The Sneaker Savant

Saw this headline the other day and was taken back to 2014, when I came across a similar opportunity. Remember, in 2014 - we didn’t have a million different sneaker marketplace. There were the retailers and there was eBay. That was it. No StockX, no GOAT, nothing. So it was actually a rare thing to come across some of the pairs they claimed to be selling.

I don’t remember if I saw it on Niketalk or if I saw it on reddit/r/sneakers, but I saw that there was a major drug bust in Texas and several hundred pairs of sneakers, hats and jerseys would be auctioned off by the Texas Marshalls office through a local-to-Texas auctioneers website called Gaston & Sheehan auctions. I set a reminder an

When I first logged in I saw HUNDREDS of pairs of shoes and those Soulja Boy style jerseys (the ones that would have probably went down to my ankles) - almost every single pair was an 8.5 or a 9 (I tend to wear 9 or 9.5) and I kept my eye on probably 20-25 pairs. I actually dug up my emails and saw that I ended up purchasing 7 pairs…some people buy cars at Marshalls auctions, I buy shoes.

I kind of assumed it was going to be this easy Paypal thing, but I actually had to fill in all of this legal paperwork and I had to have it notarized before I could actually pay via Bank Wire. It was a real hassle but was an interesting experience...I half expected to find some drugs under the insoles or a stack of cash in one of the boxes but I was left with nothing but shoes :/

Pretty sure I sold every pair (except 1, the New Balance 25th anniversary pair).

Someone sent me the article the other day and asked ‘how will they know whether or not these shoes are fake?’ Good question...But it appears the NY Police are selling through eBay and we all know eBay is doing all this authentication stuff so I’m sure no *obvious* fakes will be making it through.

Great pic btw @sneakerfreaker