Basketball cards have been peaking in value all through 2020. Michael Jordan becomes the latest legend to fetch an improbable price in auction.
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The very first basketball cards were produced in 1910, in a series cataloged as “College Athlete Felts B-33”. The complete series included ten different sports, with only 30 cards being associated with basketball. Traditionally, the most popular cards from these collections were baseball cards, because baseball was also the most popular sport in USA for a long time.
The 1986-87 Fleer Jordan rookie card is clearly the most popular basketball card ever made. It thus makes sense in explaining how prices for these collectibles have soared over the years.
At the time of MJ’s debut, the only company that engaged in producing basketball cards was Star. Those cards are a lot rarer and can be expected to fetch well over $1 million given the current market.
Pair of Michael Jordan Fleer rookie cards sold for $738k
More than 18,000 Michael Jordan Fleer rookie cards have been submitted into PSA. However, just a handful of them receive the perfect Gem Mint 10 rating for exemplary preservation – a paltry 316 so far. Two of these gem mint Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer rookie cards in PSA 10 grade sold for $738,000 each.
This is far from the most expensive basketball card ever, though. Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James both have basketball cards sold in the neighborhood of the $2 million price range.
I find myself running out of words to describe how hot the trading card market is. Tonight left many speechless. This @PSAcard NM-MT 8, 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle brought over $1.5 million and two PSA Gem Mint 10 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan cards sold for over $700,000 each. pic.twitter.com/VNRqr24KDG
— Joe Orlando (@JoeOrlandoPSA) January 31, 2021
A recent PSA 10 Jordan rookie card only went for $217,000 USD on January 3, while another closed at $211,560 USD back in December 2020. In December 2019, the same card, the 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card was worth around $32,000 USD. But given the market trends currently going, you can safely bet on these prices skyrocketing even further.