Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant Card Sells for Record £9.56m, Becomes Most Expensive Sports Collectable
A single basketball card signed by Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant has shattered records after an anonymous bidder paid a staggering £9.56m ($12.9m) at auction, making it the most expensive sports collectable card in history.
The card, officially known as the 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Jordan & Bryant, was sold by Heritage Auctions in the United States. It had been privately owned for over a decade and entered the auction with a pre-sale estimate of around £4.4m ($6m). The bidding far surpassed expectations, with a total of 82 bids pushing the final price to more than double the estimate.
Chris Ivy, Heritage Auctions’ director of sports auctions, described the sale as “the pinnacle” for modern basketball card collectors. “This is a piece that cannot be recreated,” he said. “It has long been regarded as a ‘holy grail’ among collectors of modern basketball cards. Sometimes, when a card is truly unique, it’s best to let it have its day at auction, and that’s exactly what happened here.”
The winning bid now places the Jordan-Bryant card above the previous record-holder in the trading card market: the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, which sold for $12.6m in August 2022 (equivalent to £10.8m at the time). In the wider context of sports memorabilia, it ranks second only to baseball legend Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey, which fetched £18.1m ($24.12m) in August 2024.
The card’s significance goes beyond its rarity. Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest NBA player of all time, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls between 1991 and 1998. Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash in 2020, is equally celebrated, having won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during a 20-year career from 1996 to 2016. The combination of signatures from two of basketball’s most iconic figures makes this card unparalleled in the world of sports collectibles.
Ivy highlighted the card’s enduring appeal: “Collectors have long sought this piece because it represents the very best of modern basketball history. A unique card like this is the pinnacle for anyone serious about collecting, and its value reflects both the stature of Jordan and Bryant and the rarity of such a collectible.”
The sale is expected to further energize the sports memorabilia market, where signed cards and items linked to iconic athletes continue to fetch record sums. As NBA fans and collectors around the world celebrate this historic auction, the card now holds a permanent place in the history of sports collectibles, symbolizing two of basketball’s greatest legends in one extraordinary piece.
