Signed Upper Deck Kobe Bryant card fetches $1.22M at auction

Kobe Bryant’s 2003-04 Upper Deck Exclusive Collection insignia card recently sold at a Goldin auction for $1.22 million, including buyer’s premium.

This is the third largest public sale of a solo Bryant card ever.

The card is signed in blue ink, serialized 8/15 and graded Near-Mint 8 by Beckett Grading Services. It consists of two multicolored game-used patches cut from the then-numbered. 8 Bryant Jersey.

At the same Goldin auction, the Bryant card was one of four cards above $500,000. Others: a 2005 Topps Finest SuperFactor die-cut Tom Brady card, which sold for $704,550; the 1997-98 Skybox Metal Universe Precious Metal James Red Michael Jordan card, which sold for $651,334; and a 1998 Pokémon Japanese promo Holo Illustrator Pikachu card, which sold for $610,000.

The all-time record for payouts for a sports card is still held by a Bryant card. The one-of-a-kind numbered, on-card signed Bryant/Jordan Dual Logoman was purchased by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, mega-collector Matt Allen (known in the collectibles circle as Shiny150) and entrepreneur Paul Warshaw for $12.932 million last August.