The record set for a 1986-87 Fleer rookie card of Michael Jordan lasted less than 12 hours. And a jersey worn by “The Great One” fetched a very high price.
A PSA 10 Jordan attracted 14 bids before selling for $151,200 in the A Century of Champions sale conducted by Goldin Auctions and Sotheby’s Monday afternoon.
The record sale for a PSA graded Jordan rookie was boosted by a 26% buyer’s premium.
Another PSA 10 Jordan had fetched $150,000 in Robert Edward Auctions’ Fall 2020 sale, which wrapped up just after midnight.
Even more eye-popping may have been the $478,800 sale of a Wayne Gretzky game-used, autograph road jersey from his NHL debut season of 1979-80.
Gretzky’s autograph appeared on the back on the jersey on the first “9” of his No. 99 jersey.
Four other Jordan items went to winning bidders. A pair of black Air Jordan sneakers worn during Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals sold for $252,000. The sneakers were gifted by Jordan to Sonny Vaccaro, who was instrumental in getting Nike to sign Jordan to a shoe deal when he came out of the University of North Carolina.
A 1984-85 Jordan uniform, consisting of a game-used jersey and shorts he wore during his rookie season, graded Mears A10 but without a photo match, went for $176,400. A 2001-02 Jordan game-used jersey from a Nov. 11, 2001, game – when Jordan played for the Washington Wizards – went for $52,920. The jersey was autographed and photo matched.
There also was a dual-signed print of Jordan and Muhammad Ali that went for $5,670.
Other items of note that sold included a 1956 Heisman Trophy presented to Paul Hornung when the “Golden Boy” starred for Notre Dame. One of four that were created for the late Green Bay Packers star, the Heisman statue is the one Hornung displayed at his Louisville home. It sold for $378,000.
One sports card that fetched even more than the Jordan rookie card was a 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Rookie Ticket signed by Tom Brady. Numbered 25/100, the card was graded near mint (8.5) by Beckett Grading Services, while the autograph graded out at 10. It sold for $239,400.
A game-used bat belonging to Jackie Robinson during the 1953 season pulled in a $189,000 price. Robinson batted .329 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953, hitting 12 home runs and driving in 95 runs while scoring 109 runs.
A 2018 New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII ring presented to J.C. Jackson, a rookie cornerback at the time, sold for $100,800.
The auction included 102 lots of high-end sports memorabilia and cards over the past 100 years of sports worldwide. There were memorabilia items from the careers of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Floyd Mayweather.
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