The world may seem quite challenging in the news, but record prices are still being seen for many hard assets. As you might guess, considering it is from Collectors Dashboard, this also includes high-end collectibles. PWCC Marketplace’s Feb. 2022 Premier Auction featured 288 cards and included cards from baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf, soccer and more (even Pokémon and Marvel, among others). The total auction sales came to $17,550,000 but one Michael Jordan card here really stood out even if it was not the highest card in the auction.

Michael Jordan’s 1986 Fleer #57 is supposed to be one of the most chased and most desirable cards in the entire sports collectibles industry. Prices may have gone parabolic to unsustainable levels in the first quarter of 2021, but those have since moderated in many instances down more acceptable levels for buyers. Then again, there are more scarce cards which are continuing to set records in many cases.

The 1997 Metal Universe Championship Precious Gems PMG Michael Jordan is numbered to only 50 examples. According to PWCC, this set a record price for an example of this card with a realized sale price of $324,000.00 at auction. PWCC’s auction example was a BGS 9 MINT grade, with the notation that only 1 example is graded higher. (Image below from PWCC Marketplace.) The sub-grades make this card look and seem better:

• Centering 9.5;
• Corners 9;
• Edges 8.5;
• Surface 9.5.

Here was PWCC’s description of the card:

Widely considered among the Holy Grails in the industry, this hardly-ever-seen masterpiece of a card features Jordan dunking on the Chicago Skyline. The formerly named Sears Tower is as clear as day in the background with a repeating circular pattern adding pizzazz to the design. This insert is extremely rare with only 50 manufactured — ten (10) of which have earned the overall ‘9’ assessment between Beckett and PSA — and one of the most desired cards in the industry… In the 1997-98 season, Jordan won his third straight title and sixth overall in the previous eight years. This season marked Jordan’s final year with the Bulls.

PWCC also listed some of the recent sales that had been seen prior to this auction:

• May 2018 a PSA 9 sold for $15,700
• December of 2020 a PSA 8 sold for ~$137,000.

Collectors Dashboard looked elsewhere as well. According to PSA’s data, for a relative comparison, there are only 11 examples of these that have been graded by PSA — and only 3 are graded PSA 9 and there are no PSA 10 examples.

As for other Michael Jordan card sales that rival the 1986 Fleer rookie card, there are two others related to this card. Oe is the 1997 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Green /10 and then there is the 1997 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Red /100. PWCC sold an example of the green card on Feb. 20, 2019 for $350,100 and on Oct. 20, 2020 PWCC sold an example of the red card for $151,926.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class, effectively evaluating high-end sports cards and all high-end collectibles no different than if they were stocks or bonds. And for a card to sell at $324,000 that might even compete against real estate purchases. There are never guaranteed profits in stocks or bonds (and real estate). Collectibles also come with no guaranteed profits, a lesson that was learned the hard way by countless modern sports card buyers during 2021.

Scarcity matters for high-end sports collectibles. The 1986 Fleer Jordan Rookie has a massive population considering how high the prices are (even if they are down big from the Q1-2021 peak). That was approaching 22,000 total graded cards in all grades combined from the PSA population report alone last June (2021), and as of Feb. 22, 2022 the PSA population was 23,105 cards (approximately 5.5% higher). The PSA 10 count was “only” 318 examples last June and it was 319 examples on Feb. 22, 2022 (a gain of just 0.3%). Here is a look at the June 30, 2021 data versus the Feb. 22, 2022 date on the rest of the 1986 Fleer #57 graded examples for base grades (no Q or + included):

• PSA 7 had 3,634 graded examples, now 3,857 (+6.1%)
• PSA 8 had 7,996 graded examples, now 8,215 (+2.7%)
• PSA 9 had 2,788 graded examples, now 2,846 (+2.1%)

Here is the proof that the 1997 Metal Universe Championship PMG Michael Jordan blows away his rookie card, particularly when considering this sale was not even a PSA 10 example. PWCC’s last auction results did include a PSA 10 that just sold for $240,000 on Feb. 19, 2022. PSA tracks its own graded sales, although that is only for the PSA graded cards (not counting BGS/BVG, SGC and others) and they show these as the latest PSA 10 sales examples as follows:

• 10/27/2021 $369,000.00
• 10/6/2021 $336,000.00
• 8/31/2021 $295,200.00
• 8/11/2021 $319,800.00

The peak had very briefly been above $700,000 last January and February for Jordan’s 1986 Fleer rookie and the prices had sold multiple PSA 10 examples for under $300,000 in May, June and the start of July of 2021. That’s all for now.