If you just happen to have $275,000 laying around…
…You could be the proud new owner of what has to be the most intricate Kentucky basketball quilt in what I’m sure is an illustrious history of Kentucky basketball quilts. That’s the buy-it-now price in the eBay auction of a UK quilt made by 61-year old Darleene Wimsett of Bardstown. The quilt took her 18 years of stitching to create and features the name of every Kentucky player since 1903, when the school began fielding a varsity team, and several autographs of people from Coach Cal to Tony Delk to Jorts.
The starting bid for the quilt is a slim $150,000, a price Wimsett arrived at after calculating that she had spent approximately seven years of full-time work stitching the piece. At roughly minimum wage, she says that rounds out to around $150,000, a number which I believe because I don’t feel like doing the math myself. She says she won’t sell it for less than $150,000 but hopes to get over $200,000 in the end. Right now the quilt doesn’t have any bids with less than three days left in the auction, but my roots in the Quilting Capital of the World tell me that someone is just waiting for the right time to pounce on it. You can view the item and all the details, in addition to placing your bid, here.
41 Comments for If you just happen to have $275,000 laying around…
First… to bid
Wow
Wish I had an extra $200,000!!! It’s so worth it!!!
I think Cal should buy it and hang it on the Craft Center Wall.
well good luck with getting that out of it, in the end, its just not that big of a deal. God Bless her for her labor of love, but she should feel lucky to get $10K out of it.
If each player had stitched in their own name, I’d think about it, but anybody with 7 years of free time, a Kentucky Basketball Encyclopedia, and advanced stitching skills could make their own. In Chinatown, I saw the same quilt for $75000. The only difference I could tell was that I didn’t recognize some of the players’ names. Who is Kyle Stacy? And Elmo Vargus? And I had no idea David Bowie even PLAYED basketball!?!
That should go in the UK trophy case, amazing dedication from a UK fan, buy it Cal !!!!
7yrs at 40hrs per week? Unless that quilt is the size of a basketball court I call bull$hit
This gives me ideas.
After going and checking it out in detail I would say she has at least 7 years full time work in it. My grandmother, mother and wife all have quilted or still quilt and to do something with this much detail she has certainly put that time in it. Then add the fact that she traveled to get signatures that time would also have to be considered. If I had hit the mega millions last week I would give her a million for it as long as she would continue to add names until she could no longer quilt. AWESOME job and so many have no clue how much talent it takes to quilt much less to this level.
It’s 9’x9′, and it really looks nice, but she’s nuts.
that is the ugliest thing i have ever seen.
Can’t believe Reeechie hasn’t stolen it yet.
In the end, it is fabric and thread. And I am pretty sure she has not paid the University for the license to sell UK merchandise.
Doesn’t look like it’s going to pan out for her. Better get started on a UK football quilt. With thousands more names than a basketball team, the football quilt would be worth at least 100 million dollars.
I dropped over 200 tonight at fan outfitters on UK gear, I like my purchases better.
I wouldn’t pay 10 bucks for that ugly ass thing. True Story.
Awesome! But why sell? Seriously?! Some things are more valuable than money. Pull the auction and keep its in your family. Very, very cool however. I hope she isn’t desperate for $ and selling this treasure to save the farm!
Does anyone else think that its just not very good looking at all?
No disrespect meant… nice work but they are asking too much.
i remember watching my grandmother & her sister sit at their quilting frame stitching very beautiful, and very intricately-disigned quilts. they would usually work for weeks or months on one quilt depending on the pattern, but 7 years? they could have made a quilt to cover the entire state in 7 years.
I got inside sources that tell me child labor laws may have been broken regarding the completion of this quilt. What has the world come to when our senior citizens are smoking stogies and punching babies just because a couple of seams dont meet quality control
If Matt Pilgrim is on there, it’s worth every penny.
While I admire her enthusiasm and dedication, I honestly wouldn’t pay $50.
a true question of “VALUE” Adam Smith would be intrigued.
Perhaps you folks didn’t notice that there is free shipping for this item. That’s worth something.
It’s still a ‘work in progress’ she hasn’t quilted on 2012 as a championship year
I’ll buy it, to cuddle up with at night !
Looks like crap amirite
7 years at minimum wage 40 hours every week is $105,000
What a piece of crap!!! I wouldn’t hang that on my wall if you GAVE me $275,000
Umm, Darleene? I’ve never seen the Cats shoot at a rim that didn’t have a net on it……
You need to put that thing to good use – throw in the fireplace and use it for heat
Go to the State Fair any year and you’ll see dozens of quilts much more intricate than that, and they were made in a year or less.
Nice work, Granny, but… ARE YOU INSANE??
Hey – I’ve got a commemorative bottle of Makers Mark from the 1996 Championship, blue label, dipped in white wax…I’m asking $1.7 million dollars for it!!!
According to the description, one of the autographs is “Deandrel Liggin”…
OK, so granny likes to hit the sauce and sew… no big deal.
#27 glad you pointed that out. After a night of restless sleep I woke up this morning ready to push the buy it now button, but after that keen insight I think i am going to pass unless I get a $274,950 discount!
uk granny fans r great…
Looks like a crappy drawing on toilet paper
that thing didnt take 3 full year of work to complete and it not worth 1000$ stuff like this is a project some1 does over time and now she wants to turn a profit. Want 150k in one hand and crap in another and see which one fills faster.
I have wiped my ass after taking a dump 21,134 times in my life and saved the toilet paper each time. It took me 1 minute to whipe my butt every time and believe I deserve 10$ per minute while whipping my butt. The toilet paper is up for sale for 210,134$ and it’s all yours. Let me know if youre interested. thanks.
Authentic Signatures include the following Mark Pope, Josh Carrier, Winston Bennett, Kelenna Azubuike, Antwain Barbour, John Hood, Darius Miller, Deandrel Liggin, Josh Harrellson, Scott Padgett, Tony Delk, Head Coach John Calipari
Didn’t know those sigs were worth that much money. Make it 150$ and it might sale
Great enthusiasm and passion…but c’mon mannnnnnnn. That price is ridiculous.