A rare Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant autographed dual patch card has set a new record, selling for $12.9 million at Heritage Auctions.
The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman card now stands as the most expensive sports card ever sold, surpassing the previous most expensive card ever sold — the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 graded a “Mint-Plus” SGC 9.5 and dubbed the “finest known example” of that iconic card — by more than $300,000.
Allen is widely known in sports card circles for having one of the most prolific and valuable collections in the world. Those in the hobby know him for his user name on social media, “Shyne150.” For perspective, Allen displayed a part of his card collection at 2024’s Fanatics Fest that carried an estimated value of $70 million.
O’Leary is a Canadian entrepreneur and investor, also known as “Mr. Wonderful” from ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Warshaw is a Miami-based entrepreneur and is known throughout the sports card hobby.
“Normally, I would win a card like this on auction and keep it hidden until the new year at minimum yet this is an entirely different situation,” Allen wrote in a post on Instagram.
In an interview with CNBC on Monday morning, O’Leary said he came into the trio as more of the numbers and analytics guy, with Allen and Warshaw being the two more embedded into the sports card hobby. Warshaw pulled O’Leary into the hobby about three years ago.
“I was a business partner with him (Warshaw). I just started and I thought it was nuts” O’Leary said. “I said, ‘Why would anyone want to pay a million bucks for a piece of cardboard?’ He said, ‘You don’t get it.’ And I slowly kept looking at the numbers. … We stayed up until 3 in the morning on Saturday night. … We got together on a Zoom (call). My wife thinks I’m nuts. She just went to bed saying this is too crazy. You guys are all crazy. And I woke up the next day with her, and we owned the card.”
When asked during Monday’s interview about what type of return he expects from the card, the 71-year-old O’Leary said he doesn’t expect the card to hit the market again in his lifetime. He said it will be part of an index that he’ll grow along with Allen and Warshaw. O’Leary said he sees the card as an asset similar to Bitcoin, gold, art or watches.
However, there’s one caveat.
“I don’t see it any differently than any of those other asset classes. However, it’s a lot more fun,” O’Leary said. “The people I’m meeting in the hobby are truly crazy.”
