Andrea Montolivo
Chicago (USA) (EFE).- Between 2 and 4 million dollars. It is the value of the Air Jordan XIII worn by Michael Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals. He gave them to a ball boy from Salt Lake City after a Jazz-Bulls. 25 years later, the piece, signed by ‘MJ’, can break the price record at the New York auction house Sotheby’s.
It is the only complete pair of shoes worn by Jordan in his six NBA Finals available on the market. And it’s the one from his ‘last dance’ with the Bulls. Two years ago, a pair of Nike Air Ships worn by ‘MJ’ in 1984 went up for auction for nearly $1.5 million. The Air Jordan XIII can multiply that figure by more than two.
Auction houses rub their hands over these collector’s items. Christie’s opened its own dedicated section, ‘Department X’ to take advantage of the demand. The shoe market is skyrocketing at all levels. The resale of footwear, a business on the rise.
From Air Ships to Air Jordan XIII
The previous auction sale record dates back to 2021, when Sotheby’s sold Nike Air Ships used by Jordan in regular-season games in 1984 for $1,472,000 to collector Nick Fiorella.
It was the first time that a pair of sneakers had been auctioned for more than a million dollars.
The white and red shoes were worn by Jordan in the fifth game of his first season in the NBA as a player for the Bulls, in 1984, and are signed by himself.
Previously, in 2020, a Nike Air Jordan 1 High worn by the basketball legend in 1985 fetched a price at Christie’s auction of $615,000.
Some unique slippers
The legend of these shoes not only has to do with Jordan’s magnificent performance at the Delta Center, when, with his Bulls down 0-1 in the series and forced to win the second game, ‘MJ’ signed 37 points to equalize the series and return to Chicago.
In a training session on the eve of that duel, played on June 5, 1998, Jordan forgot a coat at the Delta Center and a ball boy who found it returned it to him in the locker room.
As a way of thanking him for that gesture, the next day Jordan gave the boy his shoes and signed them with a marker.
Jordan signatures are still clearly visible on the shoes, which are in excellent condition.
guarantee of authenticity
Pieces of this value have a certificate of authenticity provided by the company ‘The MeiGray Group’, which collaborates with the NBA to analyze and verify that it is not fraud.
The Air Jordan XIII from Game 2 of the 1998 Finals are the only ones certified ‘MeiGray’. Plus, it’s the only complete pair of sneakers worn by Jordan in all six of his Finals, according to Sotheby’s.
This model of sneakers is in itself a highly coveted collector’s item on the market, drawn by Nike to resemble a panther, one of the many nicknames for ‘MJ’.
In particular, the sneakers feature a holographic eye on the back and the sole is made to resemble a panther’s paw.
And if the passion for iconic sneakers is within the reach of a few millionaires at auction, many fans are willing to spend more than $300 to buy that same model, new, at resale.
On March 11, the Nike website was overloaded by the fever of users for the launch of the black and white Nike Air Dunk Low ‘Panda’.
The sale price was $110 in the United States, but on resale platforms such as ‘StockX’ these shoes are resold for figures that exceed $300.