Heritage Auctions

History

In 1982, Heritage Auctions became a partnership between two collectors, Steve Ivy and Jim Halperin. In 1967, Ivy dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin to form Steve Ivy Rare Coin Co. in Dallas, Texas. Ivy formed Heritage Auctions in Dallas in 1976.

In 1982, Halperin sold his Boston-based business and relocated to Dallas to join Ivy. Alongside him, he brought Marc Emory, a partner who oversees a segment of Heritage's European operations. Another addition to the company was Greg Rohan, who joined in 1986 and is now president. The company's other partners are Paul Minshull, Ryan Carroll, Todd Imhof, Cristiano Bierrenbach, Todd Hignite, Dustin Johnston, Joe Maddalena, Sarah Miller, Sam Spiegel and Ryan Carroll.

In 2003, the company introduced a memorabilia department, which hosted its inaugural auction valued at approximately $2 million.

In 2010, Heritage launched its luxury items division, which includes jewelry, handbags, and other accessories. In some instances, items from these auctions have sold for over $200,000. By 2013, the auction house was also auctioning modern and contemporary art including works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Joan Mitchell, and Edward Ruscha.

In the immediate aftermath of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's online sales amounted to $41 million. This figure accounted for approximately 10% of the entire previous year's annual online sales, which had reached $483 million in 2019. In the year 2022, Heritage accomplished sales over $1.45 billion. This figure does not include the charity auction organized by Heritage for Dmitry Muratov's Nobel Peace Prize, which brought $103.5 million; the entirety of these proceeds was directed towards UNICEF to support humanitarian initiatives for refugee relief.

In 2023 Heritage was ranked third among Western auction houses with total sales of $1.76 billion. In 2024, Heritage's annual total sales reached $1.867 billion, the highest recorded in its history.

In 2025, Heritage closed its annual sales with more than $2.15 billion, the company's fifth consecutive record-breaking year.

Operations

On June 1, 2020, Heritage Auctions consolidated three Dallas-area locations to a new world headquarters in Dallas, located at the northwest corner of West Airport Freeway and Valley View Lane near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The 160,000 square foot facility is located in the DFW Airport international trade zone and will house 450 of the company's 600 employees. The company also has offices in New York City located on Park Avenue. Its New York operations are mostly geared towards the fine arts industry. Heritage has a West Coast location in Beverly Hills, California, located on Olympic Boulevard. In 2011, Heritage acquired Greg Martin Auctions in San Francisco, California, forming the auction house's division specializing in weapons and armament.

Heritage expanded operations by adding an office in Hong Kong in 2015. In spring 2017, the company formed a Florida branch with offices in Palm Beach. In January 2017, company opened an office in Chicago, also, opened a new London office in 2017.

In 2015 Heritage Auctions took over MPO located in IJsselstein, The Netherlands. Founded in 1988 as a coin and stamp fair organizer, Jacco Scheper and Huib Pelzer acquired the company in 1996 and three years later began auction operations. Through the merger with MPO Heritage Auctions also has a Belgium office located on the outskirts of Brussels in Zaventem.

As of 2025, Heritage Auctions has continued its international expansion, with new showrooms and offices in Tokyo and Munich opening in 2024, and plans announced for a forthcoming Canada branch.

Notable auctions

In March 2026, an ultra-rare PSA 9-graded Pikachu Pokémon Illustrator promo card was sold for $1,406,250.

In December 2024 Heritage sold what was dubbed, "The Holy Grail of Hollywood Memorabilia" for $32,500,000. "The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939), Judy Garland "Dorothy Gale" Screen Matched Ruby Slippers."

In November 2024, art collection of The Boy Scouts of America’s including Norman Rockwell paintings, was auctioned by Heritage to raise funds for the compensation of sex-abuse survivors as part of a bankruptcy settlement.

Heritage, in partnership with HBO launched an event to auction more than 2,000 costumes, props, set decorations and other items used in Game of Thrones from October 10–12, 2024.

In August 2024, Babe Ruth's called shot jersey was sold via Heritage Auctions for a record $24.12 million, making it the most expensive sports collectible in history, eclipsing the $12.6 million paid for a 1952 Topps baseball card of Mickey Mantle in 2022.

In April 2024, 1938 Action Comics #1 featuring Superman's first appearance sold for $6 million, the most expensive comic book ever.

Many rare coin price records were broken in the January 2024, Florida United Numismatist (FUN) auction, including the finest known example of an 1855 Kellogg & Co. $50 for $1.26 million, one of only two known examples of an 1860 Half Eagle for $1.14 million, and the finest known example of an 1851 Schultz & Co. Half Eagle which drew $1.02 million; thus was more than double the previous top price.

A near-perfect copy of “The Amazing Spider-Man #1” sold for over $1.3 million in January 2024, breaking the issue's highest price record.

In August 2023 Heritage concluded the auction of Harry W. Bass Jr. coins, achieving $83.6 million. The proceeds of the sale will benefit dozens of North Texas nonprofits supported by Bass’ foundation plus a $40 million gift to found the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Legal disputes and provenance issues

In 2012, Heritage Auctions offered for sale a nearly complete Tarbosaurus bataar skeleton, described in the auction catalogue as originating in Central Asia. The government of Mongolia sought to halt the sale, contending that the specimen had been illegally exported from Mongolia, where dinosaur fossils are state property. Heritage completed the auction on a conditional basis while the ownership dispute remained pending. The specimen was later seized by U.S. authorities and returned to Mongolia following federal forfeiture proceedings.

In 2014, Heritage sued Christie's and three former employees in New York City, alleging that Christie's had induced members of Heritage's luxury-accessories department to breach their employment agreements and misappropriate trade secrets. Christie's described the claims as without merit. The litigation was resolved in 2018. Heritage filed a separate action against Christie's subsidiary Collectrium in 2016, alleging that Collectrium had copied data from Heritage’s website through automated web scraping. The federal case was referred to arbitration. In 2019, an arbitrator awarded Heritage approximately $1.8 million against Collectrium; claims against Christie's were dismissed, as were several of Heritage's claims against Collectrium.

In 2020, Heritage auctioned Margaret Keane's painting Eyes Upon You. The painting was later identified as having been stolen in 1972. Following an FBI investigation, it was returned to the daughter of its former owner, and Heritage refunded the purchaser.

In August 2021, YouTuber Karl Jobst alleged that Heritage and video-game grading company Wata Games had conflicts of interest and had helped inflate prices in the market for sealed video games. Heritage denied engaging in illegal conduct, and Wata denied the allegations.

In August 2024, the Atlanta Braves sent Heritage a cease-and-desist letter disputing the provenance and authenticity of Hank Aaron memorabilia that Heritage planned to auction, including bases and home plate associated with Aaron's 715th home run. Heritage withdrew the items and sued the Braves, maintaining that its consignment and provenance disclosures were accurate. The parties later settled the dispute.