Mike Trout SuperFractor Becomes Highest Priced Sports Card Ever Sold
[Sports Collectors Daily, Getty Images]
The title of world’s most expensive sports trading card changed hands late Saturday night when the 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Mike Trout card sold for a whopping $3.84 million.
The card was sold by Goldin Auctions as part of its first “Elite” auction that included over 200 high-end sports cards and sports memorabilia items.
There was no immediate word of the winning bidder’s identity.
The realized price included a 20 percent buyer’s premium that is typically added to the final bid. The fee for all items sold in the auction rises to 23% if paid by credit card or the buyer takes longer than ten days to pay. Such an occurrence would raise the price to $3.94 million.
The one-of-a-kind Trout surpassed the $3.12 million paid in 2016 for one of several dozen known copies of the famed T206 Honus Wagner tobacco card.
“This event was somewhat of a perfect storm as we had a remarkable collection of historic memorabilia supported by incredible marketing and publicity during a great market for sports collectibles,” said Ken Goldin, Founder of Goldin Auctions.
The card wound up generating quite a profit for the consignor. It last sold in 2018 for a reported $400,000, when it was purchased on eBay by “Vegas Dave” Oancea, who also owned one of the five Red Refractor Trout cards and stockpiled several other Trout autograph cards from ’09 Bowman Draft. His Red Refractor sold for $922,500 in May.
The 1/1 Superfractor carries the blue ink signature of a young Trout and the autograph was given a ‘10’ grade by Beckett Grading Service.
It wasn’t the only seven-figure item in the auction. A 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite LeBron James Rookie Patch Autograph (#2/99) graded 9.5 by BGS sold for just over $1 million, just five weeks after a parallel version of the card, numbered to 23, sold for $1.8 million, setting a record for the most expensive basketball card ever sold. A second copy of the James RPA numbered to 99, this one graded 8.5, went for $540,000 Saturday night.
The lone PSA 10 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan rookie set a new record at $600,000.
It was a night for high-end modern cards, though, with multiple sales of more than $100,000.
A 1/1 2002-03 Upper Deck “NBA Logo Mania” #MJ-NBA Michael Jordan Signed Logoman Game Used Patch card graded BGS 8 went for $206,400.
A 2009 Bowman Chrome Trout Orange Refractor graded 9.5 by BGS netted $182,400.
There was also a big money soccer card sale. A 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup Gold Prizm Kylian MBappe rocketed to $121,200 on the strength of its PSA 10 grade.
Bidders also chased a 1997-98 Michael Jordan jersey, photo-matched by MeiGray to February 1998 game in which Jordan scored 37 points and hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer. The jersey from the win over Atlanta during the Bulls’ “Last Dance” season sold for $216,000.
By Rich Mueller