AN autographed pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s in the Bulls’ white, black and red from 1985, which Michael Jordan wore most often on the court, sold for US$560,000 in an online auction on Sotheby’s on Sunday.

It marked a new world record for any pair of auctioned sneakers, passing the previous record set for the Nike 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat “Moon Shoe,” which sold for US$437,500 in July 2019.

According to a press release provided by Sotheby’s, a bidding war drove up the value by US$300,000 in the final 20 minutes of the auction, and the sneakers went for 3.5 times more than their US$150,000 high estimate. Bidders ranged from 19 to 50 years old, across four continents.

“We are extremely excited about today’s record-breaking result,” Sotheby’s director of eCommerce Development Brahm Wachter said in a statement.

“Building off the momentum from our debut sneaker sale last year, which previously set the record for a pair of sneakers with the Nike Moon Shoe, we wanted to set the bar even higher for our second sneaker sale. We saw tremendous bidding up until the moment the sale closed, with the value more than doubling in the final hour alone. That coupled with strong international bidding from six countries on four continents shows not only the incredible appeal of Michael Jordan as one of the most recognizable and legendary athletes of all time, but also that sneaker collecting is truly a global and growing market.”

In 1984, Nike gave Jordan a signature line of shoes and clothes, which proved to be an unusual move to lure Jordan to sign with Nike. Jordan wore the present pair of Air Jordan 1s during the early part of his career and it raised the sneaker’s popularity.

The shoe became so popular and successful that Nike continued to make new signature Air Jordans each season.

(SD-Agencies)