Three Duke rings that belonged to former Blue Devils center Cherokee Parks sold for a combined $121,127 at Goldin Auctions on Saturday.
Parks' 1992 NCAA championship ring, from the year of Christian Laettner’s buzzer-beater in the East Regional final against Kentucky, sold for $44,326.
Parks’ 1994 Final Four ring sold for $40,291. Duke lost to Arkansas in the title game that season.
Parks’ Back-To-Back ring, made by Duke for every player on its 1992 team, sold for $36,600. Parks wasn’t a member of the 1991 championship team.
The prices for the rings are particularly strong when considering that, last year, Laettner himself sold his 1991 ring, at SCP Auctions, for $20,035. Laettner’s Back-To-Back ring sold for $59,135, surpassing the previous Duke ring record of $49,200 commanded for Jahlil Okafor’s 2015 title ring.
The Duke collectible market is particularly strong. Both Parks' titles rings surpassed the $37,200 paid in 2022 for Jalen Rose’s 1992 NCAA Finals ring with Michigan.
The record price for a college basketball championship ring was the $156,000 paid at Heritage Auctions in Aug. 2020 for Lew Alcindor’s 1967-1969 three-peat ring from his UCLA career.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.