Another round of Michael Jordan items hit the auction block Sunday — among them a two-page love letter an 18-year-old Jordan wrote to his then-girlfriend.
A “holy grail” autographed card and a 1990-91 season Jordan game-worn Bulls jersey are also among the auction items in the Leland’s Winter Classic auction, which opened Sunday morning and runs until March 15.
The letter, penned in 1981 during Jordan’s senior year at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, has a starting price of $10,000 but has yet to receive a bid.
Despite a few “light creases,” the blue-ink signature at the end of the page is graded NM-MT 8, making it a “super high-end autograph” with an aesthetic issue, such as the signature being in an undesirable location, slight bleeding or a minor skip in the name.
“Laquetta you are my whole life next to basketball,” Jordan wrote in the letter. “Please don’t get mad about that statement. You are my whole life. But you can’t have basketball.”
On the next page the letter ends: “Love, Michael Jordan.”
The Sign of the Times Stars & Rookies #MJ Michael Jordan card has seen more interest in the short time it’s been up for auction. Twenty bids have been placed, raising the bid from $25,000 to $93,336 in less than two days.
It’s graded PSA NM 7 Auto 10, meaning the signature has minor fading or blemishes often not visible to the human eye. There is only one card of its kind graded higher, and a Jordan card hasn’t been up for public auction since 2021, making it a “holy grail specimen,” according to the auctioneer.
The 1990-91 game-worn jersey also saw four bids, bringing the $5,000 starting price to $6,655.
The jersey was determined to have been used during the season, with “loose threads” and a tag saying it was custom made for use by the Bulls, though it is graded as being in near-perfect condition for a worn jersey — which the auction house called “exceedingly rare.”
About a year ago, a collection of one of Jordan’s sneakers from each of his championship games set a record for game-worn sneakers sold at auction when they fetched $8 million. Last November, a set of Jordan collectibles, including other game-worn jerseys, went for a total of $8.5 million.