Kobe Card Sells For $2 Million
 

I just saw this on the news. I don't understand. Why this card? Here's the story:

A Kobe Bryant card was sold privately for $2 million, PWCC Marketplace announced Tuesday, becoming the most expensive sale ever for a card of the late Lakers star.

The sale is particularly notable because the card—a 1997–98 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Emerald—is not a rookie card. It also does not contain an autograph from Bryant or a game-used memorabilia swatch. It is only one of 10 to exist, per Sports Collectors Digest’s Jeff Owens.

However, the Bryant card is still in remarkable condition, which is extremely rare for this particular set of delicate cards, according to PWCC. The Bryant card received an 8.5 grade from Beckett Grading Services.

“This is arguably Kobe’s best card in existence,” Jesse Craig, director of business development at PWCC, said in a statement. “It’s [difficult] to find them in any condition —and because of their delicate nature, to find one in such good condition is incredibly rare.”

According to ESPN’s Dan Hajducky, the Bryant card is just one of a few basketball cards to break the $2 million threshold, joining multiple LeBron James RPAs (rookie patch autograph), a Luka Dončić Logoman auto and a Michael Jordan All Star Game-used jersey auto card. A James 2003–04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection RPA parallel card still holds the overall record, after selling for $5.2 million in April ’21.

The highest-selling Bryant card prior to Tuesday’s sale was a BGS 10 Black Label 1996–97 Topps Chrome Kobe Bryant Refractor, which sold for nearly $1.8 million in March 2021.

That's kind of a ridiculous price. The corners don't look very nice for an 8.5 either.

This Green PMG set is one of the ones being put together by Nat Turner, the new co-owner of PSA. Not sure if he bought it or not, but don't be surprised if it becomes a PSA graded version very quickly. Although with the white on the bottom left corner and edge wear, if it gets anything higher than a 6 it would be a bad look.

Doesn't make a shred of sense to me.

I believe, there are only 10 of the PMG Green cards, per player. But the Two Million price tag is a little steep IMO.

But with JPEG's of virtual animals selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars, I apparently know nothing.

PMGs have a foil layer, and are very susceptible to chipping.

The first 10 PMGs are green the other 90s are red.
They are the most desirable of the 90s basketball inserts and after MJ, Kobe is the most sought after in the set.
It will only go up.

Sure, keep dreaming that bubble will keep inflating

I think for guys like Kobe and MJ, there is enough of a collector base that the bottom wont fall out on the super rare stuff. and the PMG greens are as rare as they get.
If it was a common guy going for that much, I'd agree.
I also think this is a pre-war board for the most part and 95% of the people here are not the target collecting audience for this card. which is not a knock. the hobby is big and there's something for everyone.

I don't think the "collector base" of Kobe fans willing to pay $2 million for a card is very big. And there needs to be at least 11 of them to keep the value going up.

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1) This is a vintage message board, so most members here don't care.
2) Most collectors on on any forum, facebook, twitter, etc,...don't have $2 million to spend on any trading card, vintage, modern, etc,.... They can spend $2,000, $20,000 maybe even $200,000 but not $2 million.

The difference - and it’s a huge one - between this Kobe and a vintage card worth a boatload is that this is a contrived rarity. That just does nothing for me. Apparently, though, it does a lot for more modern collectors. Maybe I should start a sports card company and release a set with just 3 Luka Doncic cards. Hmmm…

Yes, I wonder about the market for the ultra-expensive cards, whether we are talking about Kobe, or Cobb or Ruth. The value of any card is solely what somebody else is willing to pay to buy it from you - you can't use it like say a beach house or a private helicopter - and with so thin of a market, it only takes a few people to decide to take their millions and go buy something else. And then you are left with a bunch of people with $2 million invested in a card and nobody to sell to.

And the seller may not even care if they "lose" 1,999,999.99 on it

For that much money I expect the card to be delivered by a model, along with a pound of blow and a stack of pizzas.