I can say is that we will be selling some Kobe-related items . I think that’s pretty good !

I saw a Gary Vee rant the other day where he says every company is going to need a collectibles strategy, and this partnership feels like one of the first drops in the bucket actually putting that into motion. What should brands be thinking about right now to make sure they can capitalize on this trend?

Ken Goldin: Look, the big thing is how can they tie their product in with collectibles. You have certain companies like Coca-Cola, and for them it’s easy, they’ve got iconic branding, little bears, bottles, they already have collectibles. But for newer companies, it’s about figuring out how to do a promotion with a hot collectible. If I’m a fast food chain, what type of collectible or what type of card do we think our people are fans of? Do we think they’re basketball fans? Pokémon fans? One Piece fans? Hockey fans? You have to figure ...

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →