The ESPN documentary “The Last Dance” has really spiked interest in Michael Jordan memorabilia. Jordan’s 1986-87 Fleer rookie basketball card remains one of the most coveted cards over the past 40 years. And one card with an autograph of MJ just set a record, fetching $125,000 Wednesday in an eBay sale.
Combine a pristine Jordan autograph signed on that rookie card, and the cha-ching can be heard worldwide.
The card -- a Jordan rookie with an autograph graded 8.5 out of 10 by Beckett Grading Services -- was part of a 2006-07 Fleer buyback. The card was one of 23 bought on the secondary market by Upper Deck about 15 years ago, according to Sports Collectors Daily. They were then autographed by the NBA great and were randomly inserted into packs of the Fleer set to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the iconic 1986-87 set.
The seller for the record-breaking card was Rick Probstein, who consigns many big-ticket items on the marketplace website. The autograph, meanwhile, was graded a 10 by Beckett.
JUST IN: New record for a Michael Jordan Fleer rookie card just set, a buyer paid $125,000 for this signed version in a @RickProbstein auction on eBay.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 13, 2020
Beckett unsigned record still $100,000. PSA record still at $96,000. pic.twitter.com/EpQpxA04e6
The record for a graded rookie card of the former Chicago Bulls great, sans autograph, is $100,000, according to Beckett. It was sold in an auction by Memory Lane Inc., a Tustin, California-based auction house. That card was graded a 10, or gem mint. A gem mint card of Jordan, graded by Professional Sports Authenticator, fetched $96,000 Thursday in a Heritage Auctions sale, according to WMAQ-TV.
That record broke a PSA 10 card that sold for $51,600 in April.
BREAKING: This Michael Jordan PSA 10 Rookie sold tonight in the @HeritageAuction sale for $96,000, an 86 percent increase over the previous high.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 8, 2020
The record it was breaking was a PSA 10 sold for $51,600...NINETEEN DAYS AGO. pic.twitter.com/PxN6forOzK
How popular is Jordan, who won six NBA titles with the Bulls? According to Sports Collectors Daily, since “The Last Dance” series began April 19, searches for Jordan cards have jumped 285% over the same period in March. Over the past decade, more than 17.2 million Jordan items have been sold on eBay, the website reported. An average of 146 pieces of Jordan merchandise has been sold on the marketplace site per hour.
According to Sports Collectors Daily, data analysts at eBay said the company sold more than 360 Jordan rookie cards in April. That is a 150% spike from the previous month.
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