The Year in Collectibles: From Kidney Stones to Home Run Balls

With 2006 fading in our rearview mirror it seemed like a good time to look back at some of the top auction and collectible stories of the year.

While shares of eBay stock plunged during the summer and the site faced increased competition from the likes of Google and Yahoo!, the world's largest marketplace continued to prove that – like their ads state – whatever it is, you can get it on eBay.

Just ask Anthony McCoy. After his father's death in 1998, McCoy's mother was forced to sell the family's vintage 1969 Chevy Camaro in order to pay for the funeral. While surfing auction listings last year, McCoy stumbled upon what he believed to be the car. After verifying its authenticity he won the vehicle back in an auction. Perhaps I'll find the 1966 Ford Falcon my family sold back in the early 1980s.

In other bizarre auction news, online casino GoldenPalace.com continued their oddball buying spree, shelling out $3800 for the alleged sonogram of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby and $25,000 for the kidney stone of Priceline pitchman and 'Star Trek' actor William Shatner. Apparently they truly wish to go where no man has gone before.

Thankfully they didn't try and purchase items from former NBA player Brad Lohaus. A veteran of eight pro franchises from Sacramento to New York, Lohaus pleaded guilty to a charge of third degree theft after he failed to deliver on $1700 worth of goods sold through eBay. Perhaps Lohaus can turn his crime into a book like notorious eBay con man Ken Walton.

Walton, who was interviewed for this column last summer, published the fascinating FAKE: Forgery, Lies and eBay, which chronicled the sale of an abstract piece of art on the site back in 2000. Posing as an art novice who found the painting at a garage sale, Walton forged a signature on the work and sold it for more than $135,000. In the end, the act got the lawyer disbarred and banned from having any association with the auction giant.

Even eBay wasn't immune to legal issues during the year. The site was sued by Tiffany's over the sale of counterfeit goods and the outcome of the case is still undecided. The news site AuctionBytes.com recently reported that eBay filed a motion to exclude certain expert testimony, charging that the statistical method used in obtaining the items was faulty. eBay has always maintained that they are not responsible for the sale of counterfeit items and are not capable of policing the millions and millions of auctions going on at any given moment. A win for Tiffany's could force eBay into just such a role.

If there's a Luckiest Seller Award, last year's recipient would have to be Andrew Morbitzer. Morbitzer happened to be at the concession stand when San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run, pushing him past the legendary Babe Ruth and into a late-career chase for Hank Aaron's all-time record.

After the ball literally flew into his hands as he waited for peanuts and beer, Morbitzer auctioned it off for the low price of $220,000 to exotic car dealer Marc Chase. Chase, who may deserve a Gutsiest Buyer Award, now owns a controversial ball some feel is tainted by the cloud of steroid allegations sure to follow Bonds as his career winds down.

Who knows what stories 2007 will bring, but count on Inside Collecting to share them with you. Happy New Year!