MJ’s Worn Nike Air Ships Sell For $848K Less Than 2021

News on this release was first published October 25, 2021.

Update September 14, 2023: Well, the hammer has landed for Michael Jordan's Air Ships, with the new owner getting a substantial discount. The pair sold for a whopping $1.472 million in 2021, which is 57% more than what it sold for yesterday, with the final price landing at only $624K. This joins the significant loss experienced for the Grammy-worn Yeezys that also sold yesterday – is this the new norm?

Update August 23, 2023: In 2021, a pair of Michael Jordan’s game-worn 1984 Nike Air Ships sold at Sotheby’s for $1.472 million, setting a new record for a shoe sold at auction. Now those very same Air Ships have resurfaced, this time for sale at Goldin. Bidding for the pairs is currently open, and will conclude next month on September 14. The pairs have of course been fully authenticated and photomatched. Read more about the rare pair here and check out the auction at the link below.

A pair of Nike Air Ships worn by Michael Jordan during his rookie season have just sold at Sotheby’s for $1.472 million, setting a new record for a shoe sold at auction.

The auction was held on October 24 at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas as part of Sotheby’s ‘Icons of Excellence & Haute Luxury’ collection which included fine watches, designer handbags and collectible sports cars. Estimates during the weeks leading up to the auction had projected the MJ-worn Air Ships to comfortably break the $1 million mark, possibly reaching $1.5 million – pretty spot on!

According to a statement by Sotheby’s, the auction winner was Nick Fiorella, a sports trading card collector who has previously paid $4.6 million for a Luca Doncic card – the fourth most expensive card ever sold. So, $1.47 million for a pair of autographed and game-worn Jordans (well, pre-Air Jordan Jordans) seems like an absolute bargain!

As previously reported, these Nike Air Ships were dated to MJ’s fifth-ever NBA game for the Chicago Bulls against the Denver Nuggets on November 1, 1984. Sotheby’s confirmed the provenance of the shoes’ story by Tommy Tim III Lewis, the Denver Nuggets ball boy that Jordan signed and gave his game-worn Ships to.

Sotheby’s have recently magnetised themselves to big game sneaker sales: earlier this year, they facilitated a private sale of Nike Air Yeezy samples for $1.8 million.