Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant Card Achieves Record Price at Auction
A sports collectible card signed by Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant reached an astonishing $12.932 million at an auction on Saturday night, setting a new record in the world of sports cards.
The card, belonging to the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite collection, features Dual Logoman signatures from Jordan and Bryant, being a unique piece (1 of 1). This copy surpassed the value of the 1952 Mickey Mantle card, which sold for $12.6 million at the end of August 2022.
The Jordan/Bryant card is now the second most expensive collectible sports item in history, surpassed only by Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series jersey, known as the “called shot,” which sold for $24.12 million almost a year ago.
This is the pinnacle when it comes to modern card collectors, and this is the only time there have been autographed Logomans from Jordan and Kobe. Another one cannot be created. It has always been considered by modern basketball collectors as a holy grail.
Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage
The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection card featuring Dual Logoman signatures from Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant sold for $12.932 million, surpassing the 1952 Mickey Mantle card as the most expensive sports card sold at auction.
In the years that have passed, Panini’s National Treasures and Flawless lines, which now exceed $3,000 per box at the time of their release, have become the standard for basketball.
The rarity of the card justifies its price, even though it received a grade of 6 from the card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).
Heritage’s sports auction director, Chris Ivy, commented that the card was consigned in February. The previous owner held the card for over a decade and rejected private offers of “high seven figures” in favor of an open auction, where Heritage believed it would safely exceed $5 million.
Ivy also pointed out that, following the fraudulent memorabilia scandal of Brett Lemieux, the authenticity of Bryant and Jordan with this card is “bulletproof.” Lemieux claimed to have flooded the market with fraudulent Kobe items after Bryant’s death in 2020. The assistant chief of police in Westfield, Indiana, said on Friday that they have no new information on the case.
This month has been notable for Bryant cards. High-end collector Matt Allen, known as Shyne on social media, shared that he privately spent $4 million on signed 1-of-1 Logoman cards from Panini Flawless of Bryant: one from 2017-18 for $1.7 million and another from 2015-16 for $2.3 million, which was the record paid for a Bryant card until Saturday night’s sale.
Saturday was Bryant’s 47th birthday.
