MJ: From Playing Cards to Trading Cards

Almost 20 years after hanging up the sneakers, Michael Jordan’s intangible value is still skyrocketing.

And nowhere is MJ’s stock rising faster than in the trading card game.

In fact, Jordan’s original pro basketball card has multiplied in value by more than 15 times since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The Last Dance played a clear role here, and this spike has shown no signs of slowing down ever since.

As recently as January, two MJ 1986 rookie cards sold for $738,000 each.

This shattered the existing sale price record for a Jordan rookie card, with the previous mark set at $217,000 just three weeks earlier.

In December 2019, that same card was worth about $32,000.

Fast-forward to February and a signed MJ 1997 Upper Deck card sold for a staggering $1.4 million, making it the most expensive Jordan card ever sold at auction.

This marks a stunning resurgence for trading cards.

The PWCC Top 500 is an   index which tracks the value of the 500 most valuable cards in the world, and since 2008, the PWCC500 is up 756%.

This incredible surge has been driven by nostalgia, a new breed of hustlers, and even the growth of sports gambling, according to well-respected entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.

And while not everyone saw the trading card surge coming, it should come as no surprise that Michael Jordan is in the thick of the action.

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