Auction Name: 2025 December 19 - 21 Winter Sports Catalog Auction

Lot Number: 81569

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/50081*81569

2003 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman - All NBA Access Pass Patches - Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant #NBA-JB PSA EX-MT 6 - #'d 1/1. When Heritage launched the auction for the only Kobe/Jordan dual-autographed double-Logoman trading card on the planet back in August, we were fully confident that the result would be a new world record. And we were proven right. We had not, however, anticipated that it would be that world record, the biggest world record of them all.

In retrospect, perhaps we should have seen it coming. The modern trading card market has been the hottest subgenre of them all for some time now, demonstrating itself to be the hobby analog to the wealth-building tools favored by generations who weren't even alive when Mickey Mantle passed away in 1995--cryptocurrency, meme stocks, etc. There will always be defenders of the old guard who favor The Big Three issues: 1909-11 T206, 1933 Goudey and 1952 Topps. But there's no dismissing the power of hype in the digital age, and those dusty old relics just don't draw the Internet clicks that the best of the 21st century trading card hobby is currently delivering.

Most collectors know that the card that took down our record 1952 Topps Mantle as King of the Trading Card Universe was purchased by a group of investors including "Shark Tank" venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary (aka "Mr. Wonderful"), and he's a man who famously dropped his crypto agnosticism to become an evangelist for that and many other forms of asset diversification. The global media coverage he garnered in the aftermath of the record-breaking sale was worth millions on its own, and hobby history has been almost unfailingly kind to bidders who have paid world record prices when the time came to resell some years down the line.

That single sale has been a tide lifting countless thousands of boats like this one, another "1/1" masterpiece that shares the dual-Logoman theme of the most famous card on Earth, and might even be considered superior to the record card due to its status as the "rookie" season for the Exquisite issue--it debuted alongside LeBron James in 2003. It shares the same PSA EX-MT 6 grade of the aforementioned world champion, and even a touch of gold on the Kobe logo, however here it is the edge of the standard Lakers yellow utilized to make home jerseys.

We should emphasize that the inaugural 2003 Upper Deck Exquisite issue was likewise the first year of the "dual Logoman," adding historical relevance as the dawning of the truly high-end insert card (although the $500 pack price caused no shortage of outrage at the time). This is arguably the best pull from that issue. There were three dual-Logomen in that first Exquisite set--pairings of MJ, LeBron and Kobe.

This card will forever draw comparisons to the most valuable card in the world, as it well should. They don't just ride the same tide--they are lashed to the same mooring rope. And we've learned our lesson by now--there seems to be no top end to the 21st century "1 of 1" trading card market, so we're prepared to see this auction likewise travel hours into Extended Bidding on the closing night before a winner is crowned.

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