Super Bowl rings from Packers great Forrest Gregg up for auction

There have been several personal collections from former Green Bay Packers players that have been put up for auction in the past 15 years.

They don’t get much bigger than Forrest Gregg, the Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman who won five championships with the Packers that included the first two Super Bowls.

The Gregg family has put up 19 of his personal items to be auctioned in Lelands Fall Classic Auction, which runs through Dec. 6.

Gregg, who died in 2019, played in the NFL from 1956 to 1971 and had coaching stints with the Cleveland Browns (1975-77), Cincinnati Bengals (1980-83) and Packers (1984-87).

The auction includes his NFL Championship rings, his Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II rings and the Super Bowl VI ring he won as a member of the Dallas Cowboys for one season in 1971.

Heritage Auctions has auctioned the personal collections of several Packers greats including linebacker Dave Robinson and offensive lineman Jerry Kramer, while SCP Auctions had the collection of star running back Paul Hornung.

Gregg’s items could do just as well as his former teammates'.

He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a seven-time All-Pro pick who legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi referred to as the best player he had.

Gregg once held the NFL record for most consecutive games played with 188.

He was named to the NFL’s all-decade team of the 1960s with Packers teammates Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Jim Ringo, Boyd Dowler, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Willie Wood, Willie Davis, Don Chandler, Kramer, Robinson and Hornung.

“I think it’s the best (Packers collection offered),” said Tom D’Alonzo, an acquisition specialist for Lelands. “For a player of Forrest Gregg’s stature, yes, he was an offensive lineman. But in many respects, he was really the greatest player on that team for his position.

“It’s probably the last great Packers collection to come up. Most of the other players sold their stuff. This is probably it for collectors looking to get a piece of that legendary '60s Packers memorabilia.”

It’s the third time this year that a set of rings from the Packers’ three consecutive championships from 1965 to 1967 have been publicly auctioned.

The rings from backup quarterback Zeke Bratkowski were sold in February by Heritage.

His Super Bowl I ring went for $118,950 — it includes the buyer’s premium — while his Super Bowl II ring sold for $94,550 and the 1965 NFL Championship ring for $40,260.

The rings from starting safety Tom Brown were auctioned by Heritage in August, and in most cases did even better than Bratkowski's.

His Super Bowl I and II rings each fetched $128,100 while his 1965 NFL Championship ring cleared at $40,260.

Gregg’s Super Bowl rings are all but a lock to sell for more than either Bratkowski or Brown.

The big question is whether they can set an auction record for a Super Bowl I or Super Bowl II ring.

The highest auction price for a Super Bowl I ring was set in November 2022, when Packers offensive lineman Fuzzy Thurston’s sold for $216,000.

The record for a Super Bowl II ring is believed to be Robinson’s, which sold for $174,000 in August 2022.

Gregg’s Super Bowl I ring was at $36,935 entering the week, while the Super Bowl II ring was at $27,562.

Could history be made?

“We certainly hope so,” D’Alonzo said, laughing. “I always try to temper expectations. We can’t set the market. It’s up to the collectors. The collectors are going to decide what these items are worth. That’s how the auction process works.

“I just hope we are all pleasantly surprised at the end.”

Super Bowl rings always are a popular item, but there often is even stronger interest in rings from the first two games.

“Packers, (Pittsburgh) Steelers and Cowboys are probably the three biggest teams in terms of desirability,” D’Alonzo said.

Among other noteworthy items in the auction include the Pro Football Hall of Fame gold jacket that Gregg wore during his induction ceremony in 1977, game-worn helmets from his time with the Packers and Cowboys and a game-used Packers jersey that also has been photo-matched.

D’Alonzo brought up one of the most unique pieces in the collection, a 1966 Super Bowl I silver-plated tea set presented to Gregg in commemoration of the championship season.

“All the items are tremendous,” he said. “The one thing I had never seen is the tea set. It’s the first time I’d ever seen that tea set come up. It will be interesting to see what that sells for.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Super Bowl rings from Packers great Forrest Gregg up for auction