The First Michael Jordan 1/1 Sports Card Sells For 2.1 Million Dollars
Most of you probably didn't grow up in the Chicago suburbs during the mid to late 90s collecting basketball cards and chasing every Michael Jordan insert possible. But let me tell you. I had no idea how good I had it. To be 10-12 years old collecting the most iconic sports figure in the history of the world winning championship after championship.
The mid to late 90s sports card game was at it's peak. Forget the overprinted lame 80s cards with cheap ink and the same white border. It was the golden age of "inserts". Cards you don't get in any pack. Some more rare than others. And even if you got a cool shiny jazzed up card that was 1:36 packs or whatever else, you still had to avoid the landmine of getting a shitty player. What a genius move this was by card manufactures by the way. They figured out how to gateway drug us prepubescent boys into gambling. I mean, the back of a pack showed all the odds we had to chase unabashedly just like scratch off tickets.
1997 Ultra was one of the better packs to get. That's where this bad boy hid. Not the most expensive pack, but not cheap either. $4.50 to $5 a pack fresh off the rack or so. I don't truly keep up with the shenanigans card makers are up to today, but I'm aware they make about a billion "1/1" cards. Kinda ruins to concept don't you think? But this particular 1/1 that sold for $2.1M Saturday night was the OG 1/1 ever made. There's one of these for each player in the set.
And while there was only one of this version, there were 100 "platinum" versions too which pretty much look the damn same. But the much more attainable "gold" version quite frankly looks much better. Not that I'm biased. But I did find a nice one to get graded a while back that hits every nostalgic chord from those days.
Now this 1/1 for 2.1 wasn't quite the most expensive Michael Jordan card ever sold. But wasn't all that far off.
1/1s. Pieces of cardboard for the ultra rich. The good news for us mortals is you can also go out and make your own luck collecting 1/1s. Until you sell it - you can just tell yourself they're worth 2.1 million too. Let me take you on a quick tour from the ole PC for my 1/1 collection.
Being a Chicago guy, you can't go wrong with a Walter Payton desperately diving away from the card cutter but still getting taken out just below the knees.
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Or an "Ill Wennington".
I remember pulling this card from a pack being completely confused why two people were getting different rebounds at the same time.
Someone offered me $50 for it once and I declined. How else would I make fun of it in a blog one day if I just sold it like that? I like to think Dikembe looks really sad because out of two balls that got shot at the same time he didn't block either of them. I'm still tempted to send it in for grading to Beckett that lists sub grades including centering. Might go for the record worst centering of any card ever.
Although I might have another that can compete. I've never even seen Roger Clemens' wife, but I do have this card of his better half.
OK - so maybe my 1/1s are just worthless miscut rejects from drunks in the manufacturing plants screwing around. But they're still fun. Anyway - congrats to whoever sold that Masterpiece 1/1. The gold one looks better anyway.
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Not biased.