Historic 1984 Star Michael Jordan Sale
In a historic private sale, the 1984 Star Michael Jordan rookie card, in PSA 9 condition, sold for $925,000. This beats the peak public sale of $840,000 for a PSA 10 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card at PWCC in 2021. This information comes directly from Darren Rovell, who even reviewed bank statements to confirm the transaction.
Wondering why the 1984 Star Michael Jordan could ever outsell the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan? Simple answer: rarity. According to cllct, “Between Beckett and PSA, more than 40,000 Fleer Jordan rookies cards have been graded. Total 1984-85 Jordan Star cards? Fewer than 1,500.” The Star cards being condition sensitive also help the rarity. These cards came in team sets, with Jordan being placed at the top of every Chicago Bulls team set. Naturally, being at the top of a stack of cards, these 1984 Star Michael Jordan cards were, and still are, hard to grade well.
Then, if these cards are so rare, why was the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan card considered one of the hobby grail cards for so long? Simple answer as well: coolness. The image used in the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan card is way cooler than the 1984 Star Michael Jordan card. The Fleer shows an action shot of Jordan dunking, while the 1984 Star shows Michael Jordan rebounding. Also, Fleer being a much more recognizable brand than Star also helps. Many collectors also don’t consider the 1984 Star Michael Jordan a rookie card at all because it only came from team sets. Buy a 1984 Star Chicago Bulls team set and you are guaranteed to get a Michael Jordan. Meanwhile, to get a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan, you’d have to rip packs until you hit one, creating randomness that the 1984 Star set doesn’t have.
Which card do you like more? And which card do you consider the “true” rookie card?
Card Grading Fraud
Two men that were taking PSA slabs and changing the labels with better grades are being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. According to cllct, in some cases, some of the cards the men would try to sell were never even graded by PSA in the first place.
All of this came to an end when the men sold an illegitimate 1st Edition Venusaur Pokemon card to an undercover officer, who wired money to one of the men’s bank accounts. The men would also routinely sell cards on MySlabs, where they made at least eight sales worth about $225,000 in total.
This just goes to show that you should always buy cards from people you trust, as well as checking the PSA slabs you are buying by scanning the QR codes on the back of the slabs with the PSA app to ensure its authenticity. Ultimately, if the slabs are faked well, you’d still be duped no matter if you take all the necessary precautions, but taking these steps certainly will help.
New Pokemon Set – Twilight Masquerade
A new Pokemon Set called Twilight Masquerade was released last week and features some pretty awesome cards as always. I’ll share with you some of the cards I like, which include an Infernape Special Art, Pinsir Special Art, and a Greninja ex.
What do you think of the new set? If you’re ripping, make sure to scan your hits using Ludex, as this set is scannable in the app.
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