Sotheby’s auction house expects to fetch between $5 million and $7 million from the sale of a jersey of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, tragically killed in a helicopter crash in 2020, the company announced Thursday.
This price would surpass the record of 3.7 million dollars that was paid in 2021 for the jersey of the Los Angeles Lakers icon who won five NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals and would be among the most expensive sports collectibles. of history.
However, the record in a market that increasingly attracts wealthy collectors and investors from around the world, is held by a jersey of the captain of the Argentine team Diego Maradona during the 1986 World Cup, for which 9.3 euros were paid. million dollars in May of last year, and another Chicago Bulls number 23 jersey, Michael Jordan, who wore when he reached the NBA title in 1998, awarded at 10.1 million in September 2022.
Kobe Bryant’s yellow and purple No. 24 jersey, which is being sold by an anonymous owner, was worn by the player in 25 games the year he was named MVP of the regular season (2007-2008), according to Sotheby’s.
It is the same shirt he wore on April 23, 2008, when he was immortalized by photographers after scoring a three-point shot against the Denver Nuggets, clutching his shirt and shouting victory… An image that graffiti artists reproduced on the streets of many cities and particularly in Los Angeles.
The last time it was sold at auction was in 2013 for $18,678.
According to Sotheby’s, the context was different since then it was unknown that the player had worn the same shirt in so many games or that it was the same one that gave rise to the "image that galvanized the public after the tragic death of Kobe".
Throughout the season, the player led "this shirt on 25 occasions in which he scored 645 points"summarized to AFP Brahm Wachter, who heads the department of ‘streetwear’ and modern collectibles at Sotheby’s.
The jersey, which will be on display in New York starting February 1, is part of the online sports collectibles auction from February 2-9.