A basketball card jointly signed by NBA icons Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant has become the most valuable trading card ever sold, fetching a record £9.56 million ($12.9 million) at a Heritage Auctions event in the United States.
The card, known as the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs, had been privately owned for more than a decade. Auctioneers had originally estimated it would sell for at least £4.4m ($6m), but intense competition drove the final price more than double that figure after 82 bids were placed.
This record-breaking sale surpasses the famous 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, which sold for $12.6m (£10.8m) in 2022. However, it still falls short of the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold: Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey, which fetched £18.1m ($24.12m) in 2024.
Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, described the Jordan-Bryant card as “the pinnacle” of modern basketball collectibles, calling it a “holy grail” among collectors due to its unique nature.
Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls during the 1990s. Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash in 2020, is remembered as one of the sport’s greatest figures, winning five NBA titles across two decades with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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