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Michael Jordan’s game-worn NBA Finals sneakers sell for record $8 million
Michael Jordan already held bragging rights for the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold at auction when his 1998 NBA Finals Chicago Bulls jersey sold for a record $10.1 million at Sotheby’s in September of 2022.
He now holds the record for the most expensive game-worn sneakers ever sold at auction when a collection of six shoes he wore during each of his six NBA championships sold for just over $8 million at Sotheby’s on Feb. 2.
Known as the “The Dynasty Collection,” the set of six individual Air Jordan sneakers includes: an 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). Sotheby’s had estimated the collection would sell for between $7-$10 million. The final sales price was: $8,032,800.
The collection was on display at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City in 2022. It was billed as “the most important group of game-worn sneakers ever assembled” by CGC Cards, which authenticated the sneakers and displayed them at its booth at the NSCC.
Jordan famously gifted one of the sneakers to Chicago Bulls public relations executive Tim Hallam after each of the Bulls’ six championships. Jordan, who won the NBA Finals MVP after all six championships, signed and inscribed each of the sneakers.
Years later, Hallam sold the sneakers to the current owner, which Sotheby’s identifies only as “a private American collector.” Sotheby’s calls the set “the most valuable and significant collection of Air Jordan sneakers ever brought to market.”
The collection was accompanied by a set of signed 1/1 photographs by Bill Smith, depicting Jordan following the 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998 NBA Finals, smiling and celebrating while wearing just one sneaker.
