A new record has just been broken: the most expensive sports card (or any card) ever, sold at an auction this past weekend for $12.9 million by Heritage Auctions. The reason why it's so expensive? It has the signatures of basketball legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. It is the only copy that ever will exist with the patched NBA logos of the two players.
It is also quite beautiful, featuring the NBA logo patched as appeared in Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers' jersey and Jordan's Chicago Bulls' jersey. The card appears to be from the collection Upper Deck Exquisite from 2007-08, and it was initially priced at $6 million, but the final price more than duplicated the initial bid.
It breaks the record as the most expensive sports card ever, which is surprising given it is relatively new: the previous record holder was a baseball card of New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, sold in 2022 for $12.6 million. The previous most expensive basketball card was one signed by Stephen Curry, sold in 2020 for $5.9 million, according to EFE.
It is, however, not the most expensive sports collector's item ever: a jersey wore by Babe Ruth in Baseball World Series in 1932 was sold for $24 million last year.