Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant card sells for record $12.9 million at auction

A sports card with the signatures of two of the greatest basketball players ever sold for a record price this weekend.

A card with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant signatures was sold for $12.932 million, surpassing the previous record of $12.6 million for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card that was sold in August 2022, ESPN reported. 

The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Jordan & Bryant card also claims the spot of the second most expensive sports collectible of all time, only behind the jersey of Babe Ruth from 1932 when he famously called his shot. 

The basketball card was sold on Saturday, which would have been Bryant’s 47th birthday. 

The Lakers legend died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. 

Heritage Auctions sold the card and information on the buyer was not available, according to the report.

Heritage’s director of sports auctions, Chris Ivy told ESPN that he remembered when the Upper Deck first released Exquisite and it was “kind of mocked” at first. 

“But it tapped into a demographic that wasn’t interested in gimmicks: They just wanted the best of the best,” Ivy said. “They were adding patches and signatures, Logomen — this was [one of] the first times logos from the jersey were used in this manner.”

“But Exquisite was first, Exquisite paved the way,” Ivy later said. “It’s the pinnacle as far as modern card collectors are concerned, and this is the only time there’s been Jordan and Kobe autographed Logomans. Another one can’t be created. It’s always been looked at by modern basketball collectors as a holy grail.”

Saturday wasn’t the only pricey purchase of a Bryant-related card. 

High-end collector Matt Allen shared that he had spent $4 million to purchase Bryant 1-of-1 signed Panini Flawless Logoman cards — a Bryant card from 2017-18 and one from 2015-16.