We have our first million-dollar card sale of 2026, and it's a title fit for the King.
A 2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor LeBron James Rookie /50, graded PSA 10, sold on Friday for $1.11 million, becoming the first card to reach the seven-digit mark this year.
The card was sold as part of the Fanatics Premier auction that also featured Nick Kurtz's RDPA selling for $516,000 as well as a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Green Kaboom! 1/1 that fetched a record $432,000.
With this sale, James is now featured on 25 different cards to cross the $1 million threshold, more than Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant combined.
This is the second-most-expensive sale ever for James' 2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor, trailing a $1.2 million private sale in August 2022.
The sale also might indicate the current strength of the market. After the COVID-19 boom in 2020 and 2021, this card dipped a bit in the market. As recently as October 2024, another James PSA 10 2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor sold for $645,000 at Heritage. This sale nearly doubled that price just 15 months later.
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Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.