To a true sneakerhead, $10,000 may seem rather standard for a pair of NBA player game-worn, signed sneakers. Understandable considering a pair of Michael Jordan-worn kicks fetched over $70,500 a few months ago. In their defense, they were rare. SCP Auctions, the house responsible for selling the shoes summed it up like this, “What makes these so incredibly rare is the fact that Jordan only wore Nike Air Ships the first 6-8 weeks of the season, before transitioning full-time to Nike’s first edition of Air Jordans — the sneakers that would change the market forever.”
At the other end of the spectrum you have the non-sneakerheads. Those whose jaw would have dropped reading this headline. To think what else $10,000 could buy…
But as they say, each to their own. And as long as people are willing to pay such amounts for sneaker memorabilia, there will continue to be a market for it. And quite a large, and lucrative one at that.
Watch on FN
We could literally go on for days and days rounding up all the sneakers sold at auction over the years, particularly if we were to consider all prices fetched. So, to narrow it down, we headed to two major auctioneers dealing in sports memorabilia, SCP Auctions and Heritage Auctions, trawled through their results and found those that had sold for over $10,000. 99% belonged to NBA players, with one pair worn by Muhammad Ali thrown in for good measure.
As to be expected, there were multiple pairs belonging to Jordan. However we also came across a pair of Larry Bird game-worn Converse from the late ’80’s than sold for close to $19,000.
Click through the slideshow below for all the styles and what they sold for.
