Six championship-winning sneakers signed and worn by Michael Jordan will be auctioned in New York next month with an estimated price of up to $10 million.
According to Sotheby’s, which is handling the sale, the set “represents the most valuable and important collection of Air Jordan sneakers on the market.”
The lot, collectively known as “The Dynasty Collection,” will be the focus of an upcoming live auction titled “The One.” This will be the second edition of the event, a cross-category auction that debuted last January and features “extraordinary objects”. embodying human ingenuity, achievement and excellence,” the auction house said.
Jordan, 60, still makes headlines in part because of the boom surrounding his collection. Last April, a pair of Nike Air Jordan XIII sneakers signed and worn by Jordan during the 1998 NBA Finals were sold at Sotheby’s for $2.2 million, setting a world record for the highest price for a sneaker at auction.
Brahm Wachter, head of modern collectibles at Sotheby’s, said: “The Dynasty Collection is the only defining ‘Holy Grail’ of sneaker collecting, ticking all the boxes a collector could want.” Spanning multiple eras from the 13th century to the present, most Attention will be focused on the Jordan shoe line, which has quite a backstory.
Avid followers of Jordan will know that there’s a reason he missed a pair of sneakers in each of his six championship games. In 1991, before Jordan reached his first NBA Finals with the Chicago Bulls, Tim Hallam, a public relations executive who had worked for the team since 1978, asked for a pair of sneakers worn in key games. . Jordan handed the shoes to him after signing and continued the tradition for the next five Finals games, possibly sticking to the superstition. Each time, the superstar would immediately take off one of his shoes after leaving the court, sign it, and hand it to Hallam.
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The sneakers were later acquired from Hallam by the current owner, an American private collector, who unveiled the sneakers for the first time at the 2022 National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He toured extensively around the world with a stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Collections from New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, London and Singapore will be auctioned.
Lots include Air Jordan VI (1991), Air Jordan VII (1992), Air Jordan VIII (1993), Air Jordan XI (1996), Air Jordan XII (1997) and Air Jordan XIV (1998) ) ) – this is a Set of photos signed by Bulls photographer Bill Smith. The images depict Jordan celebrating after the 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998 NBA Finals wearing only one sneaker. (The other has been given to Hallam.)
The casual observer might be surprised to see retro sneakers placed side by side with beautiful antique items. Other lots at the auction include the Hope Cup, a mid-19th century vase made for the Paris Exposition of 1855; a large gilt statue of Gautama Buddha from Tibet, circa 14th century; and the Grifo di Tancredi, This is a gilded and painted Florentine cassetta (or safe) dating from the late 13th century. The presale prices for all three parcels are approximately $2 million.
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Also included in the auction is another piece of Jordan memorabilia: a signed official scorer’s sheet from the highest-scoring game of his career. The 69 points played against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 28, 1990 are expected to sell for between $60,000 and $80,000.
The live auction will be held at Sotheby’s New York headquarters starting at 10 a.m. on February 2. The items for sale will be on display in conjunction with Sotheby’s Masters Week exhibition, which begins on 26 January.