Michael Jordan was unquestionably a once in a lifetime athlete. His outrageous gravity-defying achievements on the basketball court helped him rewrite the rules of athletic merchandise and now he is creating his own new reality on the auction block.
In May a pair of 1985 Air Jordan 1 Vintage Original sneakers sold for $672,000 ($560,000 plus 20 percent buyers premium) to set a new world auction record for any footwear.
Those sneakers broke the prior sports shoe record price of US$411,986 (£266,500) fetched by the running shoes in which Roger Bannister famously broke the four-minute-mile and standing sports shoe record price set by the original Nike Waffle Racing flats that sold for a world record $437,500.
Yesterday, another pair of sneakers worn by Michael Jordan sold at Gottahaverockandroll for $474,696 ($379,757 plus 25 percent buyers premium), surpassing both of those previous landmark records.
What’s more, there are another 12 pairs of Jordan sneakers going to auction in the next 10 days at two different auction houses, with one pair expected to sell for $350,000 to $550,000 and another pair estimated by Christies to sell for $650,000 to $850,000.
You can find 11 of the Air Jordan auction lots at Christie’s, and another at Mears, with an excellent feature article on the subject at Christie’s.
Sotheby’s sold the current world record holding Air Jordans in May.
