For the first time in nearly five years, the sole SGC 10 Pristine example of Michael Jordan’s 1986 Fleer rookie card will hit the auction block.
The coveted Pristine grade, which sits above a standard Gem Mint 10, is rarely seen at public auction for Jordan’s key rookie card.
Heritage Auctions calls the card "the single finest Jordan rookie on the planet" in the lot description.
According to GemRate, 47,815 copies of the card have been graded by PSA, BGS, SGC and CGC combined. While there are 916 “gems,", there are only seven graded Pristine; six in BGS holders and one in an SGC slab.
This sole SGC Pristine example has only one sale in public auction records, fetching $420,000 in August 2020 at Heritage. This was an all-time record for the card at the time (previously $96,000).
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Heritage originally received the card raw on consignment and sent to SGC which assessed it with the top grade.
“The Michael Jordan rookie card came to us ungraded, and we knew it was special from the very first moment we saw its condition,” said Heritage’s Chris Ivy in a statement in 2020. “The SGC Pristine 10 Gold Label grade represents the best of the best, and that was reflected by the world-record price.”
Since that sale, the market for Jordan rookie cards has enjoyed a roller-coaster ride like few others. Reaching as high as $840,000 in July 2021 for a PSA 10, the card has since come back to earth, with PSA 10 copies (pop: 333) fetching around $200,000.
Heritage has placed a bold pre-sale estimate on the card of $800,000.
Last month, the all-time record for the Fleer Jordan was set by the $2.5 million sale of an autographed copy.
In the 2020 sale, the SGC Pristine 10 card garnered a price more than four-times the going rate at the time for a PSA 10. If it were to fetch a similar multiple in this upcoming auction, it would hit the $800,000 estimate.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible content.