Woah! Michael Jordan’s sneakers estimated to fetch $500,000 at a Christie’s auction

Pooja Patel

Christie’s is set to offer a collection of game-worn sneakers that were worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan, at an online auction.

The collection is called ‘Original Air: Michael Jordan Game-Worn and Player Exclusive Sneaker Rarities’ and will be available for bidding from July 30 to August 13. It gives an overview of Jordan’s era-defining Chicago Bulls career.

The auction house has partnered with Stadium Goods, which is a New York-based retailer of limited-edition sneakers.

 

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Though Michael Jordan hadn’t realized his true potential during his rookie season, there were signs of his impending greatness. Like the time when, appearing in an Italian exhibition game in the summer of ‘85, Michael reduced a backboard to shards following a slam dunk. One of those pieces of glass remains embedded in the sole of this very Air Jordan 1 “Chicago,” which are the exact shoes he wore during the feat.

A post shared by Stadium Goods (@stadiumgoods) on Jul 24, 2020 at 11:04am PDT

The collection has 11 lots of enviable sneakers and includes a pre-Jordan Brand Nike Air Ship Jordan worn during his rookie season. These sneakers were then known as ‘Nike Air Ship’ and Jordan wore these shoes, sized 13 for his right foot and sized 13.5 for his left. He had worn these for a few games in the 1984-85 season. This pair of sneakers is expected to fetch up to $550,000.

Read: A fashion collection dedicated to The Last Dance and Michael Jordan

These shoes had been the prototype for the original Air Jordan sneakers, which were launched after his rookie season.

Ever since ‘The Last Dance’ has gone on air on Netflix, the popularity in items worn or signed by the basketball legend has risen.

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#thelastdance #michaeljordan #chicagobulls

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A game-worn Air Jordan 1 from the infamous “Shattered Backboard” exhibition 1985 game in Italy; game-worn and signed “Fire Red,” Air Jordan 4s; a pair of Air Jordan 5 “Fire Red,” PE Sneakers; a pair of the Air Jordan 7 “Olympic,” worn in the Dream Team’s gold medal game in 1992; a pair of Air Jordan 10 PE baseball cleats from Jordan’s 1995 stint in minor league baseball, an Air Jordan 10 “Shadow” PE Sneaker; and a game-worn and triple-signed Air Jordan 11 “Concord” are part of the large collection.

A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, an American legal organisation that fights for racial justice.

Read: As light as a cloud! Boucheron’s high jewellery collection is a work of art and technology