Muhammad Ali home sale document to hit auction block next month

Muhammad Ali home sale document to hit auction block next month

A significant piece of Muhammad Ali memorabilia will hit the auction block next month, as the person who bought a Philadelphia home from Ali and his then-wife in 1973 is putting the signed contract up for bid.

That person, Mildred Cox, is actually Kobe Bryant’s grandmother, who, along with her late husband John, bought the home for $67,000 from the Alis.

“This is a very unique piece given that, over a 45-year period of time, this was the home that the Alis and the Bryants spent much of their time,” said Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions, who is featuring the two-page contract in his next auction, which will run throughout July and conclude on Aug. 4.

Goldin said he expects the contract, which includes the signatures of Ali and his second wife, Belinda, to sell for at least $10,000, but the auctioneer says that a conversation piece like this could go higher.

“When I look out there, I don’t think about Ali and his kids,” Mildred Cox told the Philadelphia Daily News in 2000. “I think of Kobe and everyone else. They spent many enjoyable days there.”

Mildred Cox’s husband, John, who passed away in 2001, was the father of Pam Bryant, who is Kobe’s mother.

Goldin said Mildred, who still lives in the house, is selling it and moving to Las Vegas, where Pam and Joe Bryant live.

The house was originally owned by Ali’s parents and conveyed to Ali, who is said to have lived in the house with his family from 1970 to 1971 before moving to New Jersey. Ali’s twins, his second and third children, were born in 1970.