Last Sunday (Feb. 28), a little-known Green Bay Packer, who played on special teams from ’96 to ’98, continued to create remarkable ripples through the national sports memorabilia market.
Lamont Hollinquest’s stunning, diamond-packed Super Bowl XXXI ring was sold to an unnamed bidder for $31,200, or double what similar rings awarded to back-up players on championship teams receive during auctions.
And Hollinquest doesn’t get a penny.
The jewelry’s journey began as a 2005 eBay sale of Hollinquest’s Super Bowl ring, the only one from the Packers’ 1996 season that’s been offered for public purchase. Years later, it remains a much-coveted item, especially in the last 17 months, when it’s been up for auction three times.
Hollinquest could not be reached on the West Coast, where he lives, or through social media channels. Heritage Auction officials, who handled the Feb. 28 sale, confirmed that Hollinquest has not been the ring’s owner for many years.
In October 2019, Hollinquest’s ring sold for $27,600 through Heritage, an international firm. Then another major player in sports memorabilia, SCP Auctions, offered the same ring, which added another $700 to its value in May 2020.
From mid-January to last Sunday, Heritage Auctions worked with the ring’s fifth owner seeking another quick profit. The timing was set when it appeared that the Packers could win the Super Bowl last January, and spark the ring’s price up higher.
Still, bidding for the ring jumped above $31,000, or $1,200 more than Heritage’s expectations.
In another twist, a Super Bowl ring for players’ spouses presented to Hollinquest’s ex-wife, Lynne Threatt, sold for $5,160 in Heritage’s same October 2019 auction as Hollinquest’s more elaborate ring. Threatt could not be reached for comment.
Many Hollinquest items, ranging from the pants he wore in Super Bowl XXXII to regular season game jerseys, sold for about $200 each in 2015. His jersey from the Packers’ Super Bowl win was bought for $750 in the October 2019 auction.
What provoked Hollinquest’s desire to sell the high-priced, much-beloved Super Bowl ring is unknown. In recent years, he’s operated an urban apparel line in the Phoenix area. His son, Kohl, was a graduate transfer in football from the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania to USC, playing wide receiver last fall for the Trojans.
Each time Hollinquest’s Super Bowl ring has been sold, his block during Desmond Howard’s game-changing 99-yard TD kickoff return, has been touted. Sure enough, on NFL Films’ clip on YouTube, viewers can watch Hollinquest, wearing jersey number 56, knock a slightly off-balance Patriot, Larry Whigham, back several feet at the 18-yard line while Howard began his return.
Hollinquest’s block is notable because it allowed Don Beebe to shift down field, where he made another key block (and one easily seen from most camera angles) at the Packers’ 35-yard line to spring Howard.
The touchdown gave the Packers a 14-point that it never relinquished.
Hollinquest has nothing to show for it.
