Last Update: April 12, 2023, 01:20 IST
The price was just above Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $2 million but well below the estimated high of $4 million. (Image: Sotheby’s Twitter)
The basketball legend wore the “Bread” Air Jordan 13s during Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals on his way to his sixth and last NBA championship title.
A pair of sneakers worn by NBA superstar Michael Jordan sold for $2.2 million on Tuesday, setting a record auction price for sports footwear worn in the game, Sotheby’s announced.
The basketball legend wore the “Bread” Air Jordan 13s during Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals on his way to his sixth and last NBA championship title.
The online sale solidified Jordan’s position as the most valuable athlete at auction for sportswear memorabilia.
It broke its own record of $1.5 million for sneakers made in September 2021.
Last year, one of his jerseys sold for $10.1 million, the highest ever paid at auction for any game-wearing collectible.
“Today’s record-breaking result proves that demand for Michael Jordan sports memorabilia is performing well and exceeding all expectations,” Brahm Wachter, head of streetwear and modern collectibles at Sotheby’s, said in a statement.
Jordan wore the sneakers in the second half of the Chicago Bulls’ 93–88 win over the Utah Jazz on June 5, 1998.
Jordan scored a game-high 37 points as his Bulls team tied the series 1–1.
The final is featured in the hit 2020 ESPN/Netflix documentary “The Last Dance”, about Jordan’s final season with the Chicago side.
Wachter said that nostalgia for a different era was driving the popularity of Jordan memorabilia.
“We have clients in all different sectors from real estate to finance to private equity. There are many people who are interested in this emerging market,” he told AFP.
The price was just above Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $2 million but well below the estimated high of $4 million.
The auction house said that Jordan signed the shoes and gave them to a ball-boy after the game.
Sotheby’s did not specify whether the recipient was the seller. Nor did it identify the buyer of the size 13 shoe.
The sneakers became known as “Breads” for their black and red colorway, a style Jordan wore throughout his trophy-filled career.
Jordan, now 60, spent the majority of his playing career with the Bulls, with whom he won all six of his titles, but came out of retirement in 2001 to play two seasons with the Washington Wizards.
The retired star currently owns the Charlotte Hornets, based in his childhood home of North Carolina, and earns millions each year in royalties from the sale of Nike’s Air Jordan brand sneakers.
Tuesday’s sales coincided with the release this month of the movie “Air,” which is about Nike’s pursuit of Jordan.
In September 2022, the $10.1 million sale of Jordan’s jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals broke Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” Argentina jersey.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
