Michael Jordan rookie sneakers sell for $152,500

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A pair of basketball legend Michael Jordan’s famous Air Jordans from his rookie season sold at auction for $152,500 on Wednesday, the star item in Sotheby’s first international dedicated sneaker sale.

Seen as a niche interest 10 years ago, sneakers are now one of the fastest-growing markets at auctions, attracting attention from the general public as well as leading collectors.

The “Gamers Only” auction, conducted entirely online, featured 13 pairs of match-worn basketball shoes from some of the NBA’s greatest athletes, including Scottie Pippen and Shaquille O’Neal.

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They went on show beforehand in Geneva and took their place alongside standout jewels, watches and handbags from Sotheby’s Luxury Week of sales in the lakeside Swiss city.

Nike Air Jordan 1s “not only changed basketball footwear forever but are also considered foundational to the development of sneaker culture”, Sotheby’s said.

The pair sold — in the Chicago Bulls’ red, white and black — were worn by Jordan during his stellar 1984-1985 debut season.

Michael Jordan
(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 24, 2020 former NBA star and owner of Charlotte Hornets team Michael Jordan looks on as he addresses a press conference ahead of the NBA basketball match between Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets at The AccorHotels Arena in Paris. – A Michael Jordan game-worn jersey from his 1982-83 season at the University of North Carolina has sold for $1.38 million dollars at auction, Heritage Auctions said May 8, 2021. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

Jordan, now 58, went on to become a six-time NBA champion and is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time.

“The Air Jordan 1s are one of the grails,” Josh Pullan, managing director of Sotheby’s global luxury division, told AFP.

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“There’s a bit of wear on the toe and around the heels, and that gives us a feeling for what happened in the game when they were worn,” he added.

“This pair is from someone who knew Michael Jordan personally, so they really come with that impeccable provenance.”

– MVP pairs –

The second-most expensive pair in the sale was Stephen Curry’s Under Armour shoes, both signed, from 2015-16 when the Golden State Warriors point guard was named the most valuable player (MVP), for the second straight season.

The yellow and cobalt blue sneakers, worn in four matches, fetched $20,800.

The other shoes that went for five figures were a pair of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Adidas Superstars worn during his 1979-1980 season with the Los Angeles Lakers, which ended with the NBA title and the center’s sixth MVP win.

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The signed white sneakers went for $18,030.

Sotheby’s says the sneaker market has brought a new, younger audience into the world of auctions.

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Last month, Sotheby’s sold a pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by rapper Kanye West for $1.8 million (1.5 million euros) — triple the previous record for sneakers.

The shoes, worn during the 2008 Grammy Awards, shattered the previous sneakers auction record of $615,000 set in August last year.

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That sum, achieved by auctioneers Christie’s, was for the very pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s worn by Jordan when he famously shattered the backboard in a 1985 match.

Wednesday’s sale also included sneakers worn by NBA greats Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Kevin Garnett, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, Allen Iverson, Moses Malone and Isiah Thomas.

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sanya-onayoade

Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
Morak Babajide-Alabi

Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
Ademola-Akinbola

Ademola Akinbola

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
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