A Kobe Bryant vegetable card sold for $ 1.8 million Saturday night at Goldin Auctions, an online auction house and sports memorabilia repository, making it one of the most expensive basketball tickets ever sold.
“The Kobe Bryant Rookie Card # 138 Topps Chrome Refractors 1996-97 – BGS PRISTINE / Black Label 10 is just one of two in the world for perfection,” explains Goldin Auctions.
Final Sale Price: $ 1,795,800
An all-time record for every Kobe Bryant card. pic.twitter.com/dTStDwavHx
– Goldin Auctions (@GoldinAuctions) March 7, 2021
The card’s report had perfect tens across the board, making it eligible for the prestigious “black label” recognition.
Goldin Auctions had not announced the buyer’s name until Sunday morning.
Bryant was one of the most respected athletes in the world before his death last year. The five-time NBA champion died with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in California on January 26, 2020, at the age of 41.
A few weeks after his death, Bryant cards were everywhere online, increasing in value by 600%, according to eBay sales data.
“Kobe Bryant was one of the fiercest competitors of all time and a really great figure. His beginner’s card is one of the rarest out there and one of only two on Earth in pristine condition from the black label, which is the highest possible,” Ken Goldin, founder of Goldin Auctions, told ESPN.