A Michael Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Championship has sold at auction for $10.1 million.
Sotheby’s
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Sotheby’s
A Michael Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA Championship has sold at auction for $10.1 million.
Sotheby’s
A basketball legend Michael Jordan’s jersey has sold for $10.1 million – making it the most expensive in-game sporting memorabilia ever purchased at an auction.
The item went on sale Thursday at Sotheby’s “INVICTUS”, a two-part auction of sporting artifacts. The bright red shirt with the words, “Bulls 23,” accumulated 20 bids, Sotheby’s told NPR.
Jordan wore this jersey in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals. His team, the Chicago Bulls, will win the series championship against the Utah Jazz.
This season is widely known as Jordan’s “Last Dance” because it’s over historic run among victories for the Bulls in the 1990s, including six NBA championships. Jordan temporarily retired in 1999. In 2001, he returned to play for two more years. Jordan Officially retired in 2003 at the age of 40.
The jersey that overthrew the previous record for in-game wearables – a shirt worn by the late soccer player Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup sold for $9.28 million.
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card still holds the title for the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia sold at an auction, with a $12.6 million price tag.
The shirt is also considered the most valuable Jordan-related item ever sold at an auction. In 2021, a pair of sports shoes he wore in his first season with the Bulls which sold for nearly $1.5 million.
Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern collectibles, told NPR that Jordan’s jersey has stirred excitement from both sports fans and avid collectors.
He said “the record-breaking results, with an incredible 20 bids, solidify Michael Jordan as the undisputed GOAT, proving his incomparable name and legacy is just as relevant as it was before. almost 25 years.”
