Legendary NBA stars Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant continue to break records.
On Saturday (Aug. 23), a Jordan and Bryant card sold for $12.9 million, breaking the record for the most ever paid for a sports card. The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Jordan & Bryant card, numbered 1-of-1, was sold with Heritage Auctions. It's unclear who the buyer is at this time.
The only sports collectible that is more expensive than the Jordan/Bryant card is Babe Ruth's 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey, which sold for $24.12 million last year. Upper Deck first released Exquisite for the 2003-04 season, which featured game-worn jersey patches and player autographs. They were sold for $500 for one five-card pack. While the idea was innovative to the sports card industry, it was also not fully perceived by all collectors.
“[They were] kind of mocked, but it tapped into a demographic that wasn't interested in gimmicks: They just wanted the best of the best,” Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports auctions, told ESPN. “They were adding patches and signatures, Logomen — this was [one of] the first times logos from the jersey were used in this manner.”
The 2003-04 season set also contained a $5.2 million LeBron James rookie card, which was previously the highest-rated basketball card until the Jordan/Bryant sale.
Despite what some fans first thought about the collectors item, it is now looked at a difference lens according to the next generation of card collectors.
“But Exquisite was first, Exquisite paved the way,” Ivy said. “It's the pinnacle as far as modern card collectors are concerned, and this is the only time there's been Jordan and Kobe autographed Logomans. Another one can't be created. It's always been looked at by modern basketball collectors as a holy grail.”
To add the cherry on top, the sale went down on Saturday which would have been the Lakers legend's 47th birthday. Bryant died along with his second-oldest daughter, Gianna Bryant, in January 2020 in a helicopter crash with seven others.
