The card, sold by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, sold for $12.9 million and surpassed a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that sold for $12.6 million by Heritage in 2022.
DALLAS — Overnight, a one-of-a-kind basketball card signed by Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan became the most valuable sports card ever sold, according to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
The card was on display in Dallas when WFAA’s Matt Howerton got a look at it. The 2007–08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autograph card, featuring game-used jersey patches from Jordan and Bryant along with their signatures, is the only one of its kind ever produced.
Bidding had already surpassed $6 million on Aug. 19. By the time the card was sold at 12:45 a.m. Sunday, the price reached a record-setting $12.932 million. The card’s price surpassed the previous record-setter, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that sold for $12.6 million by Heritage in 2022.
The card was sold the day after Bryant’s birthday on ‘Kobe Bryant Day,’ 8/24, which represents both the numbers he wore for the Lakers.
Bryant’s untimely death in 2020 drives the card’s value, assuring it will never be duplicated. The card was originally in a pack and sold for roughly $150,000 years ago, according to Mike Provenzale, production manager at Heritage Sports.
The patches included in the card come from memorable seasons: Jordan’s gold NBA logo is from the 1997 campaign, the league’s 50th anniversary year, while Bryant’s patch comes from his Lakers uniform.
“This is the only one with those two that there will ever be,” Provenzale previously told WFAA. “Both incredibly popular players, two of the greatest players in NBA history, but they have a real relationship. If you watched Kobe play, you could see he modeled his game after Jordan. Then you saw how deep their relationship was when Jordan gave his eulogy at Kobe’s funeral and got all choked up. We’d never seen Jordan like that.”
Before bidding closed, Provenzale predicted that the card would land among the top ten most valuable pieces of sports memorabilia, but wouldn’t surpass the Mickey Mantle card sold in 2022. It surpassed the previous record holder by $300,000.
“In the past five years or so, we’ve seen a lot more people come into our industry or return to our industry,” he previously told WFAA. “There is an aspect that when there are uncertain economic times, it can be a boon to collectibles. If you’re at a cocktail party, nobody wants to hear about your pork belly futures. But if you have a Ted Williams game-used bat or a Babe Ruth watch, that’s an investment that is a solid earner that people want to hear about, and it’s got a story.”
Also up for auction this weekend were several other pieces of iconic sports memorabilia, including: A Babe Ruth 1923 World Series pocket watch, game-worn jerseys from Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, and Luka Dončić and an eight-by-eight-foot piece of the Chicago Bulls’ court, signed by Jordan with handwritten inscriptions from him detailing his titles and MVPs.