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- Dan Hajducky is a staff writer for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men’s soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities.
An autographed 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card has sold at Joopiter — 13-time Grammy winning artist and producer Pharrell Williams’ auction house — for $2.5 million, including a 25% buyer’s premium.
It’s the most ever paid for a Jordan rookie card. The most ever paid previously for an autographed Jordan rookie card was $205,000 last March; the most ever paid for a non-signed Fleer Jordan rookie was $840,000 in 2021.
The $2.5 million Jordan rookie card is the third-highest public sale for any Michael Jordan card. The most ever paid was $2.928 million for a 1-of-1 2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection autographed Michael Jordan Logoman card last June.
The card was signed for a private collector last year, in secret. Jordan has rarely signed outside of his longtime deal with Upper Deck, but in 2024, he autographed nine 1986-87 Fleer Jordan rookie cards in blue Sharpie in 2024 — six of which have received perfect 10 grades from card grader PSA. (Those PSA 10s have not come up for public sale yet.)
It was the first sports card that Joopiter, which opened in 2022, has ever auctioned.
“We are excited to debut in the world of sports collectibles, largely in response to enthusiasm from our global community of collectors,” Caitlin Donovan, global head of sales at Joopiter, told ESPN. “With a focus on rare and iconic sports memorabilia, infused with the rich history that make these pieces truly special, we look forward to bringing this community unique and significant pieces of sports history.”
