{"id":2086835,"date":"2026-08-10T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2086835"},"modified":"2026-08-10T18:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:28:26","slug":"unique-michael-jordan-signed-card-box-from-rookie-year-sells-for-1-48-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2086835","title":{"rendered":"Unique Michael Jordan signed card box from rookie year sells for $1.48 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A sealed box of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball cards<\/a>,<\/a>\u00a0signed and inscribed by Michael Jordan,\u00a0sold for $1.48 million<\/a> in an eBay auction <\/span>Sunday night. It\u2019s the only unopened box of \u201986 Fleer Basketball \u2014 the set includes his iconic rookie card, as well as those of multiple NBA legends like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and more \u2014 that Jordan has autographed, which he noted with an inscription reading \u201cRookie Card Box 1\/1.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Trading card and memorabilia company Upper Deck first announced the auction in July along with news that it had extended its long-term exclusive partnership<\/a> with Jordan. The company also had Jordan autograph 23 sealed individual packs of 1986 Fleer Basketball cards that collectors can claim through a redemption program and will be part of its 2026 Goodwin Champions<\/a> release. Ten percent of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

The 1986 Fleer Basketball set was largely disregarded upon its debut, as the NBA and basketball card collecting were far less popular than they are today. Jordan, however, became a global superstar in the 1990s and fans began to collect anything and everything associated with him; his rookie card and the set it came in rose significantly in value. Today, a sealed box of \u201986 Fleer not signed by Jordan is worth north of $100,000. Each box contains 36 packs and about three to four Jordan #57 cards<\/a> on average.<\/p>\n

\n

What\u2019s interesting about the final price of the signed box is that it\u2019s considerably lower than the record $2.7 million<\/a> that a single Fleer rookie card signed by Jordan sold for last fall, even though the box is a one-of-one while there are more than 100 authenticated \u201986 Fleer Jordan autographed cards. It illustrates how scarcity isn\u2019t always the ultimate factor in the collectibles market and how individual cards are often more desirable to collectors. For example, cards bearing a small piece of a player\u2019s game-used jersey often sell for far more than a full game-used jersey of the same player.<\/p>\n

Jordan collectibles, including his \u201986 Fleer card, are arguably more popular than ever right now. According to GemRate<\/a>, which tracks trading card sales and grading data, more than $68 million was spent on individual Jordan cards on eBay alone through the first half of 2026, second only to Shohei Ohtani ($85.6 million), rising from just over $8 million in January to almost $17 million in June.<\/p>\n

const eBayApiUrl=”https:\/\/api.theathletic.com”; <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
1986 Fleer Basketball cards<\/div>\n

POWERED BY<\/span> <\/a>\n <\/div>\n


\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

View Listing <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

View Listing <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

View Listing <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sealed box of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball cards,\u00a0signed and inscribed by Michael Jordan,\u00a0sold for $1.48 million in an eBay auction Sunday night. It\u2019s the only unopened box of \u201986 Fleer Basketball \u2014 the set includes his iconic rookie card, as well as those of multiple NBA legends like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2086835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2086835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2086835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2086835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2086835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}