The Last Bid: A Pair Of 1985 Air Jordans Just Sold At Auction For $560,000
From Sotheby's:
Sotheby’s is pleased to announce that Michael Jordan’s Game Worn Autographed Nike Air Jordan 1s from 1985 sold for $560,000 this afternoon in an online auction – the new world auction record for any pair of sneakers, surpassing the previous record set at Sotheby’s for the Nike 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat ‘Moon Shoe’ sold for $437,500 in July 2019.
Following a bidding war which drove the value up by $300,000 within the final twenty minutes of the sale, the pair achieved more than 3.5x their $150,000 high estimate. Bidders ranging from age 19 to 50+ participated across 4 continents, with 70% of bidders new to Sotheby’s. The pair was sold coinciding with the final episode of the popular ESPN documentary ‘The Last Dance’, spotlighting the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s legendary career.
$560K for a pair of shoes… That's an entire mediocre one bedroom apartment here in NYC. Wild.
Here's a look at the pair that held the previous record, which has now been surpassed by a whopping $122,500.
If you want to learn more about the man behind the design of Jordan's infamous shoes check out the Netflix series Abstract: The Art Of Design. The episode with Tinker Hatfield was most excellent and gives even more insight to Jordan & his expectations. The whole story of how the shoe & the deal almost didn't happen is pretty interesting, too.
I know it's not quite a basement football watch party with Roger Goodell, but I hope whoever bid on this one is happy with their pricey decision.