Antiques Roadshow | Authenticated: 1997 Michael Jordan Signature Air Jordan XII Shoes | Season 28 | Episode 9

Appraiser: This great pair of Michael Jordan shoes you brought is not a single signature shoe, but a pair of signature shoes.

You have to tell us, how did you get them?

Guest: Today is the 1997 All-Star Weekend.

Appraiser: Yeah.

Guest: Michael Jordan gives shoes to Mr. Eric Martin.

Eric Martin played nine seasons for the Saints.

He was a professional bowler and was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame.

Eric Martin then gave the shoes to Dr. Tommy Karam.

Dr. Tommy is the Marketing Executive, doing sports branding for LSU players.

Tommy was my mentor for most of my life and then Tommy gave me these shoes as a beautiful gift.

Appraiser: Christmas?

holiday?

Que…

Guest: I graduated.

Appraiser: Gr, oh, you are about to graduate…

Guest: Louisiana State University.

Appraiser: LSU, that’s your…

Guest: Let’s go, tigers.

Appraiser: (laughing): Come on, Tigers.

Guest: When he gave them to me, I kind of pushed them back to him because I, I, he told me the story, and I, I, you see, I didn’t have anything this good.

Appraiser: What does Michael Jordan mean to you?

Guest: Oh, he’s the best, he’s the GOAT.

He is an all-around player.

He’s a fierce competitor and I love him.

Appraiser: His brand is bigger now than ever.

Jordan not only revolutionized basketball when he entered the league in 1984, he also revolutionized the sneaker industry.

When he was drafted by the Bulls in 1984, he could have signed with Adidas because Adidas and Converse are the two major manufacturers of basketball shoes.

Nike is a distant third, even then.

They were best known for their track and field shoes, but they had problems selling them and they put everything on the line.

They made the deal to Jordan’s family – his parents – $250,000.

But his parents came back and said, “Michael wants a percentage of every pair of shoes sold.”

They gave it to him.

5%.

So the first year of sales, they thought, “Maybe we can sell 3 million.”

They sold $126 million in Air Jordan shoes.

Guest: This is ridiculous – this is crazy.

Appraiser: Part of the marketing is that they have Air Sole technology that they’re using and they decided to use Air Jordan’s Air Sole.

Guest: Yeah.

Appraiser: Fast forward today, Michael Jordan probably accomplished 15 to 20 times more with his deal with Nike than he did in his career.

In 2022 alone (remember, he retired in 2003) Michael Jordan’s brand of Air Jordan sneakers will be worth $5.1 billion.

When we value sneakers, right?

We’ve signed on, we’ve released the game, and then we have the game available.

There are also sneakers he uses for the Bulls and the sneakers they produce for the All-Star game.

They’ll make versions because it will generate more sales for Nike every time.

The ones we found in the game… do you see this little Air Jordan, the logo here, the logo man?

Guest: Uh-huh.

Appraiser: That’s actually red.

Guest: Uh-huh.

Appraiser: We know we have a pair of Michael Jordan signature sneakers.

We know your origins, right?

But we don’t know how many times he wore it, or if he ever wore it.

Therefore, these works have an auction estimate of US$10,000 to US$15,000.

Guest: (Whistles) That is to say, much higher than I expected.

But I, I know there’s more and more sneakerheads in the market that are growing and people are starting to fall in love with collecting these shoes.

It’s so cool to be a part of the whole sneaker community.

To have a cultural icon like Michael Jordan and to have something of him, to me, it means a lot.

Don’t wear them.

(Laughs) Never once – no shots were fired.

Appraiser: You’re talking anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands if they are worn in current competition.