Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant card becomes most expensive sports card ever

A unique Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant card has officially surpassed the two most iconic baseball cards in history to claim supremacy in the sports card world.

The one-of-a-kind Jordan and Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection dual Logoman (the NBA logo patch from each of their game-worn jerseys) autographed patch card sold for $12.932 million through Heritage Auctions early Sunday morning. It’s now the most expensive sports card ever sold. Heritage’s estimated value for the card going into the auction was $6 million, just above the previous record sale for a basketball card.

The Jordan/Bryant card, which Heritage’s director of sports auctions Chris Ivy called “the finest modern basketball card in the world,” passed the top two sales of the T-206 Honus Wagner card ($6.6 million and $7.25 million), as well as the sale of the only 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 with a “Mint-Plus” 9.5 grade from SGC — the “finest known example” of that card — which went for $12.6 million in August 2022. The Wagner and Mantle cards have long been the ultimate icons of the sports card world, but the new record represents a passing of the torch to a new generation of icons. 

The previous all-time record for any known basketball card sale was held by a one-of-one Stephen Curry 2009 Panini National Treasures Logoman autographed patch rookie card that went for $5.9 million in a private sale. The previous record price for any basketball card within a public auction was $3.12 million in 2022 for a one-of-a-kind Luka Dončić 2018 Panini National Treasures Logoman autographed patch rookie card (that had changed hands in a private sale a year earlier for $4.6 million).

Jordan’s previous highest priced card was his one-of-a-kind 2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Logos Logoman autographed patch card, which sold in June 2024 for $2.93 million via Goldin. Bryant’s previous highest priced card sale happened earlier this month when his one-of-a-kind 2015-16 Panini Flawless Logoman autographed patch card sold for $2.3 million in a private sale.

Here’s an updated list of the most expensive sports cards of all time, according to Card Ladder, which tracks trading card sales across a variety of platforms:

1. 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant dual Logoman autograph PSA 6 — $12.932 million (Heritage, Aug. 24, 2025)
2. 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 SGC 9.5 — $12.6 million (Heritage, Aug. 28, 2022)
3. 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206 Honus Wagner SGC 2 — $7.25 million (private sale, Aug. 4, 2022)
4. 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth Rookie SGC 3 — $7.2 million (REA, Dec. 3, 2023)
5. 1909 Sweet Caporal T-206 Honus Wagner SGC 3 — $6.6 million (REA, Aug. 15, 2021)

The record sale for a piece of sports memorabilia of any kind came almost exactly one year ago, when Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey was sold by Heritage for $24.12 million.

This Jordan/Bryant card is the only dual Logoman card to feature these two players together. Jordan shares four with LeBron James, however. Cards featuring Logoman patches are among the most coveted by modern basketball card collectors and this one is made even more unique since the Jordan patch in it is the gold variant used during the NBA’s 50th season in 1996-97.

The stratospheric sale displays the continued popularity of Jordan and Bryant within today’s sports card market. 

Even now, Jordan is consistently the most searched athlete on eBay every month, with total card sales of $34,108,318 from January through July 2025, according to GemRate — almost $10 million more than the athlete with the second highest sales total this year, Shohei Ohtani. Bryant ranks fourth with $15,239,311 spent on his cards during the same time period, according to GemRate. Mantle isn’t too far behind with $13 million in card sales this year, ranking eighth.

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(Top photo: VINCENT LAFORET/AFP via Getty Images)