Kobe Bryant Topps Chrome Refractor Rookie Card Sells for Nearly $1.8 Million
It seems just about every other day a new high-priced sale of a sports card is making headlines. Another arrived on Saturday as a Kobe Bryant Topps Chrome Refractor rookie card sold for close to $1.8 million. The graded card featuring the late great Lakers star was said to be in “pristine condition” as it sold at auction for the impressive price.
Kobe Bryant Topps Chrome Refractor rookie card sells for $1.8M
Kobe Bryant gave Los Angeles Lakers and NBA fans many seasons of great highlights and memorable performances. In early 2020, Kobe tragically died along with his daughter and others in a helicopter crash. The former NBA star will be posthumously inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Ahead of that, many fans and sports card collectors have been acquiring Kobe rookie cards, including the one shown below.
It’s a shiny 1996-97 Topps Chrome Refractors rookie card #138 featuring Bryant clutching the ball with both hands as he drives, appearing to be in layup mode. Note the “10 Pristine” text on the black grading label.
As seen in the image above, this particular Kobe rookie card was graded by Beckett Grading Services (BGS) as a perfect 10. That means there are no flaws on the card regarding its surface, centering, edges, or corners.
A perfect 10 is what many high-end collectors look for, but usually from PSA grading service, so it will be interesting to see if there’s a PSA 10 that sells at some point for a higher price tag.
Check out some of the other Kobe Bryant rookie cards at Amazon.
Goldin Auctions, which was behind the recent rookie card’s auction sale, indicated only two of the particular Kobe card exist, per Sports Illustrated. We’d expect this one to continue to climb in value as years go by.
Other sports cards have recently set records
The recent Kobe Bryant Topps Chrome Refractor rookie card sale is impressive but doesn’t hold the record for the biggest sale in terms of NBA stars. That distinction goes to the Luka Doncic National Treasures Patch Auto card. It recently sold for $4.6 million in a sale. The card was a 1 of 1 copy, meaning there won’t be another created, making it extremely rare.
Earlier this week, a Tom Brady rookie card set the record at $1.32 million as the biggest football card sale in history. Brady recently won his seventh Super Bowl, this time as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in just his first season there.
In January, the all-time record for any sports card arrived. A card of Mickey Mantel went for $5.2 million. That said, the Luka Doncic sale wasn’t far behind that one, and shows the potential for future sales to reach even higher record prices.
Will cards featuring stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Zion Williamson, and LeBron James possibly sell for many millions more? Time will tell, but seems sports collectibles are only continuing to explode in value.
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