More expensive than a starter home: rare Kobe Bryant basketball card expected to sell for over US$500K

Rare Kobe Bryant card could fetch more than US$500,000 at auction. (Credit: HA.com)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) -- Three rare basketball trading cards depicting the late Kobe Bryant are expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions this weekend. And buyers from the Philadelphia area, where Bryant grew up and starred in high school ball, could be especially interested.

The most valuable of the three cards is one of only eight in existence. Its full name is a mouthful, but every word shines like gold for a collector who knows the market. This is the 1997 SkyBox E-X2001 Essential Credentials Now Kobe Bryant card, with a serial number 1/8.

As of 1 p.m. on Friday, bidding was up to US$280,000 but expected to intensify around the auction’s closing time at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

What makes this basketball card so special?

We talked to Mike Provenzale, production manager at Heritage Auctions, and he told us there’s been a spike in interest in the sports card market in general. A card from this same print run depicting Allen Iverson sold last year for over US$700,000, a record for an Iverson card.

“In the last 10 years or so, those limited cards have really exploded in value, especially for those top-tier athletes. And Kobe Bryant, certainly, is in that group,” Provenzale said.

And in the Philadelphia area, where Bryant starred at Lower Merion High School — and was named MVP of the 2002 All-Star Game, there’s typically a high level of interest.

“There’s a few areas on the map where he’s especially popular. Of course [Los Angeles], but also Philadelphia, where he grew up, they have a special place in their heart for him,” Provenzale said, noting that collectors do come from all corners of the world.

2 other Kobe cards going for 6-figure prices Also for sale is a 1997 Metal Universe Championship Kobe Bryant card from the Precious Metal Gems series. That one is up to US$200,000 with an estimated auction value of US$400,000.

Rounding out the trio with an estimated value of a mere US$200,000 is a 1998 Metal Universe Kobe Bryant from the Precious Metal Gems series.

What to expect for the end of the sale Any of these three auctions could go to overtime — what Heritage calls “extended bidding.” At the end of the normal bidding period, anyone who has previously placed a bid is allowed to place another, and that process will continue until there is one bidder left standing.

There could be some serious cash thrown around Friday night and into Saturday morning.

I have a Kobe Bryant card from the ’90s, too. Can I have half a million dollars, please? Probably not! Or, maybe, if it’s very, very special like this one. This one is a “parallel,” meaning it’s a rarer variety of an existing card. Let’s explain.

As an easy example, say there’s a regular, run-of-the-mill Kobe card in 1 in every 10 packs of cards; if you buy a couple of packs, you have a pretty good chance of getting a Kobe. But then, in 1 in 100 packs, you could find the same Kobe with an added shiny, special, more aesthetically pleasing treatment.

This card follows that example, but on another level. Other Essential Credentials cards of Bryant were printed, but the “Now” versions feature individual serial numbers on the back according to the player’s jersey number. Because Bryant wore No. 8 for the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, there are only eight of these.

Joe Brandt