Sporting cards have burst the bubble they were in and are now at the forefront of collectibles for fans. With authentic rookie card prices going up every year, enthusiasts are always waiting for new cards to come onto the auction circuit. Since a 1986 Michael Jordan Fleer rookie card went for $500,000 in an auction recently, people were excited when they found a new one in a safety deposit box.

But the auction didn’t go as expected. The price for the new card was nowhere close to the one that was sold a month ago.

The latest Michael Jordan rookie card sold in an auction

PSA has titled the 1986 Jordan Fleer card “the most recognizable basketball card and the most important modern card from any sport in the entire hobby“. Fleer originally started as a bubblegum company and went on to manufacture sports cards by 1923.

They started with baseball, eventually got into American football, and in 1986 made their way into basketball cards. But the story of this Michael Jordan card is incredible in its own right.

Every year, the state treasurer receives close to 3,000 security deposit boxes from people who have left theirs abandoned.

After storing it for years, they have run out of space and are now auctioning the items off. Iowa’s State Treasurer, Roby Smith, was in possession of the safety deposit boxes for over a decade. Without being able to find the rightful owner, they decided to put the items up for auction. And one of those items was a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card.

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The new 1986 rookie card was sent to a professional sports authenticator. They gave it a PSA rating of 7/10, which means it’s in ‘near mint’ condition. The card was put up for auction, and surprisingly, it was sold for just $5400, according to Radio Iowa. This is a major downgrade from the one that was sold a month ago.

Sporting cards have not been good for Jordan before

Recently, a PSA 8.5 1986 fleer card was sold in an auction for $500,000. This made fans speculate that this card could go for the same price. But the card lost 494,600 in value just from losing out on a 1.5 grade.

However, the PSA 8.5 card also had an autograph from Michael Jordan. It all sums up the fact that the $3.5 billion legend won’t be able to catch up to LeBron James when it comes to people spending money on their sports cards.

Recently, in 2020, a LeBron James rookie card was auctioned off for 1.3 million dollars. Even with the Chicago Bulls legend rookie card sold for $500,000, it is still nowhere near what was paid for Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetekoumpo, and Luka Doncic’s sports cards.

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