The NBA championship ring Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant gifted to his father, Joe Bryant, has just been sold at an auction. As it turns out, however, it fetched a much lower value than the $250,000 it was expected to sell for.
According to a report by Tyler Conway of B/R the championship ring was sold for $132,000, which is barely half of the expected valuation of the item. The ring was sold via Goldin Auctions on Saturday.
The 14-karat gold and diamond ring was gifted by Kobe Bryant to his dad, after he had won the championship in 2000. To be clear, it is not the actual championship ring. It is merely a replica Kobe had made especially for his father.
Incidentally, Kobe Bryant gave a similar ring to his mother, Pamela, as well. She too decided to cash in on the item, and it reportedly fetched $206,000 in May.
Clearly, the Bryants are taking advantage of the sharp increase in Kobe Bryant memorabilia following the tragic death of their son in a helicopter crash back in January. We're not saying that they're completely treating the tragedy as an opportunity to earn a significant amount of money — surely we cannot fathom the pain they are feeling in losing their beloved son (and granddaughter in Gianna) — but the timing of their sale is undeniably geared towards the same.
This is not the first time Joe and Pam have sold off priceless memorabilia that were gifted to them by their son. In 2013, Kobe Bryant actually sued his parents in an attempt to prevent them from selling his memorabilia.
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